Experiences of Moving House – Part 1
Two Houses
In the last couple of days before we went to Arequipa for Christmas we ended up with two houses and had to make a quick decision as to which one we would rent! One we had been thinking about for a week and had even been given the contract ready to sign. However, there were a couple of problems with it: (i) It was a little expensive and would have meant having a couple of people live with us, or several stay for shorter periods, who would need to pay to help us cover the rent, and (ii) The owners needed to move out so that we could move in and the flat that they were having built next door didn’t even have all its walls!
The morning of the day when we were going to sign the contract an advert appeared in the paper advertising a ‘flat for foreigners’ (quite common here for people to advertise like this as they tend to like foreigners who have a reputation for looking after places better and being willing to pay more). It didn’t sound too promising in terms of size but since it was in the right sort of area I decided to walk past with the boys and have a look. From the outside I couldn’t tell how big it was – it looked like a house rather than a flat but I thought perhaps just one floor was for rent.
Anyway I knocked and talked to the landlady (who lives behind with her husband, daughter and small grandson) and she showed me round. The ground floor had a kitchen, lounge, dining room and bedroom and I thought that was it, but then we went upstairs to find four more bedrooms, two of which were ensuite, plus a bathroom! The price she was offering was far cheaper than the other place. It wasn’t quite so big, but perfectly big enough and with the same number of bedrooms. The only down-side was the lack of outside space – it did have a ‘teraza’(a sort of large balcony area accessed via a door on the first floor) and a tiny front garden but we were really hoping for a patio or small garden. (The décor and furniture were also quite bad but they could be fixed!) I told her we probably wouldn’t be interested due to the lack of outside space for the boys, at which point she said they could play on her patio, directly behind our kitchen. I thought it was worth Roland having a look.
Over lunch we decided that the cheaper price and the fact that it was ready to move into were good enough reasons to go for this place rather than the other one. The only problem then was signing a contract, which needed to be checked by Latin Link in Lima, before we left for Arequipa the next day! However, we already had a contract on the computer which had been checked and was quite general, so with just a few name, address and price changes we were able to use this. So we signed the contract and gave our notice on our little house in Santa Monica a few hours before we caught the bus.
So what is the house like?
The ground floor consists of, at the front, a large-ish lounge (complete with a strange green corner sofa, yellow curtains, a huge mirror and a massive clock that doesn’t work!), a dining room and a little bathroom; and at the back, a kitchen (bigger than we’ve had before) and a guest bedroom with a small ensuite. The second floor has, at the front, another double guestroom also with ensuite, and our bedroom with space for our office area too. Both these rooms have a good view across the park in front.
At the back of the house is the boys’ bedroom, the main bathroom (with hundreds of tiles each covered in pink flowers!) and a small single room which we hope to use for a longer term guest. Fortunately, the two main guest rooms have their own showers and toilets so they won’t need to see too much of all the pink flowers! There is a passage between the boys’ room and the bathroom which leads onto a sort of big balcony overlooking the patio of the landlords. At the moment we’re using it for the rabbit and drying washing (plus it contains our two water tanks) but it could be made quite pretty with a few plants in big pots. Moving our stuff
Moving our stuff ended up being a fairly straight-forward process. A guy in our church has a big open-top truck and with the help of him, his son, Dina (our cleaner) and her son, and our friend, Dave, it didn’t take long to load it and unload it. We were a little worried about moving during the rainy season using an open-top truck but normally it doesn’t rain much first thing in the morning and as we moved it only drizzled a little. We got most of the stuff in one load and just had to return for the dining room table and chairs and the rabbit cage!
Paint, carpets and curtains
We have made quite a few changes straight away by painting over the rather strong yellow paint that covered many of the walls and replacing many of the curtains. The thin felt hall/stairs carpet is in a bad state and is a bad colour so we’re getting something neutral and tougher to replace it. Most houses here don’t have carpet anywhere so we thought of just taking it up but unfortunately it is stuck down with glue and the floor underneath has to be covered. Benjamin removed the lacey pink toilet covers in the main bathroom before we had the chance but unfortunately we can’t do much about the tiles at the moment. It would be a big job to retile the whole lot so we’ll wait a bit and see if we’re going to be here long enough to make it worth doing. The kitchen is a nice size but only had units on one side so a guy has come and made units for the corner round the sink. It is a big enough room for us to be able to put a table in one corner so we can eat there when we want to.Buying Furniture
We needed to buy a chest of drawers, a couple of wardrobes (we had built-in ones in the other house) and a double bed base (so many single bed bases in the house that we’ve had to dismantle some!). We had found all the things we wanted in a big furniture ‘shop’ (a sort of outside warehouse) so hoped our friend from church would pick them up for us. So we bought them all and waited … and waited …. and waited for him to arrive. Ro rang him three times and each time he was ‘nearly there’! After an hour the lady in the shop offered us a man with a small truck who worked with her. He was about the same price to hire but the truck was small so the wardrobes had to be stood up and looked rather precarious! It was decided that Ro would ride in the back to hang on to them. Fortunately the journey wasn’t too long!
The problem came when they tried to get the largest wardrobe into the house. Our hall and stairs are fairly wide so we hadn’t anticipated any difficulties but it turned out that the wardrobe just would not turn the corner to go upstairs! They ended up lifting it in with a rope through the first floor window!
Buying Mattresses
It seems that at one point the house was converted into a small hostel as several of the bedrooms have had small ensuites added on and when we first saw the house the rooms were set up with so many beds (or rather bed bases). Anyway, we needed to buy some mattresses for the guest rooms. This we thought would be straight-forward as we knew a shop where we had bought our other mattresses and they have truck in which they normally deliver them immediately. However the day we bought our four mattresses the truck was out on a distant delivery so they said they would deliver them later, at the latest between 6 and 7pm. At 7.30 they hadn’t arrived so Ro rang. They said the truck hadn’t returned and that we would have to pay for a taxi. Ro suggested that they pay for a taxi (not very expensive) as they had promised to deliver the mattresses but they refused. Ro said that maybe he would buy his mattresses somewhere else then and he would have his money back. They still refused to pay for the taxi and said OK, he could have his money back! Ro had just left to go and get his money and buy some mattresses in the shop a few doors up from them when they phoned and said actually the van had now returned and they would bring the mattresses after all!
Tradesmen
On the whole the people doing work for us have been quite good at turning up when they say they will, generally no more than an hour late anyway. We were a bit worried about the guy doing the curtains, hall carpet and sofa cover though. I had been pleased to find someone who would do all three things, but knew we were taking a risk as if he ended up being unreliable then we would be in trouble with all three things! He said everything would be ready in a week and that he would deliver and fit everything on Friday. We thought this a little hopeful! On Friday, of course, he didn’t turn up and didn’t phone so later in the day I went down to his shop. He said everything would be ready in the morning and that he would come at 10am. At 1pm the next day there was still no sign of him so we rang. He said he would come at 5pm. In fact, he came at 4pm, although not with everything and he didn’t have time to fit anything at all! However, we at least have the carpet and most of the curtains (although one pair seem to be totally the wrong colour!) and he is due to come again tomorrow! (He came and the carpet is now fitted.)
After one week
A week after moving in we have got a lot done and are really enjoying having some space. It is also nice to be able to see out to the outside world – we have a fence rather than a brick wall outside the front door! Our bedroom and the boys’ room are basically finished. The kitchen is nearly done, as is the dining room, and the guest room Roland’s parents will use in a few weeks is also nearly ready.
Sammy is a little sad about leaving the other house but he really likes the park opposite. It doesn’t have a playground like our other park, but at least it isn’t locked most of the time like the other one was. It is on a slope and is a favourite place for the local ‘boy racers’ – 4-8 year olds charging down on little trucks! Sammy likes riding his bike, playing with his ball and generally running round the paths there and has already made some friends. Benjamin seems to like having extra space in the house and is managing the stairs very well, scrambling up and down on all fours.
We had a few worries about the water as this area doesn’t have a water supply all day. However, we have two water tanks and don’t seem to run out during the hours when the water is off. We also don’t have hot water in the taps, but the showers are electric and although they look rather basic they work OK!
It is really good to be close to town and will be very handy for visitors wanting to visit the tourist sites. If you walk up the steps on the hill opposite the house you quickly get to some great view points and countryside, plus the Cristo Blanco statue and the famous Sacsaywaman ruins, above Cusco town centre. We are near to a bus route for Sammy’s school and to one for the ‘mountain’ house and communities. Our church is just 10 minutes walk away too. We have a 10-month contract initially but hope to re-new it as long as all is OK.
We'll put some more picture on the blog soon so you can see some of the rooms once we've finished them.
