Halfway point check in! Build Update

We are now well past our halfway point of our project and visit to Nicaragua. We've seen a lot of amazing things and have met a lot of really neat people who we've learned a lot from. The Hernandez family is almost ready to start enjoying their new house, and we can comfortably say that we have set what seemed to be a huge, nearly impossible goal, and will reach it by the end of the week.

At the beginning

Halfway Finished!

Lionel, our regular builder has been so patient with our broken Spanish, and will do anything to ensure that we are comfortable doing whatever needs to be done. It's quite amazing to see how people have to communicate with one another on a project like this, and really gives us a new appreciation for the many new Canadians that have been learning English back home. It is a whole new level of frustration and tests of patience, but is so rewarding when we can look at our project and see the progress that we have made together.
We are doing our best to ensure that Canadians will be seen as a hard-working people in Nicaragua, and if the exhaustion we feel at the end of the day, or the insane sweats we are working up is any indication of hard work, then I think we are doing just that.

In progress

 When we had first decided on the home build for our major project in Nicaragua, we weren't exactly sure what to expect. All three of us have done home renovations, and DIY projects, but building a house was a little out of our comfort zones. When we were telling others about our plans, their first reaction was usually "Do you have any idea how to build a house?". The answer was always a definite "No.".
What is really neat about La Esparenza's projects is that we are teamed up with very capable locals who are hired for the project. We are under constant supervision, and from day one, we were very flexible as to what we were willing to do to help Lionel and Mario out.
To date, our jobs have been:

• Digging trenches around the perimeter of the house to allow posts to be placed and bricks to be laid
• Painting oil on all surfaces of wood to prevent rot (this took forever)
• Mixing cement
• Separating rocks from sand for cement
• Bricklaying
• Nailing anchors to posts to allow movement
• Hauling cinder blocks and other materials
• Attaching frames
• Disassembling preexisting home structures

  

  #teamwork

This is by no means easy work. At the end of the day we are absolutely exhausted, and it is a great feeling.