Arquitectura Ecológica

Day 1 &2 the Hard Work Begins

"I didn't think it was possible to do all this work manually" said volunteer Tosh Hudson at the end of our first day.

Day one was an adventure. As I briefly mentioned, a busybody neighbor stopped the family from allowing the city to demo with machines because she is a jealous pain in the ass (I'm too tired to say it nicely). When we got there to work the first day, I knew that we were going to spend the entire day on demo. We had to take down four concert walls and the roofs above them. We also had to strip off siding and pull up concrete flooring. We also took down the rotting wood patio type thing.

We did all this work with two crowbars, two sledge hammers and sheer will. It felt really good to feel see that I was really doing something. The Vasquez family hasn't seen any of the work Christian and I have been doing. Working side by side for the first time was a really special experience, and I can honestly say that no one deserves this house more than they do. They never seem to tire. If we take a 10 minute water break and tell them to join us, they don't. They just keep on working. All and all, we got a more done than anyone expected.

I have never worked so hard in my life, that is until day two came around.

Today we did what is called el trazado y el posimeinto. Those are just fancy terms for drawing the house to scale on the floor and the digging a 40 cm hole in the space that you drew. I'll tell you like it is, I don't like digging. I knew today wasn't going to be my favorite, but what we did wasn't dig. The property is covered in cement and tile, so a shovel wouldn't work for us. We got some picks and picked away at the stone all day. Seriously, if I ever have to work on a chain gang, I will be voted best prison worker because I got plenty of practice today.

Working with the picks is a typical way to deal with concrete and stone in Chile, but to me it was a little demoralizing. I mean I was sacandome la rechucha su madre and barely advancing. So while standing in the hot sun, pick in hand looking at the endless sea of concrete I said NO MORE, na ha, no way Jose. Never again in my entire life will I break concrete with a pick. Tuesday I am renting a jack hammer no matter what the costs. So on Tuesday we will finish what took us all day to do in an hour and then get to digging and then refilling (with special construction materials) the hole.

So those have been our two work days. I would like to say a very very VERY special thank you to our two volunteers Tosh and Tim, who traveled all the way to Catemu, to work harder than they have every worked before. More over they did it for free. Thank you thank you thank you! We couldn't have done it without you.

Also, an aside which will not make you happy. I have no pictures, partially because the land is just a big empty space with a holes in it, and also because while I am picking away there is no one to take pictures. Tuesday I promise to take pictures of us going to town.

One more thing that I am a little that makes me nervous. We have no money to install a bathroom or a hot water heater called a califont or sewage pipes. If we want to give the Vasquez family a bathroom, we need to raise another 1,000 dollars or we can only give them a shell of a house. If anyone is willing and able to help us out on this matter, please donate on our website www.viviendapasiva.cl

I am officially off duty until Monday, enjoy your weekend.