Guy shows up at the door. He was here a year ago, but we had just replaced our wood stove and stove pipes. Clean it? Why not. Gives me a price of $2800 (bit over USD 125) to do it three times this season. Turns out it’s pretty clean right now; he ended up treating rust (with stuff I happen to have) and sent me to the ferretería (hardware store) to get stuff he mixes with Portland cement and patches cracks and gaps on the bricks inside the stove.
By the time he finishes, he’s invited me (well, just about) to go dorado fishing in the western part of the country, made a mutual connection through the owner of the butcher shop in Estación Atlántida, en route to our chacra (country place a few km out of town), and told me exactly where he lives (three doors from it) in case I should need him. And I already knew he cleans the chimneys of our neighbors.
They always say in Uruguay—well, everywhere in Latin America for that matter—that you shouldn’t pay in full until the work is complete. I gave him $2800. He’ll be back.
