Casa de Tortugas - Stories
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Week 1 - Paradise, lost and found
We have been in our new home for a week and it has been full of highs and lows.
June 27th marks day one. We loaded all of our belongings from the apartment in town into the boat and took it out to the island. The main structure of the house is complete but there are a few things missing. There are no doors, only openings where the doors will go and there are no screens. We only have water in the downstairs bathroom and that is only for the toilet and shower. Hot water is only a fantasy at the moment. Electricity has been run from the solar panels to the utility room, but there are no lights or outlets yet.
To counter the lows, we got to experience one of the biggest storms anyone has seen in years without any ill effects, once it cleared up, we had an amazing view, a home to call our own and if you don't count the crazy birds at sundown, we have some amazing peace and quiet. We are tired, covered in sweat, annoyed by some evening bugs... but we are so happy.
June 28th, day two. The rain is gently falling as we get our day started. We wired in the circuit breaker box and a couple plugs. The house is littered with extension cords to give us lighting and fans. The hot water heater is acting up and can't seem to stay running so our shower has been scorching hot for a moment then cold. A lot of work got done, and we are exhausted again. As night falls, the sky gets clear and there are so many stars in the sky that it hardly looks real.
June 29th, we forgot some critical plumbing parts so we had to return to town. We had hoped to go a full week but that didn't quite work out. Once we got back, we were able to add a sink to a temporary counter in the kitchen. There is no running water yet but we have a sink and drain so we can wash dishes using a hose stretched from the downstairs bathroom. The trip to town and running drain line took a big bite out of our day.
June 30th started out amazing. We had coffee as the sun came up over the Zapatilla islands. Some electrical got run in preparation for our refrigerator and lighting in the utility room. The outlets for the washer and dryer have been installed as well as an exterior outlet for the water pump. It was a long day but a nice hot meal cooked on our BBQ made for a perfect ending to the day.
July 1st starts a new month and another day of work. One ceiling fan has been installed. We have four of them, but the down tubes are too short to make them fully functional. For now we will only have the one fan in our main living area as the extension tubes are being shipped because installing these fans takes a lot of work. They are so far off the ground, our ladder reaches but it is pretty scary being up there. Tina found our first ripe pineapple and it was delicious! The hot water is still acting up so getting a nice hot shower is not really working out for us. This is one of the tougher days, both physically and mentally.
July 2nd, the darn toilet upstairs won't stop running and we still can't figure out the water heater. We did take the boat out to go for a swim around the corner. The water right in front of us is fairly shallow making it warmer than we would like. Right around the corner the water is deeper, cooler and a joy to swim in. We really needed this day to relax a bit and reset. We also got to do our first puzzle on our porch. Another nice evening and dinner. Sadly, one of the ropes on my hammock broke and dumped me on the ground. But it was quickly fixed. Tina is sleeping on the couch from the apartment and I am sleeping on the hammock because we don't have our bed yet nor do we have our comfortable recliner couch. Hopefully those will come tomorrow.
July 3rd, our delivery comes from David! We had a nice breakfast at JJ's as we wait for the delivery truck. Sadly, when the truck arrived, our sofa and bed were not on it. But we did get our refrigerator, washer and dryer. We went to the hardware stores and grocery stores to stock up on food and much needed materials. Because the water heater was still giving us trouble we decided that it was most likely that the one we purchased was too large and couldn't function with the water supply we could provide to it. Good thing the hardware store was willing to exchange for one that better fit our needs. We had workers meet us at the house because unloading the boat is far beyond our abilities on our own. After all the work this morning getting our supplies, we decided not to do any further projects. Dinner and relaxing is all we had in us.
July 4th, things are looking up. We got the water heater installed and it is working better. Things are still not quite right as it keeps going between burning hot and switching off. We installed some more electrical plugs so we can remove a bunch of the electric cords. We pulled out some of the original plumbing and installed larger pipes to get more water up to the water heater. This took a long time but it did help. The water heater isn't fully working yet but our day is done. Time to take a shower, eat some food and call it a night.
July 5th, one day past a week. We spent our morning adjusting the settings on both the water pump to get more pressure and the water heater to improve its functionality. FINALLY! Steady hot water without burning the heck out of us or switching off. A nice long hot shower has never felt so good. It is amazing how such a simple thing can make all the difference. We finished running the plumbing to both upstairs showers, replaced the insides of the upstairs toilet, and got the ice and water in the refrigerator connected. Tina cleaned up the edge of the jungle and created our composting area. This was a very good day!
July 6th, our bed has arrived! The bed and sofa that we were expecting a few days ago have arrived. We got to sip our coffee while the sun came up and then we had another breakfast at JJ's because it is right where we dock our boat for deliveries and we love the owners. Again we grabbed a couple items from the grocery store and hardware store to make the most of our trip into town. The bed and sofa were loaded onto the boat and we headed home. With a couple workers meeting us to bring the items up to the house, things really feel complete now. We finished plumbing the washer drain and then did our first load of laundry. We may not have a bed frame, but just having a bed and comfortable sofa makes a huge difference in our life.
This first week has been full of high and low points. There were moments where we questioned our decisions. Over all, things have gone well and we are feeling really good. And now that most of our creature comforts are in place, the days should be a lot easier.
| Month 1 - The struggle is real Published 01-Aug-2024 | The house is complete (mostly) Published 19-Jun-2024 |
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