A Little Bit of Progress!

As many of you know, we have made a number of trips to ICE in our efforts to have power brought to our property.  After delivering many documents and making a number of trips to Palmares and Sann Ramon, we have learned that our "Public Road" is not considered "Public" by ICE.  What this means is that we need to find a private electricion who is ICE qualified to put the power not only down the "Public Road" but also to our house.  We are now in the process of getting bids, we think.

These letters arrived from ICE today!  Even in English it's not easy to know what we are supposed to do next:  Sorry, couldn't find a way to attach the letter so you will just have to use our imagination.



Don & I have been busy working on the tentative plans for our "Barn/Garage" and House.

 

 

The drawing above is the basics of our house.  The 3 rental rooms are on the right with private baths.  The attachment at the bottom right is the "Barn/Garage" and is shown in more detail below.  The outline in red is our bedroom.  The main house is marked in black with the Terraza around the outside is outlined in blue.  As it is difficult to see I will try to explain what is going on.  The kitchen is on the lower left part with the laundry and pantry along the side.  The dining room is directly above the kitchen at the top of the page and the rest is living room.  The main entrance is just to the right of the pantry and as you go in and to the right there stairs going up to our bedroom.  The other stairs which are visible are outside along the side of the house and go to the "Barn/Garage" upstairs.

 

 

 

This drawing represents the outside view of the "Barn/Garage" facing the road and driveway.  It consists of a 2 car garage, workshop and studio with kitchenette and 1/2 bath upstairs.

 

 

Here is a view of the stairs that run along the house up to the studio above the garage.  The three Coupolas are over each of the rental rooms and will provide ventilation.  The stairs are covered to make travel in the rainy season possible without getting wet!

Now that we have shared our ideas it needs to be said that we have not talked with the Architect!  Once that happens we may discover that our designs are not possible or are going to cost more than we can afford.  It's fun to dream for awhle.  We hope to get with the Architect sometime this week.

Today Don and Roberto are in Palmares talking with one of the argicultural groups that offers help to coffee growers.   The coops where items for farming are purchased are also helpful and a wonderful resource.  The only downside is that we are not fluent in Spanish!

Speaking of Spanish, I have been taking lessons every Friday.  Now that I am not picking coffee, I ride or drive (I'm practicing) to the finca and walk home studying my Spanish lessons.  It is mostly up hill which also gives me at least one dose of exercise a day.