Interview Notes - Migrantes Huancayo

Catyl Paredes:
Part 1:
- interviewee born in Huancayo, 3 sisters in Spain (Barcelona)
- started building a yellow house in 2004; bought the bare terrain; by 2005 the first floor; 2006 the second floor; 2007 the third floor and other floors until 2008, when we finished it
- 2 people living the house but we have rented out the 4th (young family from Cajamarca, recently moved here) and 5th(brothers studying) floors, so 4 families live there, all together
- the majority of neighbours have transnational families, with members in US and Italy and I think this has allowed for them to make their houses, and they have all built their houses with 5 floors
- they see building these houses like an investment because now the house is also providing income by renting it out
- most transnationalhouses rent out part of their houses, while they still live in their houses.
- the house is safe because we have rented it out so there's always people in there and because of the position of the housewe can see who is around; there are also 3 bars around and they let us know whether there are any weird people around->community collaboration for safety
- the houses are usually rented out bystudents and young professionals->the university attracts new people
- the respondent will move to Lima with their daughters for them to study there and also take her business with her
- the husband came back from the US; there are no more remittances but apparently the remittances have been well invested in the house and the business so we have things settled a bit.
- one of herbrothers-in-law, having worked in Spain, will come back for 6 months in Huancayo to see whether there are any business or work opportunities to send money back to his daughters in Spain; the sisters have no problem finding work
- they maintain contact through internet, mostly Facebook, Skype only with one of them; my parents usually talk on Sundays with my 3 sisters, by phone because they can't use theinternet
- the education that our father gave us helped us always get a job and to keep ourselves busy
- it is quite difficult to deal with the return of the father of my daughters, a migrant from the US, after 6 years outside of the country

Part 2:
- I am always in contact with the members of my family abroad; obviously there are no more remittances received. But my parents have always workedso they are dealing with it well.
- Each of my sisters have their own families, their own houses in Spain, 2 of them have already finished paying for it. I told them there are job opporutnities in Peru for all of us to work and they refuse to come back because of the fact that they already got used to their lifestyle there and also because of their children who want to finish their school there.- The company is mine, has 3 years and I have invested 50% of the initial capital. Business goes well, we will extend the business in Lima so I can continue working there. The market I am focusing on is the one from the North Cone, the Carretera Central. the developing market that is growing fast. In Lima you built a flat building and they sell really fast, but here the sale is going very slow.- There is more demand for individual homes, with 2-3 levels, on their own terrain, more than the demand for flats.
- We are working more on windows, reflective glass-curtain walls and on "divisiones en drywall"; the structure of the house is made out of cement or bricks but the interior is made out of drywall, this fast, dry system
- the clients are more concerned about having safer,waterproof windows, that don't allow the passing of humidity, wind, which explains the preference for the glass-curtain walls
- we work more with family, private houses
- the people moving in the new urbanized areas in the town are usually people from Huancayo itself that are looking to build their houses in more residential areas, with nicer houses; most of them are professionals working in companies...