The children started back at school at the beginning of the month, and with Millie going all day for the first time now that she’s started first grade. This left Elizabeth with whole days to herself for the first time since Kit was born almost 11 years ago, which in turn allowed her to start preparing for our move to the UK.
We wanted to find our maid Cintia a decent new job rather than leave her in the lurch. We had actually found her a job in February, however she then announced that she was pregnant, and the new family didn’t then want to take her on for just a few months before finding someone else to cover for her while she took time off.
So we needed to find a very understanding family, and ideally transition her into it bit by bit so as not to lose her completely before we move.
Cintia has been with us around 7 years, after we got through 3 other maids in our first year in Salta, for various reasons, and while Cintia remains a dreadful cleaner, a painfully slow ironer, and unable to cook more than just a handful of edible dishes, she is an outstanding nanny, and furthermore she is 100% trustworthy, which as all saltenos know is far more important than having any actual skills.
As luck has it our American friends had been having a problem with their nanny and were looking for someone to start doing some bits and bobs with a view to building it out. It was a good fit, as they already know each other. We connected them, and so far things are going well.
The next problem was Avon, our dog. A friend’s girlfriend’s uncle and grandmother however, who live in two houses in the same plot, were looking for a dog. From our side, we wanted to find kind people with a large, completely fenced in garden, which as it turned out they had. Avon spent a day there to get to know them and vice versa, then moved in the following weekend.
Incredibly annoying a dog though he is, even I missed him when he’d gone, for at least a couple of days.
Back at school, Kit started Latin, and is enjoying it, as he has a nice teacher (the mother of one of Lettie’s friends), and it’s a much smaller leap from Spanish than English of course.
Farewell parties slackened off this month, with April and May looking busier. We did have our last asado at home though, rather a sad moment after having done perhaps a couple of hundred over the last few years. I used the last of the firewood we brought from the house in Lesser.
To soften the blow somewhat, I commissioned a blacksmith to make a couple of grills with detachable legs to fit into our suitcases and then fit together again when we get to England , so we can pick up where we left off after we move. Having two also gives the advantage of distributing the weight better, airlines limiting weight per bag.
Having visited Chile and Peru in December, at the end of March we made a final trip to see the Bolivian cousins. In theory, Cochabamba is much nearer than Santiago or Lima, however the Andes being what they are, it’s equally tricky to get to. The quickest route is a seven hour drive north from Salta to Tarija, from where there’s a very short flight over the mountains to Cochabamba.
The only problem was that we left on the first Easter holiday day, Maundy Thursday, meaning that there was a lot of traffic and furthermore a long queue at the border. This meant that we had to rather rush the last leg of the journey to catch the flight, which was a bit stressful, and with Millie vomiting all the way, as she tends to on long drives. Still, we arrived in Cochabamba, where I lived for a year 14 years ago now, in the evening of 29th Jan; one year to go until Brexit.
The following day we climbed the 1500 or so steps to the top of the hill where South America’s second largest Christ statue is (3cm taller than the famous one in Rio de Janeiro). We then climbed up inside Jesus and looked out the eyes (photo below). The idea was to tire out the children, who had excess energy having been cooped up in the car the previous day. In the event, it just tired us out instead.
We then had lunch with Marco, an Italian friend of mine from when I lived there, and also met his new wife and son. In the afternoon we watched Peter Rabbit in the cinema, before collapsing rather early that evening, even by our standards.
We wanted to find our maid Cintia a decent new job rather than leave her in the lurch. We had actually found her a job in February, however she then announced that she was pregnant, and the new family didn’t then want to take her on for just a few months before finding someone else to cover for her while she took time off.
So we needed to find a very understanding family, and ideally transition her into it bit by bit so as not to lose her completely before we move.
Cintia has been with us around 7 years, after we got through 3 other maids in our first year in Salta, for various reasons, and while Cintia remains a dreadful cleaner, a painfully slow ironer, and unable to cook more than just a handful of edible dishes, she is an outstanding nanny, and furthermore she is 100% trustworthy, which as all saltenos know is far more important than having any actual skills.
As luck has it our American friends had been having a problem with their nanny and were looking for someone to start doing some bits and bobs with a view to building it out. It was a good fit, as they already know each other. We connected them, and so far things are going well.
The next problem was Avon, our dog. A friend’s girlfriend’s uncle and grandmother however, who live in two houses in the same plot, were looking for a dog. From our side, we wanted to find kind people with a large, completely fenced in garden, which as it turned out they had. Avon spent a day there to get to know them and vice versa, then moved in the following weekend.
Incredibly annoying a dog though he is, even I missed him when he’d gone, for at least a couple of days.
Back at school, Kit started Latin, and is enjoying it, as he has a nice teacher (the mother of one of Lettie’s friends), and it’s a much smaller leap from Spanish than English of course.
Farewell parties slackened off this month, with April and May looking busier. We did have our last asado at home though, rather a sad moment after having done perhaps a couple of hundred over the last few years. I used the last of the firewood we brought from the house in Lesser.
To soften the blow somewhat, I commissioned a blacksmith to make a couple of grills with detachable legs to fit into our suitcases and then fit together again when we get to England , so we can pick up where we left off after we move. Having two also gives the advantage of distributing the weight better, airlines limiting weight per bag.
Having visited Chile and Peru in December, at the end of March we made a final trip to see the Bolivian cousins. In theory, Cochabamba is much nearer than Santiago or Lima, however the Andes being what they are, it’s equally tricky to get to. The quickest route is a seven hour drive north from Salta to Tarija, from where there’s a very short flight over the mountains to Cochabamba.
The only problem was that we left on the first Easter holiday day, Maundy Thursday, meaning that there was a lot of traffic and furthermore a long queue at the border. This meant that we had to rather rush the last leg of the journey to catch the flight, which was a bit stressful, and with Millie vomiting all the way, as she tends to on long drives. Still, we arrived in Cochabamba, where I lived for a year 14 years ago now, in the evening of 29th Jan; one year to go until Brexit.
The following day we climbed the 1500 or so steps to the top of the hill where South America’s second largest Christ statue is (3cm taller than the famous one in Rio de Janeiro). We then climbed up inside Jesus and looked out the eyes (photo below). The idea was to tire out the children, who had excess energy having been cooped up in the car the previous day. In the event, it just tired us out instead.
We then had lunch with Marco, an Italian friend of mine from when I lived there, and also met his new wife and son. In the afternoon we watched Peter Rabbit in the cinema, before collapsing rather early that evening, even by our standards.