1. Finn woke up in the still-dark hours of the morning asking for water. We all get a lot thirstier living in Cusco. I think it's a combination of the dryness and the altitude (more breaths taken results in more moisture leaving our bodies through evaporation or something like that). I went to get him some water from the water filter that is attached to our faucet, only to discover that the water had been turned off again. Fortunately we had a bottle of water in the fridge.
2. Later in the morning, when we all got up for real, we had a fairly normal breakfast routine, and then Derek went to work on setting up our internet router in a more centralized location of the apartment. He spent a couple hours with the drill, various chords and extension chords, and a step ladder, only to admit defeat and come to terms with the wasted morning. We're thankful that part of the house has good wifi.
3. We soon got a call from our landlord informing us that the electricity had been cut to the building, so the elevator was not working, but that hopefully it would be working soon. (This is a big hopefully since we live on the 5th floor). She also informed us that some men were coming up to work on the washer machine problem and ceiling light problem we had told her about the day before. These were the first two problems we'd had to inform her of since moving in a week ago. We were especially hopeful that the washer machine would get working again quickly! We'd spent several hours trying to fix it ourselves the day before to no avail.
4. While Derek stayed home with Finn and the handyman our landlord had sent, I walked out to the main road (only a 5 minute walk from our apartment) and hailed a taxi to go to the open market. This was about a 10 minute drive and it cost 4 soles - just over a dollar. At the market I wandered through a maze of stalls searching for various items we needed for our house--all the while staying alert to the people in close proximity to me, and holding my purse (cross-shouldered of course) close to my side. I bartered with several people over prices in Spanish and purchased several things. Among other things, I needed a large pot that we could use to fill with water and disinfectant drops to make our fruits and vegetables safe for eating. After finding about 50% of the items I had gone in search of, I gave up and found a taxi to take me back home.
5. Upon returning home to our neighborhood, I rang the bell for our apartment at the gate, only to realize that the power was still out, and therefore the bell did not ring. I called Derek on my cellphone and when he pushed the button to unlock the front gate, it didn't work either. Neither did the garage door opener. Electricity again. Should have known. So I was locked out of the building until Derek could find one of our building neighbors to let me in. Our landlord hadn't provided us with an actual key to the gate yet, and we had just been entering and exiting with the garage door opener and the button from our apartment which unlocked the front gate. Fortunately, Derek found a kind empleada on another level who lent him her key to let me in. We hauled my purchases up 5 flights of stairs to our apartment, where the handymen were still at work. They'd been able to fix the washer machine (yay!) but soon admitted defeat on the ceiling light issue. 1 for 2 isn't bad. When they were ready to leave, we once again had to find a neighbor to lend us a gate key to let them out of the building.
6. We ate sandwiches for lunch, put Finn down for a nap, and then began work on our next project for the day - assembling the piece of shelving furniture we had purchased the day before. This actually went pretty well considering we were trying to follow instructions written in Spanish. We were very thankful for the pictures. It did take Finn's entire nap to figure it out, though.
7. Later that afternoon, I walked down the road to meet a fellow missionary friend for coffee and then do some grocery shopping. While I was out, Derek received a call from someone at the immigration office here in Cusco, and after a conversation that was rather difficult to understand (language barrier) he figured out that they needed him to come to their office because of some problem with Finn's documentation in his application for a visa. Fun! We'll tackle that tomorrow.
8. After a lovely coffee get-together with a new friend, and finding the majority of the groceries I needed (I never really find everything I need), I took a taxi home. Now, there's all kinds of road work being done in our neighborhood, and different roads are closed each day, so the return home in the taxi involved discussing with him (in Spanish) which route would be the safest bet. We found our way eventually, however, and fortunately I found that someone had left the gate to the building open this time. Derek and I hauled all of the groceries up 5 flights of stairs again, spent several minutes recovering and catching our breath at the top, and then began to cook dinner.
9. I had decided to make one of our favorites, an enchilada lasagna dish. This recipe is usually quite simple in the states, but not so in Peru. Among other things, the recipe called for:
- a can of beans - I had to soak dried beans and cooked them in a pressure cooker, a new skill I've learned since moving here.
- a can of diced tomatoes - couldn't find this here, so I found a recipe to make my own.
- a can of cream of chicken soup and a can of cream of celery soup - also don't exist here. I found recipes to make my own.
- A can of enchilada sauce - once again, had to find a recipe to make my own.
- Cheddar cheese - had to opt for Colby, since there wasn't any cheddar at the store.
So that was our day! Thankfully the post-dinner evening has been relaxing and tranquil. It really was a very productive day, and we are thankful for what we were able to accomplish. We sure are worn out, though!
- Laura
P.S. at 9:30, the fire crackers just started going off outside. No, it's not a holiday. This is normal.
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