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Vilcabamba Glimpse #52

BUILDING A HOTEL (Sunrise at Hacienda San Joaquin)

In Glimpse #51, I wrote that construction had begun on our mountain-top hotel and pool, Sunrise at Hacienda San Joaquin. I noted that I would keep you posted on progress.

On Friday, August 29, we poured the concrete for the second floor of the hotel (there will be two floors). Eighty workers, five maestros (supervisors), and a support cast of many worked non-stop from 6 A.M. to 8 P.M. to complete the job.

It was quite an extraordinary feat to witness. There are no cement trucks in Vilcabamba. All the concrete had to be mixed on site. At each of five stations were about 15 men loading sand, gravel and cement, non-stop for 14 hours, into cement mixers. Second-floor lifts raised buckets of concrete to men waiting with wheel barrels. They quickly delivered the concrete to other waiting workers who spread and leveled the concrete. This went on all day and into the night (under lights).

The attached photos give a sense of the scope of the project. Photo 1: The hotel site. Photo 2: Interior area of hotel. Half circle shows area where spiral staircase will descent into the wine cellar lounge. Photo 3: Closer view of the hotel site. Photo 4: A concrete mixing station. A hub of non-stop (14 hours) activity. Photo 5: Closer view of one of the concrete mixing stations. Photo 6: One of the five lift stations raising a bucket of concrete to the second floor. Photo 7: Delivering the concrete to be spread and leveled. Photo 8: The future hotel lobby.

The photos:

For many more interesting photos, please click on http://picasaweb.google.com/jrsimonetta/August292008HotelSecondFloorConcretePouring

Sales Update: At this time, we have sold about 45 properties. There are still many great ones as they are all unique. An international community is being born. Our property owners are from many countries: United States, Canada, Ecuador, U.K., Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Russia, Australia, China, Taiwan and South Korea. Many feel drawn to this area and to our ranch. Generally speaking, our owners, successful and intelligent, seek a way of life that transcends in multiple ways much of the commercially driven over-priced nonsense and associated problems common and growing in the world.

Best, Joe

Joe Simonetta
Owner/Architect
Hacienda San Joaquin
Vilcabamba, Ecuador


P.S. International Living named Ecuador "The Best Place in the World to Retire" http://www.haciendasanjoaquin.com/best_in_the_world.html