Hostal un Mundo

 Originally, Iris planned to rent out rooms in her house to locals. 

The hotels around here need more workers than are available in the village, so many people are commuting here to work. Early in the morning you can see several pickup trucks with the truckbeds full of people arriving. And the early morning busses (arriving at 6:30 and 7:30) are often full, too. The problem, though, is getting back home. The last bus leaves at 5:00, so those who want to (or could and would be needed to) work in the evening would be stuck here, with no place to sleep. 

Iris wanted to fill that need.

However, when trying to find accommodations for our guest-workers from Chiriqui we realized, that there is nothing available for guests on tight budgets as well. Most of the hotels are in the 50 to 140$ per night range. The two hostels in town, that are renting beds in mixed dormitories, are also almost 20$ per bed per night.

So we thought, maybe we can provide a mix of less expensive beds for guest and local workers as well. Even though the house is about 20 min walk from the beach in the village, we think, some backpackers and youngsters might prefer to save a few dollars on the bed and walk, rather than paying premium prices for 15 min closer to the beach... 

We'll see... For now, we're thinking (hoping) that between locals and thrifty foreigners, we're going to be able to have enough business to have the house pay for itself over time...

With the change in plans for the purposing, the floorplan of the upstairs changed as well. And the ideas about the landscaping around the house too.

Instead of another kitchen and 3 bedrooms upstairs, we're now thinking of making just one big room, and four toilets plus two showers for guests to share.

Instead of using blocks to build the outside walls, we're planning on using locally sourced wood on the side, and mostly glass on the front and backside.

But, all that will have to wait for now. First, we have to get the downstairs ready!

Progressing nicely with Iris' house

This week, Fernando (a young local man), and Capo (a "guest"-worker from Chiriqui) were working on the stucco of the third outside wall. Unfortunately, we did not have enough "tinta" - a color powder, which is mixed with cement and applied in a thin layer on top of the the freshly installed stucco.

I also learned, that it is important for the stucco to dry sufficiently first, before applying the tinted layer. In our case, it was already very late in the afternoon, and we didn't wait long enough for the stucco to dry. As a result, the grey of the stucco was bleaching into and through the layer of color, leaving the wall blotchy. Fernando - the specialist around this technique - thinks it might be possible, to apply a second layer of tinted cement and get the wall to be looking nice. Let's hope this is true...

Secondly, Capo started working on stairs leading up from the road to our yard. It is fascinating to see what local folks are able to do manually; And how they are able to build something quite beautiful and significant with the simplest means! 

Manually cut out of the earth

While Capo was digging the ground for the stairs, Fernando was working in the house, applying more drywall compound onto the walls, to create an ultra smooth finish, ready for painting later.

Fernando working the walls

Once Capo had the ground ready, the two of them mixed up the concrete - right on the dirt road in front of where the stairs are being built - and started to set the blocks to form the sidewall and steps. 

Public water pipes in the way

While Capo prepared the ground, we realized that two water pipes, which are supplying the neighbors down the road with city water, are running across the stairs. Well, obviously that won't work like that. Our plan is to cut the pipes off, put in detours to run them lower down underneath the stairs. 

Capo with the beginnings of our stairs

Water is currently provided only from about 7 am to about 11:30 am. Outside of these hours, you either have to make do without water, or install a tank.

For our problem it is off course excellent that  the water is tuned off from noon until the next morning every day! With that daily interruption it is easy to perform that work. There's no permit needed - one simply does what needs to be done, and if there's no disruption for the neighbors, nobody is complaining... Fascinating, this place! Everything is improvised, done manually, and so much without permits or involving utilities or governmental offices...

Importing Workers

After 6 months the change in ownership for the land I bought in May still hasn't made it into the registry! Without that, I can't even apply for a building permit! So, on my project, I'm still dead in the water. 

However, my partner had started building before we even met. Step by step, as much as money became available. Given the situation, we decided to first work on her house. At least get it to a point where it is useful.

The local "tradesmen" in Santa Catalina are a mess - and that's not even enough of a word to describe their cunning ways and lack of ability (or willingness) to do reasonably good work! 

My neighbors in Camarón Arriba, however, are actually quite skilled and reliable. So we ask them if they want to help us here in Santa Catalina. We can't put them up in a hotel - these are way too expensive around here! But they are very undemanding, and very interested in making some money.

The first week, Iris' neighbor "rented out" his beds and slept himself in the hammock in the livingroom. But, when at the end of the week his girlfriends little kids came to sleep there, that arrangement didn't work anymore. 

The second week now, they are "living" on the construction site. We got mattresses (which we later will be using ourselves) and put them on top of a sheet of plywood each, which are placed on some blocks to get them off the ground. A barrel with rain water suffices for washing. Iris cooks the meals at her restaurant, and I bring breakfast and lunch to the site. In the evening they come to the restaurant and eat there.

Iris is trying to make nice meals for them. Pizza (which they usually hardly ever allow themselves to afford), fish (which, of course, is much fresher and easier available here in the fishing village, than up on the mountain in Camarón. Also, fresh fruit juices, and every now and then a soda, are not usually on their table at home.

After work, if they stop before sunset, I took them to the beach. And all of us are like little children again, playing in the waves - Santa Catalina apparently is the best location for surfing in Panama! There are lots of young folks from around the world who come here to experience these waves...

All in all, they appear to be happy with the package. 

And we are very happy, too!

Finally, there's somebody who knows what they are doing working on the house! Although the bus-trip and three meals a day add to the overall cost, it still is affordable.  And, as we're now trying to compensate for all the mistakes that were made so far, the overall quality of the construction is improving with the each new step ahead.