Last Day

All of the sudden the last day was here!

The evening before I rode on one of the “Chicken Buses”,  the main means of transportation in Guatemala. This is not the one I took but they all look pretty similar. It was quite an adventure. The second Picture shows how the conductors ride the bus, no matter the speed!

When Jim and I drove to the construction site this morning we saw a slow moving bunch of grass in front of us.  It looked very peculiar, so I took some pictures to share with you.

We had not been working for long, when one of the masons told me to take a look at Fuego. The Volcano had been unusually quiet  during the past week, and I was very excited to see some action, even if it just involved some smoke!

I kept on spying at it throughout the day but except for a little more smoke it quieted down again. What a shame. I had hoped to see it sputter a little. Maybe next time!
Construction went very well again. I chipped Block most of the day and Jim prepared most of the u-shaped blocks which were a lot harder to chip than the normal ones (I broke a couple before it was gently suggested that I could keep on chipping the easier blocks ;-)

Can you see the vertical steel rods sticking out of the wall? The void surrounding the steel  had to be filled with concrete before the u-shaped blocks could be laid. This creates kind of a column within the wall and extremely strengthens the structure. We managed to prepare enough blocks, and the masons laid the layer of u-shaped stones which were then reinforced with steel. We did not fill them with concrete that day, but the masons said they would do that on Saturday morning.

The last constructions images were taken just before the u-shaped blocks were laid.

I will try to get some pictures from Jim to keep you up to date on the progress of the house and I am really looking forward to seeing how it is going to look once it is finished.

I am really going to miss the great tortillas Pancha made every day.

Before I left, the kids gave me this wonderful letter with a picture representing Guatemala on one side and a thank you note on the other. That was very special!

Thank you guys for following! I hope you enjoyed the images and the glimpse into another culture.

I will post new pictures as soon as I get them so check in every once in a while!

Until then,

Ilja Sanio

Blocks and...blocks...a lot of them!

Hello everyone!

As you can imagine, it was another day of hard work. Today it was all about Block. First we moved a lot of Blocks into the rooms, then we

started chipping holes into the blocks so they could be slid over the vertical reinforcement (the iron thingies that are poking out of the walls).

In between we sifted sand for the mortar and then shifted and chipped rocks again. It's all about enabling the masons to do their job efficiently and we got that accomplished, i believe.

Here is a picture of how it looked when i got here in the morning, and then a picture of how it looked when we were done for the day.

All the following images are of the family! The father and mother are called Eric and Pancha. The little girl sitting in front of the red curtain is Jessica but all the other names went through my head like fine sand through a big sift. I might come back and list the names later on! I wanted you to see who this is actually done for so here you go!

Hasta mañana!

Steel and Concrete - Best Friends Forever

Day two .

After having dug out the foundations yesterday, we needed to prepare the metal reinforcement that goes into the concrete footing. The metal arrived at the construction site just 5 minutes after we did. Talk about good timing! The first task involbed cutting part of the metal into 20cm (approx.8 inces) long bits which then had to be wired to the 6 meter (approx.18 feet) long steel bars. We prepared five of them and then cut three into shorter pieces to fit into the foundation where they were tied together and connected to verticals. Although very basic, these houses are very sturdy and will withstand minor earthquakes which can be caused by the active volcanoe.

While the metal was put in place we prepared the concrete for the footings, which is done in a quite interesting way that is custom to the area. Sand is piled up, cement added on top and then the whole pile is shifted to the side. This happens two to three times until everything is mixed. The pile is then flattened, crushed stones are put in the middle and a moat is being created which is filled with water. Then you let it set until it is needed at which time some more whater is added, it is mixed in needed quantities until the pile is gone. Sounds like cooking, but we lost a lot more sweat over it than i do baking a cake!

By the end of the day all the footings were poured.

Wednesdays volunteers take a break in order to regain some strength and to have the opportunity to exploring the local sights and at the end of the day i and my muscles were very much in favor of that policy.

I am anxious to return on Thursday to see the progress that was made during my absence.

I didn't want to bore you guys too much with all that architecture talk of construction and building, and added some pictures of Antigua. I hope you enjoy them. This is really a beautiful place! Not all pics are in sequence, but i think you can figure it out!

Thanks for checking in!

A good start!

Hi Everyone!

Here the short summary of my first day working:

We arrived at the construction site early in the morning and met most of the family, the masons, and Constru Casa's construction coordinator. We were all being introduced to each other and then looked at the floorplan of the house which within 15 minutes was site-adapted and good to go. Quickest pre-construction meeting i ever witnessed :-) This is a view of the site with the active volcano Mt. Fuego in the background. The views from this valley are breathtaking.

The next image shows an existing four inch (ca. 10cm) concrete slab that we were to preserve as good as possible. That meant that we had to cut through it in order to prepare foundations. I was used to do work like that with powertools, but here it meant chiseling by hand and using a pickaxe to get the task accomplished. It took us the whole morning and was extremely hard. I am just not used to this kind of physical labor anymore!

We got it done by mid-day and moved on to digging the footings for the house.

Here is a floorplan (windows and doors are approximated). Less than 350 Sq.Ft. for a family of seven!

By the end of the day we had all the footings dug out. It is a very satisfying feeling to get so much accomplished in a single day and to able to look at a before/after image and see all the changes that happened in less than eight hours of work! Tuesday the metal for the footings will arrive, which has to be cut, bent, wired and put in bebefore we start pouring concrete. I am sore, but excited for tomorrow!

On my way

Hi Everyone!

I am going to write little excerpts of the day and then publish it all at once tonight or tomorow.

Got up at 2am this morning to leave for the Omaha airport at 2.30.

So far everything went smooth. The shuttle-bus must have seen me turn into the long-term parking lot, because it was waiting for me as i got out of the car. A great blessing as it is still really cold at this time. I was surprised that the "arrive 2 hours before bording" does not apply here in the early morning. The counter was not even open until 1.5 hours before take-off. They worked really efficient though and i was checked in within 5 minutes. Online pre-flight check-in does make a difference!

Now i am sitting here at Eppley Airfield and am using the internet they provide. Way to go Omaha Airport, 21st century right here! Next stop is Chicago O'Hare. I hope they have Internet too! Looks like it's time to board!

And here an image of the inside of the plane.

Arrived in Chicago O'hare without any problems

and was really surprised that it was snowing here! I am including a picture of the terminal connection tunnel, which i have always liked. I think light-sound installations are great.

Next stop Miami. Did i mention that i am a sucker for Airport architecture?

Wow! I arrived and Guatemala is really nice! 80 degree temperature (around 30 c) I was picked up by a driver who held up my name.

That was a first, and it had to be documented.

Since the airport is in Guatemala City, we had a 1 hour drive to Antigua, which i really enjoyed.

I love hills and mountains, they remind me of home and it makes me feel quite content to see a lot of mountainous landscape while i am here.

Here is an image righ outside Jim's entry looking at Montana Fuego.

I'll post some pictures of Antigua later on.

So long for now!

Antigua - A World Heritage Site

I am counting down!

Only four days left and so much stuff to do. The preparations are running full steam. 9 hours of work can really split up a day of preparing :-)

Today i got a Hepatitis A shot. Could have thought about that earlier, which would have guaranteed full immunity, but thats just not me. Bleah!

Anyways, I am happy to have some protection and glad that my awesome workplace allows us to flex the work time a little to take care of something like Dr's appointments in the middle of the day.

I dug out my old German mason's pants - they got a cool side pocket for a construction rule and thicker cloth around the knees. Functional and stylish work-ware made in Germany. Yeah! You'll see some pics of me wearing them on the construction site.

So apparently Antigua is quite famous for its architecture, the cool ruins and the churches. I have seen pictures of Antigua before and was in awe but had no idea that it was a world heritage site. I am really looking forward to seeing the city and hope that i have enough time to explore a little. And to be surrounded by active volcanoes sounds very adventurous! Lets hope that i can make some nice pictures to share here.

Hasta Pronto ... thats me practicing ;-)

Just Six Days

On January 30, 2010 i am going to fly to Guatemala with the goal to help build a house for a family in need.

I have six days left to prepare for an exciting week of volunteering.

There is a lot of stuff to be done but i am cheerful and do not anticipate any problems.

The organization i am going with is called Constru Casa.
Check them out at construcasa.org

I am also going to send out a fundraising letter i prepared.

I just got done and do know that that is terribly late, but i am confident that i can raise enough to round up my volunteering with covering some of the houses construction cost even if its after i am back!

I hope you will be able to follow this blog.

I will try to update it every day that i am in Guatemala, but am not quite sure about the availability of net access.

Please pray for smooth preparations as i am counting down the days to departure.

Ilja