Home, Clean Sweet, Home

Well, we've returned "home" from our trip to Peru.

It'll probably sound kind of pathetic but the entire time away I was really missing our dog. We had the original plan to put her in the kennel because she likes to play with other dogs.

Then GL found an easier (for her at least) way to take care of her needs while we were away.

Ode had our housekeeper, Rita, come and stay at our apartment and take care of Midori while we were away. This worked out well because she was able to clean up the semi-disaster we left on the way out the door before we got home too :)

I'd heard it said before that it's great to come home to a clean house. And, I think I've even heard of some folks who clean their house before going on a trip -- no one from my generation I can assure you. But, I have to say it was refreshing. And, of course Midori was taken care of.

The dog loved it. No furniture was eaten or soiled. The floors were shiny, windows sparkling, kitchen ready for cooking, and bed was made - which i quickly crashed in after our red eye and early a.m. layover in chile.

We haven't had a maid for long in UY -- we were here nearly two years before GL broke down and asked rita to come in a day or two a week and help out with some household cleaning and chores. Housekeepers, household help, maids, nannies, and in home nurses are all things that are relative bargains here as compared to Seattle or San Francisco where I lived before.

In San Francisco the maid that came in to dust and clean the parts of my house cost $200/day. In WA state, Seattle maid services costed around 150/afternoon at the "turn of the century" when I lived there. Here, there are literally people who have full time maids or household help for a similar salary (monthly).

All in all the cost to have our housekeeper come and stay with the dog ended up being less expensive than sending her to the kennel for a week and all the way around less disruptive -- sometimes it's hard to find cabs who will accept labs in the back (it's against some rules apparently and i know people who've been ticketed for it :) )

Ok....I promise to post some pics of peru soon -- all of them are on GL's laptop though so I need to wait for a chance to kick her off long enough to post 'em.

ciao
UG