The luxury of an en-suite shower.

We finally have hot water flowing through our Calefon

So halfway through September and we’ve finally got our calefon, which means hot water in the hostal!! This has been a long time coming.

Getting the calefon came with a bunch of drama. I wish this was new drama, but actually it’s the same old. Crew not bringing the tools they need, like a ladder to do work on a roof, coming in really late, breaking some of our tiles, leaving the roof uncovered, and then having our room flooded because of them not covering the HOLE they left on the roof on a rainy day! Sigh, that was the least of the problems.

Don’t want to keep ranting here, but the thing that made us laugh hysterically (we can’t even get angry anymore) was when a subcontracted crew that was supposed to come and cover the roof, came in and saw Roger, and immediately called the engineer who is in charge of installing our calefon, to tell him that his price just doubled. It’s funny when even an Ecuadorian engineer gets “gringo’d”.

But at least we have a working en-suite shower!!!

Must say… having a nice hot shower in the new hostel is really, really, really, REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY awesome. We are currently living in the private room, where there is an en-suite bathroom and it’s amazing. Ever since moving down here we’ve been living in a tiny overcrowded room downstairs. The bathroom is external, so imagine you need to pee in the middle of the night during a rain storm? Yep, put on your rain jacket or find the umbrella, put on some shoes (if they aren’t soaked from being forgotten outside), run to the bathroom and then come back in to the bedroom, trying not to bring in mud. I guess the suicide shower didn’t sound like the worst part. Still, now that we have a high pressure hot water, spacious shower, we are probably going to be very sad when we have to move back downstairs.

Leaks galore…

Priorities keep shifting, as is the nature of pretty well anything. Fixing this or building that, hanging something, moving something else. Everything needs doing and everything is important. Just a matter of when it gets done. 

After finally getting water running through hostel we started discovering that the piping used in our bathroom sinks was already rusting and some were leaky. So Roger had to drop everything else and spent over two days ripping apart the faucets and putting them back together again. With limited to no success. After replacing the rusty parts no amount of tinkering was working and no amount of sealing was preventing leaking in the pipes. After so much time wasted, nearly flooding the private bedroom (again), and getting to the end of his rope on the problem….. it was time to bring in a pro.

Basement finally fixed!

Basements are not really a thing here, and when ours was built there was some flaws and water was leaking through the walls. Not outright flooding thankfully, but seeing moisture seeping through the concrete in great patches on the wall set Roger’s blood boiling. 

We tried for weeks to find a construction crew to take on the job and it was not an easy task. The crew we really like was super busy so he could not take on the job for weeks, which worried us since supposedly it’s rainy season soon. So we kept asking around and after a few exorbitant quotes, we settled on a crew we had dealt with before.

So yay we got this fixed! Within a few hours after the guys finished we had a storm. And so far, downstairs…..nothing. What a huge relief. Our timing couldn’t have been better.

Inspections of our building

One of the many steps we need to take in order to get the hostel up and running is getting inspections by the local fire department (“Bomberos”, is that not the coolest name or what?). We had our initial inspection and they gave us a list of simple and small changes we need to take, what new equipment we need to get, and what signs to put up and where. 

It’s seemingly one of the few things that actually went without a hitch. The fellow from the Bomberos dept. was chill and easy going, just telling us what we need to know and what we needed. It was remarkably stress free. 

Selling beer at Market

Something other than Pilsener and Club. Who’dathunkit?

Roger’s been setting up a table at a little market on Thursday mornings for the past few weeks, cooler of beer in tow and a handful of flyers in English and Spanish. He’s come home with only a few bottles leftover each time. Been fun getting to know the other vendors, trying them out and their foods and seeing the happy surprise on peoples faces when they learn we’re making beer right here in town.

Roger needs to trim his beard again. There is also a couple lighter hairs in there. Not his usual brown fuzz. Something is happening there.

Licensing that brewskie

We’re part of the way through our submissions now for getting our beers licensed. And we’ve parted ways with our accountant which leaves us hanging in no man’s land with our current status. We’ve got all our paperwork back and are trying to connect with the laboratory to see where in the process we are and figure out our next steps. Fun times. 

It’s disheartening as we felt like we were so close to finally being “legit”, but now floating in space not knowing is infuriating. Luckily we’ve been talking with other small breweries in the area. Specifically our friends at Fortaleza and Muyu in Otavalo, both of whom have been incredibly kind (and they also make fantastic beers) and have shared their own horror stories and advice about surviving this madness.

There is always an added cost of one kind or another

Money, time, emotional days. When you make agreements on costs, terms, deliveries, and then….. “oh yah by the way”. So with regards to our calefon and basement repair, both started in a state of excitement and hope and have given way to a certain despair. 

We have to keep reminding ourselves that these are all small problems, but could be bigger and worse. Thinking back to stories in books we’ve read by other brewers, about exploding fermenting tanks and car accidents. Or our discussions with other brewers and business owners we’ve gotten to know in the area. We know we’re not alone in difficulties. 

Getting used to it, accustomed, but not enjoying it in any way. Even when expecting it, there’s always something catching us off guard and maybe we’re adapting to it better now than this time last year, but it still is costing us a little bit of hope, sanity, and peace of mind with every event. 

Still, hopeful. Not always 100% positive, at times a bit defeated, but hopeful we remain. Keep thinking “in 5 years we’ll look back and laugh”. 

Hopeful, we remain.