Third World Construction

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I now know it takes 5 men 3hours to do what a tractor could do in 10 minutes. Because it took me and 4 Ecuadorians three hours of shoveling, slashing through roots and hauling mud to turn a hill into a flat plain.

Construction on the new lab is finally "finished".

After six months of construction we had a cement floor, some wooden columns and a tin roof. So we gave up waiting and moved in, the walls will have to wait.

You may ask how it can take 6 months to build the roof and floor of what would be considered a shack in the States. Let me explain...

By the time I got to Yanayacu in August the foundation had hardly been dug. So I picked up a shovel and started to help. No cranes or heavy equipment, just one guy, Rueben, digging day in, day out with some help every-once-in-a-while from me and some others.

Now once the foundation was dug we couldn't just throw down cement, it would've sunk. First rocks had to be put down. We must have made a dozen trips to the river to haul enough 50 pound rocks to fill that foundation.

On top of the rocks went the sand. The sand was fortunately bought. But it still had to be hauled by donkey to the construction site.

You don't want the cement to be rained on while it drys so we had to get the roof up first. But first the wooden skeleton had to be constructed.

I refused to go to the "saw-mill" because I thought my prospects of returning alive were slim. The "saw mill" consisted of taking a horse and a chain-saw into the Andean forest looking for fallen trees.

We finally got the roof up and it was time to put the cement floor down. This is a big job because you need to get it all done at once. It was time for a minga.

MINGA. I'm pretty sure this is strictly an Ecuadorian word. It involves inviting the entire community over for some back breaking work followed by heavy drinking. It's like a barn-raising I guess.

Now, mixing cement is a fine art that is done by computers in the States.
We had four shovels. We shoveled a pile of sand into a pile of cement, and then shoveled that mix around until someone said, "Bien" (fine). We got the hose out and went to work.

At around 12pm during this minga Jose, the station manager started passing around the rum. We were half way done with the floor. The rest of the floor was soon forgotten and we had a nice lunch instead.

Then the construction site just sat there for a while, unfinished. But by the time I got back from the Amazon, another minga had taken place and the floor was finished. There were no walls but we decided we'd waited long enough. We put some tarp up to keep the sun out and moved all of our caterpillars into their new home.

My favorite part of the construction was buying the reinforcement bars for the cement. I drove to Baeza with Reuben and Jose. We bought about 20 reinforcement bars that were about 18 feet long each. I was a little perplexed as to how we were going to put 18 foot long iron rods in the back of a truck that was 6 feet long. But Jose and Reuben knew exactly what to do --- they would simply bend the bars in half... In half, that would make them 9 feet... 6 foot truck bed... umm.... So there I was driving along the twisting Andean highway (part of which is gravel), metal bars dragging behind us, and showers of sparks flying everywhere. I prayed the car didn't have a gas leak.

All jokes aside, the guys who built this lab are amazing. I put in at most 1% of the construction work. Reuben, Carlos and the other guys busted there butts everyday without electricity or modern equipment. I think it's amazing what they accomplished.


-Aaron

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Photos

Tractors of the Jungle
I'm standing on what was three hours earlier a hill. (the old lab/chicken shack is that black building)

Foundation Mud
August/September

Hauling rocks
Rafael throws some more rocks on the foundation. All the heavy rocks were hauled by us from the Aliso River.

Putting down the sand
Reuben used a neighbors donkey because it was faster than him using a wheelbarrow.

Putting down the sand 2
Reuben's wife, Rosa, came to the construction site most days to help her husband.

Blue Prints
Wilmer and Carlos review the construction plans that were drawn on a scrap of paper.

Cutting the Lumber
The chainsaw was used to cut boards from the fallen trees found in the jungle.

Saftey First
When you only have electricity for a few short hours a week you have to throw the saftey warnings out the the window.

Raising the roof
Certain jobs are reserved for he who is tallest.

Putting down the cement
The exact science of cement mixing, kind of.

The new lab
This is the result of 6 months of construction. Let me tell you, it's a lot better than what we had before.

The new staff
The new lab is so big we have room for a few more workers. Wilmer, me, and Rafael are here with our new staff.
(The real story = The candidates for Queen of Quijos [the region I live in] came by Yanayacu on a tour of the region)

Comments

[Michael]

Hey Aaron, sounds like everything is going quite well in the middle of the Andes. I just came across a story on CNN about students coming back to Tulane this semester that I thought you might be interested in reading if you get a chance. It's here: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/01/12/katrina.tulane.returns.ap/index.html. Keep having a great time and I'll talk to you later. --Michael