Thursday, November 26, 2009

Pics from the archive (8)


Seen here beneath the bóveda, Jaime was the genial Salvadoreño who painted our house inside and out back in the summer of 2000. I dug this picture out of the archives today because we ran into him yesterday on the Avenida del Comendador.

He's been working locally in the posse of an architect called Mendoza, and was keen to update us on his career and describe his hair-raising encounters with ishting spirits on that very road just a few days earlier.

Nine years ago he gamely offered V a 'lifetime guarantee' and so far we've had no need to call him back for retouches. Still, he tried his best to enthuse us for the modish new technique of paiting with barro (clay/mud) — the materials are cheaper but the mano de obra is rather more pricey — he had to explain rather sheepishly.

Jaime was one of the great characters who incorporated themselves into our house-building project. His ability to cover himself from head to toe in approved colonial colour-schemes during the course of each working day was phenomenal...so I'm assuming the pic above was a morning shot.

(On a separate note, El Salvador isn't just a surfer's paradise. They also have a national cricket team!)

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