Thursday Report

Content by Melanie and Joanne

Thursday was another perfect day for work. Sunshine interspersed with clouds. Although it does not seem too hot, sunscreen is needed. We are all getting tanned, and some a bit sunburned from the southern sun. Amanda even has a very cool band-aid tan and Melanie has a mohawk-style sunburn!

This was market day in Tecpan. People were setting up their spots the previous night and this morning the whole central town was filled with people selling material, baskets, live chickens, pigs, and an interesting offering of  'live crabs strung together by string' - you have to wonder where they came from ....









Team Timoteo

There was a pretty strong desire to get the last of the dirt moved from the garden area, so that was the first order of the day - loading more wheelbarrows and moving them down the hill and over to the river. Next step was tying more re-bar - this time putting the corner supports in place, and placing more of the upright bars at appropriate sections along the walls. This was pretty tight work, with the hardest part as finding where to put your feet. Once this was all done, we were ready for the next step... concreto !!!





Mixing concrete is quite an eye-opener:

Trent Scraping the Plate



- First you get 6 wheelbarrows full of sand, 3 of rocks, and 3 bags of cement. When we were all set,  Timoteo let us know with a chuckle that it was six Guatemalan sized fills - to the rim. We were taking as much content as we could manhandle up the hill - which eventually meant that we had to get three more. So I guess you could say that wheelbarrows have a 1.5 exchange rate....

- Next you put the sand on the bottom, and pour the cement on the top.

- Shovel the sand mountain from one side to the other to mix is up
- Then you shovel it back!
- Next you make a pancake out of the mixture - a  flat area about 12 feet across
- Sprinkle the rocks all over the top - this is the blueberry sauce on top of the pancake
- Now you make a canal around the outer rim, to hold the water runoff and allow the outer edge to be a barrier against runaway 'syrup'
- The syrup (water) is then spread all over the top of the pancake and allowed to soak in.
- Then you mix - starting from the inside. If you need more water you open up the water canal, and if your mix is too lumpy you add a bit of pancake mix from the outside.
- Load into buckets (not too full, please this stuff is heavy), and continue until the pancake is all gone
- Scrape the plate with a hoe and start again ("Not down to the dirt - we're not planting you know" - Timoteo)

 Team Juan

We left the site yesterday with a huge sense of pride and purpose.  All of the materials from the road made it into the cornfield of dreams.  The concrete was poured and the small compact "home" now had a foundation that was left to dry overnight.  Our arrival in the morning was met by a surprising pile of bricks and sand and gravel.  We were expecting the bricks -- the sand and gravel was a bonus.

Corn Dolly?

The team split somewhat with Tim and John playing middle men in the corn path and Amanda and Lisa taking the load the first 100meters.  Brooke was our tireless loading machine.  Melanie and Eileen spent three hours sifting every last granual of sand into a pebble clear dust suitable for mixing cement.  We are an amazing team.  The mason, the neighbors, the community -- all of us are rooting for this family.  With the help of one and all, full rows materialize on the structure.  Lunch is met with camaraderie, laughter and always the kids providing winning smiles and bashful glances.  Our muscles are starting to stiffen after the few minutes of relief sitting in the warm Guatemalan sun and yet we are determined.  Lisa and Eileen take over the sifting and the rest push through the endless corn with the sand.  That will be our goal for today.  Get the sand done.  3:52pm mission complete.




The team cheers as the last wheelbarrow rounds the bend into the clearing.

My name is Melanie and I used to love corn.