Today marks a huge turning point in our lives. Today we’ll set foot on the land that we bought just a couple of months ago. Emotions are mixed, Elena told me last night that the whole project is daunting and the worries are now setting in. The rains came last night as we sat under the thatched roof of the Hibiscus Motel our humble abode for the next few days.
Friend have asked if we’ll be staying on our land this trip, unfortunately no as the land is just virgin bush at this stage and nothing has been prepared. That in itself is the daunting problem. There is one huge block, we don’t know anything about developing a block like this and we’re on an Island with limited choices of products.
Back in Australia we’ve spent the last 10 years building a network of friends, most of which have been in the building trade. Even our son is now training to be a painter. But here in Santo we are starting over.
Talking with Maree & Lois (the hotel owners) last night I’ve managed to get the names of a couple of hardware stores and a place that has bricks and sand, sort of a pre-cast concrete and construction business. I’m hoping to meet with the owner as the hotel manager knows the guy personally. One of the great advantages of living on this small island is that everyone knows each other.
Even arriving at the airport yesterday we bumped into John, a guy we met on our very first trip to Santo, he was surprised to see us and we excited to know that we had purchased land at Natanara. It was John that told us about Lope Lope Lodge and thus the connection between us and not only the owner of the lodge but also his sister. Here in Santo friendships and the openness of the people is contagious.
With the sun up at 5am I’m up and ready to get thing moving, however I have two problems this morning. one is Elena and the other is her Mom, they both like to sleep in. After opening the slatted little windows and Elena stirring and groaning what time is it I lied and mentioned 7am just to appease her sense of Island time. I’m hoping to get to the markets this morning as I’ve got a hankering for Banana Scrambled Eggs. Yes it sounds crazy but it’s a little something I picked up while in Chiang Mai Thailand. It’s quick and its delicious wash it down with fresh coconut juice and you set to take the day on. Now I just have to take on the Russian and delicately avoid WW3 in waking what on our family is known as the boss…. Yup If I let her think she’s in charge I get a happy wife…
