Today we continued work on the septic system. Digging a hole 2 meters by 2 meters by 1 meter deep (approx. 59 inches) and a trench a meter wide and deep and three meters long in hard clay is much more difficult than it seems, especially since we are now down to the water table and it is wet and sticky. We're about half way. The truck arrived with the cement columns and wall slats. Of course, it couldn't get to the job site so we had to carry all of the materials the fifty meters or so from the truck. The columns weigh approximately 200 lbs and the slats around 75 - we utilized good teamwork. I kept looking for a HabiJax forklift - but it never appeared.
Today was culture day so we quit working around 2:30 so that the home owner could show us how to make tortillas on an open fire. We then headed to a sugarcane processing plant - definitely old school, relying totally on manual labor to turn sugar cane stalks into concentrated sugarcane to be used in the production of candy. Also, it is common to place a piece of it in warm milk as a refreshing local drink.
We brought some to the hotel and no doubt will give it a try.
Jamie, who is the fundraiser for Habitat para la Humanidad Costa Rica, presented the group with a beautiful hand painted Carreta Typica, a painted model of a cart that would have been used to transport coffee. Apparently, there is a festival each year in Costa Rica where these painted carreta are paraded through the streets. We'll be sure to present to Mary Kay (President and CEO of Habitat para la Humanidad Jacksonville) for display at the HabiJax office!
We were all very proud of our work today, having cemented one of the walls and placing the slats in addition to the work on the septic pit. The regional manager for Habitat told us that he had never had a group accomplish so much in two days!!! Not that we're competitive or anything:)
Greg - thank you so much for keeping us updated! We are so impressed with everything you all are doing.
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