Glossary

Glossary:

Altiplano: High plateau of the Andes at an altitude of about 4000 m.a.s.l. reaching from southern Peru over Bolivia to northern Chile
Arequipa: Provincial capital in the South Peruvian Andes. Second most important town of the country
asado: BBQ
Araucanía: The province of Chile in which Pucón is located
Ceviche: Kind of salad of marinated, raw fish or seafood
Cevicheria: Restaurant specialized in Ceviche
Chicha: maize beer
Chiriuchu: Typical plate served for Corpus Christi in Cusco
Chuño: Dehydrated potatoes
Combi: Minibuses, public transport in Arequipa
Cayma: District of Arequipa
Inca: a.) Precolumbian people in the Peruvian Andes, b.) The leader of the Inca nation
Machu Picchu: Quechua for "old mountain", a.) a mountain in the Cusco area, b.) the village close to the ruins of the same name, c.) the archaeological excavation of the ancient Inca settlement
Malbec: Red Wine, typical for Argentina
Mapuche: Native people of southern Chile
Nuevo Sol: Currency of Peru, S/. 1 = 0,33 €
Pablo Neruda: Chilean poet and winner of the Nobel Prize
Pisco: Destillate of grapes, Peruvian and Chilean national drink
Plaza de Armas: Generally the name of the main square of Latin american towns
Quechua: Spanish term for the language of the Incas
Santiago (de Chile): capital of Chile
Sillar: white, volcanic rock of which the old town of Arequipa is mainly constructed
Temuco: capital of the Araucanía
Valparaiso: Port town and UNESCO World Heritage Site
Yanahuara: District of Arequipa

Saturday, 24 December 2011

Tough Times

While I was working during the winter the sauna and cafeteria were growing. As we step by step discovered unfortunately not in the way we had wished to. We had to argue a lot with the architect, some days nobody came to work, things were not done as we had decided it and so on. Finally we realized - unfortunately too late - that the whole construction was not worth the money. It was not well made, we had problems with rain water entering the construction, things from the original plan were missing, doors and frames badly installed and many more things unprofessionally done. Highlight of all that mess was that the roof of the sauna set on fire when we used it the second time. Inés had been in then with all the kids while I had been working. It was quite a shock. For Inés realizing that the roof burned being in there with all the kids and for me getting the phone call of Inés at work that the sauna burns. At least we had been lucky and could extinct the fire ourselves before it caused severe damage. As it turned out, the chimney of the oven had been installed wrong. So it came that the architect never terminated the construction because for sure after the incident with the fire we did not want him to go on with it. Instead we demanded him. During the investigations we found out that he not even had signed the contract with his real name. He was a professional cheater. That was a hard shock. In the following weeks we had been like paralyzed and did not know what to do next. I had invested a lot of money in the project and did not want to risk the rest of what I had in repairing the sauna not knowing if anyone would do it seriously. On the other hand we needed to finish the construction to get some money out of the business. At least I had my job over the winter months to earn my livings. Meanwhile we are trying to fix the sauna searching for someone confidential who will do this. Summer season is slowly beginning and so at least comes a good time of nice weather, sun, lots of work and asados. All the rest we will see soon….

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