1st day of building

Today was our first build day… and what a day it was.  Our work day begins at 7am and ends at 3pm. This is being done to get our work started before the heat of the day which we are continually told is going to be very hot…and today it was. Colin and I are assigned to separate builds as I’d mentioned previously.
Our build is located in an area nearby Guastatoya, called Cristobal and is just above the highway on a steep hillside (which is going to be lots of fun for lugging things up to the build site).  Our other group, including Colin, are building about 2 km away in an area named Jicaro close by the Matagua River.  These spots are about 30 minutes outside of Guastatoya.

View uphill to San Cristobal Build

We arrived to our build site to find the workers, including our mason, already hard at work. Because of the hilly terrain the foundation is taking much longer then the other build site and is only at the preliminary stages with the outside concrete blocks in place and trenches and re-bar columns protruding from the outside walls. This property is owned by Anna who lives there with her 2 daughters Roxanna (17) and Karen (11). The property already has a small house that Anna, her daughters and her elderly mother reside in. The build site is just above this small house and is quite exposed with incredible views of the Valley below, mountains in the distance and the Matagua River meandering through below. Certainly what we’d consider a view property. The land also has mature mango trees, one of which is full of ripe fruit. The build area is exposed and means it can be very hot but fortunately much of the day we had a nice breeze providing relief from the heat.

Homeowner Anna and Current House

Because of the delays in construction most of the materials were yet to be delivered. That meant today was a day full of receiving and stacking concrete blocks, moving sand needed for mixing cement, and the cutting bending and tying together of re-bar. The pick-up truck delivering the blocks made about 7 trips, providing approx. 1800 blocks, but could only deliver them part way up the roadway to the location of the new home due to the steep grade.

Much of the day was spent carrying them from this off-load site with much more to be done tomorrow. Our homeowner “Anna” was hard at it all day, working with us and carrying 2 heavy blocks at a time up to the building area where we’re moving them to.  Incredible for a woman in her 40’s who can’t be over 4’6”. By the end of the day we’re all sore but happy with what we accomplished today and the family we’re working with and for. Tomorrow should be another interesting day, a combination of moving more sand and blocks up to the build area and hopefully the beginnings of the building of walls.