Please allow me (although how can you stop me?) to write about the house building and then the trip. Let me introduce both stories by saying not everything went as planned. We are sorry but this story became excessively long so we made Part 1 and Part 2. Part 2 will be in about a week.
The House BuildingArriving at Jose’ Aldofo Fieto’s house, we got our first surprise, the old house was still there, and it should have been gone. Oh by the way Jose’ Aldofo Fieto is only one person and it depends who you are talking with as to what name will be used – Mom uses Aldofo, Dad uses Jose’, most others use Fieto. And because later there is another Jose’ (every family has at least one) we will use Fieto. And by the way not just the house but most things in and around were still there. The temporary kitchen had the post in and grid work for the roof, so this was what I worked on while the family collected their things from the house. Maybe you ask about the kitchen, the old was a lean-to off the house so it must come down. In fact it was the first to go; we used the corrugated metal roof for the walls of the temporary kitchen.
Day 3, we started to strip the roof. I worked on the walls for fear of falling through – most of the rafters had dry rot or wet rot. We didn’t find the hollow logs because of termites until later. Anyway as I was removing the cardboard and plastic from the walls, I made a burning pile assuming that would be the best way to dispose of this junk; also depositing the extreme rotten boards and miscellaneous junk. About noon, I noticed my burning pile was getting smaller instead of bigger. As some of you know, I am a saver of good junk but this wasn’t even junky junk. By 4:00 PM, quitting time for the paid workers, everything was down except for 3 posts that didn’t just fall over.
Hmmm – I didn’t think of this until writing it down but I worked longer without pay. I forgot to tell you on day 2 while moving junk from around the house, we found 3 different piles of eggs with a very angry chicken near each of them. I think that my Spanish heard the question if we should wait for them to hatch or keep going. What they lose, (only 1 hatched out with 6 chicks) was made up for some very well fed chickens; they ate the termites possibly enough for an entire chicken farm instead of the 30 or so that feasted.
Day 4 – Installation of the baton boards (the strings that tell you where to dig and build.) The squareness of the building was set by holding a tri-square by the corner of the string. I later moved them to square – they were only off by 2 inches, actually I was surprised.
Day 5, 6, 7, and 8 – Digging for the footing, actually digging makes one think of a man with a shovel stepping it into the ground, not so, I would be more accurate to say picking the footings. Every crumb of dirt had to be broken free with a pick axe, and sometimes the pick end had to be used instead of the axe end. I thought it is not going too bad until about 1/3 done and we started to hit rock. As you assume it got worse, a rock every foot. The final 1/3 was more rock than dirt. Some too big to carry out and as you guessed it got worse. We got rocks so big two men were needed to roll them out, and it got worse. One we could not get to the bottom so we broke it, a portion off the top and settled for a stepped footing.
Yes, I worked past my energy level; in fact Big Agony (see fish story) would be like taking a break. I soon realized my new and important job, quality control. The mason helper decided to move the string because of the step footing and then said the first 1/3 is too deep; fill in 2 inches with dirt. Another quality problem, he said we have a OOPS so we can only have a 3 inch thick footing; I said it’s your OOPS and we will have a 5 inch footing. He agreed more quickly than when I said the step in footing is the weak spot so I want 7 inches thick and build the form accordingly – he moved them 3 times; each time hoping I would not notice. After the 4th time, I told him “if you move this form again, you are fired.” There were other issues but this half is too long already, when we left, the walls were up. I hope that the roof was on before Tropical Storm Agatha gave its rain. Another and final request for help financially, they will run over budget by $1,000, partially because of 3 extra days of labor digging the foundation, partially because of increased cost of materials and because the original plan was only a 6 inch roof overhang, I insisted on a 24 inch overhang. A necessary adjustment to keep rain off the walls.
The Trip
Several have advised and we have experienced, you must ask 3 times before deciding what way to go. Well because I am a man I think it unnecessary to ask anyone. Well Bill, Sue’s brother found us a short cut. Oh by the way from here forward we will refer to Bill as Guillermo his Spanish name. But we will not use the other names that have been associated with him. Anyway this shortcut through Guatemala City and you end up at the airport on the other side, we wanted both. I researched this shortcut on MapQuest, Google Earth, Guatebyground, Maps R Us and any other that I could find. We were doing fine; we had printed maps and my manly confidence, what could go wrong? After about 6 miles, I had a suspicion that something went wrong about 3 miles earlier. Sue thought we made the mistake 4 miles earlier. Actually the mistake was 5 miles earlier. When asking for direction, one said left, right, left; another said right, left, right; we tried both and no airport. After seeking advice from many, we got lucky because the next one was an airport shuttle service on his way to work. We put an X on the map where he lives in case we need another escort. OK, the rest of Guatemala was pretty straight forward if you don’t count the curves and hills. We did better than average for the rest of the trip to El Salvador. Border crossing was typical; we have permanent resident status in Guatemala so they know we are not the typical tourist.
We were hoping for a traveling companion that my help with map reading (Sue graduated from map folding 101 but not map reading) and listening and interpreting of oral directions. In our almost 2 years here, I have found only 3 people that can respond to, “show me on this map where we are.” Gustavo is one, and he expressed interest in traveling to Nicaragua with us but did not have enough time off and would need to bus from Guatemala to El Salvador to catch up with us. Fieto planned to go but needed to not miss an appointment to get his Visa and he is in charge of the house project. Lorena (sister of Fieto) wanted to go and she would be fun company. She has Spanish that I can understand as compared to the mason. I think I understand about every 10th word when his is speaking slowly. She also has intermediate English and wants more. OK we are all set, except 2 days before departure; she received notice of an interview for a scholarship she applied for. We went from 3 to 0 so Sue would fold the map occasionally, I would read it while Sue steered.
OK, so we are on our way, uneventful the first ½ mile. Whenever I am in the villages, I give rides to people. Our first a Mother and baby; soon another Mother and 3 or 4 year old daughter; the 3rd Mother with a very talkative 10 year old daughter and a parrot in hand, also talkative. OK maybe you are thinking that’s 7 ½ (baby) people in a 7 passenger van, perfect, not exact ally the rear seat was folded down to make room for luggage so that makes 3 adults, 2 children, 1 baby and a bird in 1 seat. Just right, because I get my own seat with elbow room. We continue about 2 miles on this rock gravel dirt road to the paved bus route road and the Mother with the 3 year old gets out. The others asked if we were going left to the next city. May we go also, a little unusually but OK? Arriving at city’s central park one got out with the bird, the other asked if we were going to the next city, very unusual but OK. By the time, 20 minutes, we got there she asked us to hire her as a housekeeper or any other job. She will move to Guatemala with us, NO. She will move to Guatemala with us and get a different job, NO. She will travel with us to Nicaragua, help us with directions, and get a job there, NO. Can you imagine at the border, I.D. please, she would say, I didn’t bring mine; I was only planning to go to market. And does your husband know you are taking his baby to Honduras and Nicaragua; NO, he doesn’t know that I am going, how would he expect to know our baby is going. And when did you decide to go to Honduras and Nicaragua. These people said I had to go with them to give directions. I think we would stay at the Crow Bar Hilton in El Salvador for a long time. When we did stop and asked her to get out, she still insisted she had a good idea, NO. Well give me your phone number so I can come to Guatemala and be with you, NO. Good bye.
About an hour later, we noticed there were 4 or 5 ants that we just killed. Yes let’s count them so we have something to do. Short time later the road curved sun straight on so Sue put her sun visor down. I said WOW that’s a lot of ants, Sue said AAAAH. I stopped the car to help kill ants. Sue got out helping kill from a safe zone. Checked by the visor again to kill more. Opened the cover on the visor mirror, another herd of ants. We didn’t bother to continue our count but the estimate is 117.
Yes, this story ends abruptly; the next blog entry will start abruptly also. See you in about a week.
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