San Cristobal Build

The last two days at this site have been incredibly busy. Each morning we start with a group breakfast at 6:30 AM following which we take our packed lunches and pile into our van and pick-up truck for a 30 to 40 minute ride out to our build sites. As we arrive the workers and families we’re building for are already onsite and working away.

View from Building Site

Anna and her younger daughter Karen are already working away as are the 2 masons and their labourer. Because it’s Semana Santa (Easter week) the younger sons of our head mason Hernan has his two boys working with him on our site. I think they’d rather be in school but here they are working away. The first day we arrived we found that only the exterior frame of the building and a few trenches had been dug for the structural walls. This was due to the steep grade that required the exterior to be built up before the foundation could be done.  This grade will certainly make the build a bit more difficult but the advantage of the steep terrain is that Anna and her family have an incredible view from their property.

Off-loaded Blocks Needing Moving

Day 1 - As I’d previously mentioned was made up of slogging cement blocks and sand up the hill to the build area. As well we were digging trenches and mixing cement which along with large rocks were used to create the foundation structure for each of the 5 rooms of the house. Once these were in place cement blocks with open channels were placed and these were filled with re-bar and cement.

Foundation Being Filled

Day 2 – This was another scorcher as we continued to put in foundation and first blocks with re-bar. I spent much of the day learning the Guatemalan way to mix concrete… believe me they have a specific way to do this that is very manual in nature. Much of my day was spent in the sun mixing batch after batch. Our team spent the day building re-bar structure needed and hauling large quantities of sand and cement block up the hill. As the courses of block were placed in we were shown how to follow behind and fill in with mortar the gaps left between the blocks. By the end of this day we had some walls going up and were feeling like we were progressing. By 3pm we were done…. And I mean done, like toast… You can’t imagine working in the sun and heat like this all day. Temperatures recorded at our other build site were 34 degrees in the shade and in the high 40’s to 52 degrees in the sun.

Building at Completion Day 3

Day 3 – Another blistering day in the sun. We were again busy as we spent much of the say, along with the masons and their workers mixing cement and laying blocks to create the interior walls. Overnight fill had been brought in so fill some of the rooms which had four foot drops due to the grade of the property. The Mason decided that myself and one of my co-volunteers Steve (from Ontario) were going to be given the honour of laying blocks. Apparently this is something the masons are often not willing to do and suggested we’d earned his trust as he was willing to show us how to do this. Our Mason Hernan would apply mortar to the previous course of blocks at each end of the wall being built and place the two blocks setting the level for the course. He’d then run a level and plumb line and it was up to Steve and I, working on different walls by ourselves, to place the mortar (butter the previous course of blocks) and then set the new blocks adjusting them for both level and height and plumb. We weren’t the only ones setting the blocks as Hernan and the other mason also continued on. As we went a long other members of our team would follow behind, filling in with mortar the areas between the blocks. We accomplished a fair bit by the end of the day with many of the interior walls 4’ to 5’ high as well as starting on the exterior walls. Tomorrow it’s off for the Easter break and a bit of needed relaxation in Antigua.