On Wednesday our mason and five community members showed up at the escuelita at 7am to start the process. This week they have focused on building an "aledamia" which is a platform around the edge since we are building on the second floor. On Monday we will begin with the concrete columns. I'm not sure how long that will take, but the following step will be rafters and the roof.
Overall, it's going pleasantly well. I went to a PTA meeting last week where everyone was excited to begin working. However, today one community member (who had not atteded the meeting) decided to raise hell insisting that we have to build the roof with terraza (concrete) instead of lamina (corrugated tin). There are many reasons not to build with terraza including the elevated cost, the plans we have are for lamina, we've already started building, he didn't come to the meeting, and the integrity of the building with the added weight. But the community, teachers and I stood strong and we will continue as planned.
Take a look at my photo album of the project on facebook. I will update it hopefully weekly with the construction process.
ahttp://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048121&id=27500355&l=13251df35e
The bottle project is not the only thing consuming my time at the moment. We are also about to start construction on the sanitary landfill in Agua Caliente and we are nearly done with trail construction on the mountain. But don't worry, it's not all work that's consuming me. I am enjoying spending time with my friends in town and just soaking up the Guatemalan life, like taking 3 hour lunches so that I can make chicken soup from scratch. Tonight I was lucky enough to wash my clothes in a washing machine... I felt guilty!
Last month I checked out where I will be volunteering in June and July (not PC-related). It's called Ak' Tenamit in Rio Dulce, Izabal http://www.aktenamit.org. Back to the jungle for a few months! I'll be helping them with grant writing and living right on the river which flows into the Caribbean. Not bad, eh?
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