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