Monday started the first work day building a house for a Guatemalan family in need. Look how friggin adorable they all are.
They're so adorable that it's actually gross. It's like when the water in the bath gets so hot that it actually starts to feel cold. They're a very nice family.
So this is what their house looked like when we started on Monday morning:
So this is what their house looked like when we started on Monday morning:
And well... it's gonna stay that way! LOL. But you see this huge dirt section in the back?
We'll just build their entire house here in this space. So that's how it looked on Day 1 right when we arrived (actually in these photos we've already moved some debris and concrete a bit, but not much.)
That first day we dug a long trench (of which I was -- obviously -- monumental when you factor in my muscles and pure brute strength) and then we moved enough dirt to cover Big Bird's coffin:
So then day 2 came and so did the sunburn. I had sweat off enough sunblock to burn my neck and shoulders. On day 2 the masons started to build the foundation in the trench we dug. And then we moved 1100 cinderblocks into the family's home!
Day 3 consisted of constant by-hand cement mixing (and strangely homoerotic comments from a ConstruCasa photographer. Ask me later). Wheelbarrows of sand, cement mix, gravel, water, and lots of shoveling right in the middle of their home. Over. And over. And over! AHHH!!
But it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I mean, a house! Take a look. It looks like walls but will actually be their foundation under their soon-to be floor. So basically, we're finally up to the floor! Coming from a kid whose third parent was Legos, this is really exciting to see:
Our lunch breaks consist of us sitting on the side of the road clenching up every time a truck zooms within feet of a playing child or hungry dog. I don't recommend choosing a such a high stress environment like this to take your meal break. It would be like choosing to sleep on your running washing machine or something.
It makes me and this kid hyperventilate!
Making some amazing friends. Already had to say goodbye to two of our awesome crew members, a mother and son from Connecticut. The son is 12 years old. When I was 12, I was thinking about how I can make my Scyther evolve to Scizor (Pokémon) but not going to a foreign country to build a house. Good on them! (Oh and by the way, I still run into that problem today because you have to actually have 2 games to trade the Scyther and I only have 1. Which is really rough because Scizor is a main competitive Pokémon. Anyway...)
MEANWHILE IN ANTIGUA....
This guy shows us what it means to be dedicated to your work:
"Nothing suspicious here! We're not any sort of trafficking hot spot, we're just a normal store!"
And then there's this crap:
Translates to "The most exclusive residential project in Antigua." Ew. It's funny to think that even somewhere as humble as Central America has this hoity-toity prissiness. It wouldn't even be that bad if its prissiness wasn't so self proclaimed!
But my God it was beautiful inside!
"We're so exclusive we're not even going to finish our arc."
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