by sara
I am actually in Quito now, enjoying my last few days before I head back home. I now have internet access again, and a little more down time, I will be posting some stories of things that happened in the last few weeks.
After a busy week of VBS we got to help pour cement on Friday. This was our third concrete day this summer, and we got to finish up the stairs and the rest of the floor for the second level of the school.
It was supposed to be a nice short day, but like many things in Ecuador, the time table was a little off. We got there at 8 am, started work at 9 am and did not finish pouring till 10pm. It was a really long day, but it felt good to finish the floor that we had helped start at the beginning of the summer.
During the down times when we were waiting for supplies, or lights that we had thought we did not need, we had the chance to talk with the maestros and get to know them better. Luke had been working with the crew all summer, but this was my first chance to sit down and learn all their names.
Here is how we made the cement: First we filled three of the patihuelas (buckets) with chispa, small jagged rocks
Next we filled four patihuelas with tamisado, a sand/rock mixture
After all the buckets were full of the right ingredients, we dumped them into the mixer along with cement and water.
After the concrete was mixed we either used small buckets to pass it to the person pouring the bottom steps, or poured it into big buckets and lifted them to the second floor with a small crane.
It was a lot of work, but it was also rewarding. And to make it even better we finally had a nice dry day to do the work.
After working all morning we ate a typical Ecuadorian lunch (soup, rice/meat, juice).
And yes, the juice did come in a bag.
The Maestros (Geimy, Edison, and Flavio) and Ana
Me, Cheralyn, and Jack
Taking a break
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