Here is the little project that I have been working at in spare time with another temple worker. In the first picture we are mixing concrete in the wheel barrow for a footing wall. Shown first is Alfonso & Mariana Valaros, and my co-worker Rulon Johnson. We have renamed him Rulondo. They refer to me as Pedro. Ripple is pronounced "Ripley", as they just can't wrap their tongues around English R's and vowel sounds. The block wall on the left is part of a house that was started 10 years ago and construction stopped when Ecuador went from the sucre to the US dollar as it's standard of currency and savings were wiped out for anybody who had any. We need to build a wall just 2" inside of that one that is 12' long for the back wall of the bathroom.
The 8' wall will go right behind the people shown and cut off from the neighbors back courtyard where they have their clothes hung out. You can just see a concrete sink between Rulon and Alfonso where the neighbor woman washes her clothes by hand. She has been out there scrubbing at something every time I have been there.
In the second picture we have just completed the third footing wall. For those of you Niagarians and others I have not seen in 50 years or less, I am the old poop on the left. After the forms were removed, we filled the space with crushed rock and tamped it, and installed the plumbing and made things ready for the concrete slab.
Rulondo and I weren't looking forward to mixing the concrete for an 8x12 slab that was 8" thick at edges going up to 3" across the span, in a wheelbarrow. We inquired about a cement mixer. The head gardner at the temple told us a mixer would cost us $35 for the day, plus transportation and bring back clean. Better was to hire a concrete man for $20 a day, who would mix it on the ground for us with a shovel. The third picture shows him (in the pink and gray shirt and flip flops). On the ground ready for water and mixing are 6 bags of sand weighing 150 lbs each, 4 bags of crushed rock and 2 bags of cement weighing 110lbs. Beside him in the red shirt is Bro. Mino, an Ecuadorian temple worker living here from Quito. They have a system for mixing and turning that is very efficient, and I have to conclude is a lot faster than a batch mixer would have been. Not only was he good at mixing, he was a pretty good finisher as well. We were done in 4 hours, but we gave him a days pay and he was very happy and so were we. Good cameraderie amongst us all.
An interesting note. When the concrete worker came he was nicely dressed and clean. When we got to the job, he asked for a place to change. He had no intentions of ruining a pair of shoes with concrete so he wore a $3 pair of flip flops. When done, he washed up and changed back and went home on the bus looking as nice as he arrived. I think that is typical of Ecuadorians. They all look great all the time. Not so with me, or probably North Americans. When I need something on a job, regardless of how I look I just go get it and go back to work, and arrive home looking pretty scruffy most of the time. You would have a hard time discerning class lines from the way people dress. Probably the poor dress up and the rich dress down so as not to become targets for muggers.
In pic 4 we are just starting to finish a portion of the slab that will be used to establish the grade along the wall of the house, so we can screed from that to the top edge of the form on the opposite wall.
In picture 5, time has passed; the slab has cured, and on Monday, Alfonso and I were laying the block wall that separates their place from the neighbors. You can just see the neighbors wash over the top. There is a wall coming straight at you in that picture that will become the shower wall.
That's it folks. That is my little fun project that is helping to put balance in my life. I can only stand so much of neat clean and tidy, and as some of you know, and the rest may safely assume, the temple is neat and tidy and very undemanding physically. I enjoy being there very much, but still I am glad I can do this other as well.
One thing I have observed. When I am working alongside Ecuadorians, I am very soon wringing wet. I have to bring along a towel to wipe my face frequently. Sweat runs onto my glasses and makes it hard to see. The Ecuadorians, on the other hand are completly dry or barely sweating. Rulon is from Arizona, and he doesn't mind the heat. I wonder if tolerance of heat or cold isn't genetic. I have doubts if I lived here for the rest of my life if I would ever get used to the heat. When I left Hawaii after 4 months I was not aclimated to the heat. Every day I was soaking wet within the first hour of work and stayed that way all day. As much as I enjoyed it there, I was finally looking forward to November and winter in Nova Scotia. People who live in heat, can't even imagine living in the cold. I wonder if genes might figure in. Just as some skin colors are better for living in sunny places, perhaps heat tolerance is part of a package. Maybe heat tolerance is acquired rather than genetic. Right now I am looking forward to getting into the mountains for a while where I am told it is a bit cooler. I look forward to needing a light jacket.
Pete
The 8' wall will go right behind the people shown and cut off from the neighbors back courtyard where they have their clothes hung out. You can just see a concrete sink between Rulon and Alfonso where the neighbor woman washes her clothes by hand. She has been out there scrubbing at something every time I have been there.
In the second picture we have just completed the third footing wall. For those of you Niagarians and others I have not seen in 50 years or less, I am the old poop on the left. After the forms were removed, we filled the space with crushed rock and tamped it, and installed the plumbing and made things ready for the concrete slab.
Rulondo and I weren't looking forward to mixing the concrete for an 8x12 slab that was 8" thick at edges going up to 3" across the span, in a wheelbarrow. We inquired about a cement mixer. The head gardner at the temple told us a mixer would cost us $35 for the day, plus transportation and bring back clean. Better was to hire a concrete man for $20 a day, who would mix it on the ground for us with a shovel. The third picture shows him (in the pink and gray shirt and flip flops). On the ground ready for water and mixing are 6 bags of sand weighing 150 lbs each, 4 bags of crushed rock and 2 bags of cement weighing 110lbs. Beside him in the red shirt is Bro. Mino, an Ecuadorian temple worker living here from Quito. They have a system for mixing and turning that is very efficient, and I have to conclude is a lot faster than a batch mixer would have been. Not only was he good at mixing, he was a pretty good finisher as well. We were done in 4 hours, but we gave him a days pay and he was very happy and so were we. Good cameraderie amongst us all.
An interesting note. When the concrete worker came he was nicely dressed and clean. When we got to the job, he asked for a place to change. He had no intentions of ruining a pair of shoes with concrete so he wore a $3 pair of flip flops. When done, he washed up and changed back and went home on the bus looking as nice as he arrived. I think that is typical of Ecuadorians. They all look great all the time. Not so with me, or probably North Americans. When I need something on a job, regardless of how I look I just go get it and go back to work, and arrive home looking pretty scruffy most of the time. You would have a hard time discerning class lines from the way people dress. Probably the poor dress up and the rich dress down so as not to become targets for muggers.
In pic 4 we are just starting to finish a portion of the slab that will be used to establish the grade along the wall of the house, so we can screed from that to the top edge of the form on the opposite wall.
In picture 5, time has passed; the slab has cured, and on Monday, Alfonso and I were laying the block wall that separates their place from the neighbors. You can just see the neighbors wash over the top. There is a wall coming straight at you in that picture that will become the shower wall.
That's it folks. That is my little fun project that is helping to put balance in my life. I can only stand so much of neat clean and tidy, and as some of you know, and the rest may safely assume, the temple is neat and tidy and very undemanding physically. I enjoy being there very much, but still I am glad I can do this other as well.
One thing I have observed. When I am working alongside Ecuadorians, I am very soon wringing wet. I have to bring along a towel to wipe my face frequently. Sweat runs onto my glasses and makes it hard to see. The Ecuadorians, on the other hand are completly dry or barely sweating. Rulon is from Arizona, and he doesn't mind the heat. I wonder if tolerance of heat or cold isn't genetic. I have doubts if I lived here for the rest of my life if I would ever get used to the heat. When I left Hawaii after 4 months I was not aclimated to the heat. Every day I was soaking wet within the first hour of work and stayed that way all day. As much as I enjoyed it there, I was finally looking forward to November and winter in Nova Scotia. People who live in heat, can't even imagine living in the cold. I wonder if genes might figure in. Just as some skin colors are better for living in sunny places, perhaps heat tolerance is part of a package. Maybe heat tolerance is acquired rather than genetic. Right now I am looking forward to getting into the mountains for a while where I am told it is a bit cooler. I look forward to needing a light jacket.
Pete
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