Moving to Maldonado

We're living in Maldonado at last! It's hard to believe that we're finally here after reading the job request over a year ago. As most of you know, we've been living in Montevideo for 6 months while the mission-owned house underwent major renovation. What a transformation! I'm going to do several posts on the house as so many have written us asking about progress and wanting to see pictures. Those of you who aren't interested in "house stuff" can just skip all of these posts! First, I want to write a little about the moving process.

We received word Wednesday morning, June 3rd, that our crate was to be delivered early on Friday morning, June 5th. We were actually traveling to Maldonado for the day when we got the call to get ready! The delivery was 7-10 days earlier than we'd expected, but we were thrilled to finally be moving in. We spent Thursday in Montevideo and left around 6 am Friday morning to get to the house before the movers.

Those who know us well always want to know how the piano arrived! Our first major purchase when we married 29 years ago was a Yamaha 7' 4" grand, not knowing at the time that we'd haul it a bit farther than might seem reasonable. It arrived in great shape and we've really enjoyed having it to play again after leaving it in El Salvador in June of 2007.

The trailer with our belongings from El Salvador and the crate we packed in Greensboro, NC

The piano was the last thing in the trailer, so the first thing off.

Figuring it out as they go

So far, so good!

The forklift is too small for our steep driveway, so the workers pitch in and push the forklift up the hill!!

Safe and sound!

Pushing the forklift with the Greensboro crate up the hill

It's always been amazing to me how much cardboard and tape that Central American moving companies can use! Most of our items arrived in good shape. There are always a few items broken, but nothing of great sentimental value was damaged. One "first" this time was that all of our furniture (except the piano, which had been stored in a different location) was covered in mildew. Thus, the unpacking process was lengthy as with each piece we had to cut through the layers and layers of cardboard and tape, then carefully clean every nook and cranny to (hopefully) eliminate the mildew. Here are a couple of examples of creative Salvadoran packing!