The Ants Keep Marching In and In

I guess the man with the can and the rag was no match for my children's ability to spread crumbs and smear traces of food on the floor, since most of the house - upstairs and down - once again has ants. Another call to the Ant Man is clearly in order.

We visited a potential preschool for Joffre yesterday. It looks very good, and they speak some English there, and he is extremely keen to go. It sounds as though the company might pay for the preschool, since they're committed to covering all costs of primary education for the children of employees, and here preschool counts as primary education. He will get to wear a school uniform, too . . .

We visited our soon-to-be neighbour yesterday. She's Australian and lives just four or five doors down from our new house. Did I mention how nice the view is from there? We watched a storm come down El Misti and it was just amazing.

Vote For Pedro
So, since we arrived we've been told that there are two taxi options here, but I've only used one. Last week on the wives' bus, all the ladies were going on about how we should really be using Pedro. Pedro used to work for AT (the other company), but according to the ladies he has struck out on his own and now is so busy that he's trying to get another guy working with him. He comes very highly recommended by Aaron's company, and in fact his contact info is on our contact/emergency card. So, when we went to visit our Australian neighbour, she insisted that we should call Pedro. So, we did. The first thing I noticed is that Pedro's taxi has a taxi sticker on in with a phone number, which is not the cell number that I called to get him. Once we were on the road, I commented that the ladies all really liked him and recommended him. He told me that this is largely because he speaks English (which I didn't know) and lived in Toronto for a year. Then he told me the whole story of how he came to be working in his current job. He had worked for AT for five years, but when word got out that he spoke English, the foreigners from Aaron's company only wanted him. The dispatcher at the AT didn't like constantly having to direct a specific driver on certain jobs, so Aaron's company offered to set him up with a cell phone so that the ladies could call him directly. However, AT prohibits its drivers from having cell phones on the job, to prevent moonlighting. So, he left - but he went to another company that doesn't mind his moonlighting. Most of his fares are people from Aaron's company, and they keep him busy enough that he is trying to get another cabby who speaks English in on the gig. The thing is, that I guess the cabbies have to provide their own vehicle, and we are not allowed to go in ticos, which are small, light, easily-scrunched cars. So, until this other guy is able to buy a bigger, sturdier car, he can't get on the Pedro taxi train.

My other big reason for using Pedro is that recently I've felt a little bit tied down by AT, which can take up to 45 minutes to send a taxi our way, and I've found them playing games with the fees. The rate for continous service is 10 soles per hour, and the other day I was out for 40 minutes and got charged 9 soles. Then the driver didn't have change for a ten, so I said I guessed he could just keep it - but Aaron felt strongly that I'd been ripped off, and if I got ripped off, other foreigners would too, and he got me to call the company and complain. So, the dispatcher sent the cabby back with 2 soles, once the dispatcher and I had agreed on 8 soles for 40 minutes. Later that day, we had a different cabby for an hour, and he called in to the dispatcher to confirm the fee. Then he said, "S6.50, por favor." I said, no, that's not the going rate for an hour of service, and gave him 10. Someone's clearly playing games.