Day 25 and 26

I missed quite a few days of updates due to the internet being down. After inquiring about the problem, I found out that I´m really lucky it worked as long as it did uninterrupted. Apparently it goes down very frequently. It has me a little nervous now because I have a scholarship application due tomorrow that is absolutely critical.

I don´t remember much about yesterday other than it may have been the hardest day of work I have ever had. It was the day for the concrete. After a weekend of frustration trying to find wood to frame for the concrete, I had to wait until Monday morning. I woke up early and went searching for a decent deal, only to end up settling for what I think was entirely too much. I know the lumber cost here is high, but it was absurd. Upon returning I had one hour before the concrete truck was to arrive. I was hoping that this time the Mexican culture of being late would work for me. Of course though, they showed up early when I had half of the framing done. To make matters worse, the concrete truck could not pass through the gate. Picture this - concrete truck parked at the gate, me rushing trying to get the floor framed with subpar wood that was cracking and splitting, and being told that we would need to haul the cement in by wheelbarrow. The gazebo is about 80 yards (not a short distance over rough terrain) and the wheelbarrow was less than quality.

Feeling quite frustrated and helpless, my brain went to racing trying to figure something out. I stopped to think and heard a tractor in the distance. I figured the tractor must have a big bucket on the front and it could make it through the gate. I was desperate and took off running to chat with the hombres operating the tractor. After running through mud and receiving looks from Madre Heno that were saying I was crazy, I found two guys taking a break in the shade. There was hope - the tractor would work perfect for what we needed. Now I just needed to use my broken Spanish to ask these guys for the favor. I can only imagine they were a little perplexed having a gringo trying to speak Spanish and asking them to use their tractor to haul concrete. But, it worked. They agreed and I paid them each 20 bucks for their time. They even helped shovel the concrete once it was down.

But once it was down the real work started. I am thankful we didn´t have to wheelbarrow it in - I might be dead right now. After trying this method and that method to get the concrete smoothed and in place, Ephrian showed up and lent us his wisdom. It still took hours of incredibly hard work to get that concrete right - turns out we needed more. I thought, no big deal, we´ll go get bags and mix em up and throw em in. Not true.

Here in Mexico they don´t have ready mix concrete. They have rocks, and they have concrete mix. The method for mixing is to spread the rocks on the ground, pour the mix over the top, mix it all together with the shovel, spray sections down with the water hose, mix it all again, and again, then shovel into the wheelbarrow, then pour, then spread, then level. Over, and over, and over again.

I have blisters that I´m sure will never go away. I have aches and pains that will be with me for weeks to come. After another trip for more, more mixing blah blah blah, we were done. I could barely stand in the shower and had no trouble falling asleep.

That was yesterday.

Today I woke up early for Erika, Paola, and Karina (three sisters) Christening. I believe that´s what its called - its the Catholic version of Baptism. It was definitely an interesting experience. After the long walk back and a bowl of cereal, I was out again. I slept until 2, got up for lunch, and layed back down again. The only thing I did today was take Marisol to her doctor appointments and put up 4 boards on the gazebo before dark.

Tomorrow I should get really far on the gazebo. Now that the concrete is done everything else is a downhill battle. After hearing story after story from Ephrian about worse situations for building than what we had, I´m actually quite thankful for the experience yesterday. When the project is complete, I will definitely look back and remember the blood, sweat, and tears it took to get the thing constructed. I definitely have a newfound respect for the tools we enjoy in the US. Working without them in an environment that necessitates them even more made me realize how lucky we are to have access to a Home Depot pretty much anytime we need it.

I´m off to take care of my wounds and get some more rest before a long day in the sun. If anyone is free this weekend and wants to do a little work....