Flooring done upstairs

First, please accept my apology to not posting in so many weeks. My weak and wimpy excuse was that my computer crashed on return, and so I spent a good amount of time pulling that together, while spending the extra time needed whenever returning from vacation to catch up on work.

So I've some catching up to do, and since my ability to upload photos is limited for each blog, I'll spread these now over the next couple of weeks - posting about every five days or so.

We visited again in January doing part of our time work and planning, and part of our time enjoying Costa Rica and starting furniture shopping. So some postings to anticipate.

During the holidays our former tile man had taken this pretty far, but not quite to the end. The holidays took him back "off the wagon" - and so Gerardo replaced him with Marvin. Marvin does beautiful work very efficiently. In the main Alazan homeowners blog site (http://alazanhoa.blogspot.com/) there is a post where roadway improvements are going in - a pair of concrete strips with other material on either side, making a stable place for vehicle wheels to track on. Marvin built the newest one which is really well done!

So post holidays, Marvin finished the stairs, and the upstairs. So these photos are to show that progress. The first one is showing the tiled steps. The rest of the metal work need the final paint, and the outside walls need finishing, but this is the glimpse of the final view. It was our intention to keep the stairs lighter in appearance and function so that air can flow over them for both cooling, and drying the steps.

The second photo in this post if from standing in the kitchen area looking out. All along we've not concentrated on clearing the vines hanging down from the trees. In this trip we finally talked through doing so; so that when we return in April this should finally be opened up. I do need to discuss with my friend John who is an acknowledged photo nut what I need to do so that the bright distance can actually be clear as we shoot photos from under the jungle canopy out across the coastal plain; we can actually see detail.

In the third photo, having stepped forward and expanding the view you can see both the living room and the bedroom doorway. We are trusting that once all the jungle vines have been removed this will appear very open. It is very easy to see when standing there. And the view DOWN from the veranda is stunning.

The final photo in this post is looking across the upper veranda. Gerardo, our contractor and Jim are in the photo. Jim was as exhausted as he looks in the photo. In our next blog, we'll talk about why that was the case!

Of course, in all of these you can see the tile floor is completed, and that was the object of this particular blog. The progress you can't see is that we worked with Marvin on setting the installation detail for all the upper bathroom tile. I am really looking forward to being able to share that post. Marvin is also working on the stucco wall finish in and out, as well as lower level floors which I know has been started as I write this.

Thanks for reading.

Ricardo y Jeeeem