Second Update

The Second Update finally has text!

I am very sorry for the lack of comments - I went to the city, went to a café and typed comments and put up these photos and when I hit ´publish´only the pictures were put-up. Oh well... ha ha.

The project is going very well. We are two weeks ahead of schedule and there is a lot to say. First, the reason that we are ahead of schedule is because the mayor´s office is on board. He showed up to the project, saw what we have been doing and has provided us 6 more workers, 100 bags of cement and money to pay for water (the community has none and you need a ton of water to make cement walls). Clearly we are excited to have the mayor´s support!

This shot is were the tube use to be (go back to first update). The bus that runs from the pueblo has been having problems crossing. The back tire literaly sticks out... the picture does not do it justice. We have used a pick-axe to naw away at the hill on the other side of the road... it has worked, but not much (bus drivers just need to learn how to drive).

These guys are small cement blocks with little pieces of steel in them. We soak them in water so that they harden even more and then dump them in the foundation of the walls of the huge cement drainage box that we are making high up in the red zone.

A shot of the decision makers of the community. Left to Right - Romeo, President of Water Committee, Fredy - Forman of our project, Jimbo - in charge of being tall, Sebastián - Water Committee and the most respected guy in the community.

I call a guy nicknamed ´Lito´. He says, ´Jim, ¿qué ondas?´. I say, ¨we need a ton of sand and gravel´. He says, ´como no´. Then he brings it to us.

Gravel looks cool.

The rocks needed to build a retention wall can be very expensive to buy and deliver. The good thing about a landslide is that there are tons of rocks just sitting around. So we have scavanger hunts through the community, grab them and then use them to protect us. It is cool that the same rocks that almost really hurts us will be helping us out - full circle anyone?

The most handsome man on the crew. We are all this happy.

The first retention wall - take a look! This is about 100 some meters from the tube site. It was so cool to watch these guys build this thing and learn how to do it!




Bamboo pieces as the outline, we run string across to keep our level. Larger rocks go down below in the foundation and as we go up we select smaller ones. We always have a hammer near to knock away at the rocks to fit them. CUSTOMIZED ROCKS! Layer by layer, select a rock, customize it, place it, put down water, put down cement!




A cool shot of the progress.
It really is an art.

It just looks strong! The cool thing is is that the majority of it is bellow ground.

Tube gone. Foundations dug. Now it is time to build the walls.

Remember the cement cubes? This is how we made them.

Here is a shot of the steel frames we use to put in the foundation holes to make sure our walls are strong. I have made these a few times in my time here in El Salvador - but only for houses. Making it for our project is cooler.

So we placed the cement cubes, put in the steel frames and then pour the concrete.

We use wood frames and support beams to ensure that the cement hardens correctly.

Being very patient - making sure it gets done right.

Guess what is behind the side of the truck.

If you said, ´a ton of rocks´- yep! We use trucks like these to get the rocks up the volcano to where we need them.

I took this rock out of my house - this is the guy that broke my door down. Now he is the base of our second retention wall - the biggest wall and the biggest rock! Makes sense.

Digging is crazy hard. This wall will measure 35 meters long, we have had to dig a ton down to make sure it is strong - it is a beast.
More art with rocks.

It is a bigger wall, but the same process.