The house project in Jaguey, Perú – Post 2

We just finished up four days of processing chickens here on our homestead Shepherd’s Flock Farm, so I’m a day late and a dollar short on this blog post. I had planned to post a Jaguey update each week until we’re up to speed, but life happens. Better a day late than not at all.

In December of 2021 we headed down to Camaná, Perú, to spend the holidays with my husband’s family. It was a productive period for us to be personally onsite. After the fun of Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we got to work making some decisions about the house design and making some improvements to the infrastructure on the land.

Maestro Flavio marked out the position of the house based on the engineer’s designs prior to excavation. We made some decisions and modifications to the plans based on this visit.

While onsite, we could start to see where the first floor rooms would be located and get a sense for the size of the house.

My father (“Papi Jorge”), father-in-law (“Papá Miguel”), and husband (Jhan), oversaw the construction of a road from the house site the length of the property down to the beach. This will facilitate irrigation and transport when we get to homesteading, but in the meantime it’s perfect for getting to the beach. Papi affectionately named the road “Jirón Miguel” after my father-in-law.

Between meetings with the engineer and Maestro Flavio, homeschooling, and sourcing materials, we still made sure to spend plenty of time with family.

By February we’d made many important decisions, had a plan, and it was time to wash and pack up to head back to the States.

We hit the road to Arequipa to catch our flight back to Lima.

Verdant valleys dot the landscape between rocky, arid mountains as you travel from the coastal region up to Arequipa.

After our arrival home in the States, Papá Miguel continued to oversee the project. My brother-in-law Stiven helped keep us apprised of the progress by sending regular photo updates. In this photo you can see the first section and the foundation of the large retaining wall below the house site. (Photo credit: Stiven Chavez Banda)

Here’s the house site and retaining wall from above. (Photo credit: Stiven Chavez Banda)

By early April, all but one section of the retaining wall was constructed, the bulk of the preparatory excavation was completed, and Maestro Flavio broke ground on our house. (Photo credit: Stiven Chavez Banda)