Making Headway

So, what´s going on with the house? A lot. We had a professional albañil, Felipe, come out and help us for four days with everything--he´s an animal! At no cost to us, thanks to the landowners! We have the structure for the roof up and just about everything else done so that we can start with the walls, which should go quickly. We still have a little bit left to do with the brickwork for the bañadera (shower), and to pour the concrete floor. So far everything´s going along nicely and we can hopefully finish soon. We are still however, missing a door, the rest of the straw for the roof and also someone to do the roof, hardware to make windows and some plumbing stuff and also a seat for the latrine, which I will make this week--provided we have enough brick! Looking a little skimpy on the brick... We still need enough electric cable and accessories to hook-up electric plus labor so that´s going to cost us a pretty penny, but probably won´t be done until we get paid next month anyways. And then, we have to paint the house so it won´t grow fungus or get eaten by pests. Still lots of work to be done.

Right now Chris and I have come for fortifications and suppplies to Caaguazu. We were all out of food and needed more nails and stuff for the house. We are both doing well and have become stronger from work and have both lost the weight that we gained in training. We don´t eat much meat, and have been existing on lentils, beans, flour tortillas, eggs, mandioca, vegetables (if available), rice, pasta, and some fruit. We did luck out today when we went to market and found a nice assortment of carrots, cucumbers, starfruit, passionfruit, custard apple, and a huge beautiful brazilian mango for cheap! Some days I hate the market because it´s hot and busy and claustrophobic and everyone wants your money, but today was great.

Otherwise, the weather has cooled down a little bit and we are enjoying it. Last week brought temperatures cold enough to wear a hooded sweatshirt for part of the day and we were soaking up every minute. The heat has comeback somewhat now, but it´s still considerably cooler as fall is soon to be upon us. Chris and I will be going back to our training community during the second week in April for a week of language training and we will then be celebrating Chris´ birthday in company with many others friends who also have April birthdays. This will be the next time that we will be in touch with everyone.