Our cleaner started work this morning.
It was never in our plans to employ one but a lady got recommended to us for work in the cafe and she is widowed so Esther felt sorry for her.
I am waiting for our one-legged gardener to start next week.
Bertha seems a nice enough sort and has progressed from calling me Daddy (which I hate) to gentleman (which is considerably less factual but sounds better to me).
As a consequence of her arrival, a big shop for cleaning related items took place this morning and she is currently waxing the floor, it is barely possible to move inside the house due to the amount of Bertha kit.
We are trying to get things sorted out for when we get back from Lima, we have put up blinds on the skylights to try to kill off a bit of the chill and so far it seems to be working.
An American who works on a project in Avenida de Sol that helps artisans sell their goods always used to come to Moni in our first few months and years of opening.
He re-appeared today and brought a reminder of how he used to berate me for smoking so much.
A veteran of thirteen operations for bladder cancer he was delighted to hear that I haven't smoked since February 2004, he then proceeded to congratulate me with a tip for 100% of the value of his bill.
Salvador has a third of the tip for being the reason I gave up and I have donated the rest to our cafe tips as they had to put up with the fumes when I was puffing away in here or out on the street.
Tonight we are due to meet up with another old friend from our first days in Cusco, Shona, an American conservationist.
We are meeting at the 'Hemp Cafe' so I might have to give the tip back tomorrow.