Day 3: First day of the build

Feb 8th/10

We started off our day with an early big breakfast, and got on the road around 8:30 am. It’s about a half hour to 45-minute drive south through two other towns to the construction site.

All of our materials were there waiting for us on our cement pad. We cleared it all and readied the pad for the build. The men built the walls, put the siding on, and the women painted the walls red before they were raised. The house is quite red. It reminds me of Clifford the red dog from my grade 2 readers. The kids will not have a hard time finding their house! It was a day full of sun, hard work, and enjoyment, but I really didn’t do much of the building bit.

I ended up being the entertainer for the community children most of the day, until I had to have a nap out of sheer exhaustion in the afternoon! Those kids play hard! We played tag, piggy-back, duck-duck-goose, and then we had to get creative. We played with blocks that were cut off the ends of the planks, built houses and towers with the blocks, played a makeshift version of jenga, and made domino lines. I blew up a yellow rubber glove to be a big balloon and tied it with a hair tie to play hot potato, however it didn’t last very long. A nice guy went and bought us a big blue (“azule” in Spanish) ball, and we played soccer, hot potato, and chase. The ball kept flying away in the wind into people’s yards, and being sliced by the barbed wire fence, so I had to patch it with some electrical tape a few times. It finally gave out completely, but we had fun! They taught me lots of Spanish words, which was wonderful, and hopefully I can remember them tomorrow. The kids were very entertained by my camera and took many pictures! I tried to speak my broken Spanish to them, and they laughed at me a lot. At one point I heard them calling me a “loco gringo”, which they probably thought I didn’t understand. However, I know that means “crazy white person”. I’m sure I fit that description well! ☺

We got back home at 6 pm, quite exhausted and smelly. We had an exquisite homemade Mexican meal of corn enchiladas and lots of toppings, and we all enjoyed our showers! It’s a beautiful evening, the crickets are singing, and we’re all relaxing after a long day. What a great end to day 1! I’m sure we’ll all be going to bed pretty soon!

Other things of note: It’s only 65 cents/litre for gas here in Mexico! The weather today was wonderful and warm, and we got a little sunburnt, but not so much that we’re hurting. It’s been lovely.