After our work in the coffee field the first week, we got "promoted" to concrete post making duty! I've absolutely loved it! Who would have thought a few months ago that I'd find so much enjoyment doing manual labor and working alongside these awesome maintenance and property staff guys here at Vida Joven. The love and joy of Jesus constantly overflows from them and it is so contagious!! They sing as they work, dance and just have a grand ol' time. All of the workers meet each morning for a brief devotional, prayer, sing a few songs and do a team huddle in which they yell "uno, dos, tres, EQUIPO (team)!!!" This particular morning during devo time, we had a particularly warm welcome from everyone, including Raul who has the perfect radio voice and killer salsa moves. He greeted each of us with a huge hug before taking his seat and shaking his maraca along to the morning songs.
At this point, you are probably still wondering how we can find so much joy in making concrete posts. Well, I'll let you in on just a few of our daily occurrences on the job.
One day, Sir Walter (aka the jefe/boss man) took his 9 am coffee break. As we completed pouring concrete into the mold we were working on, I noticed a machete laying nearby which was clearly calling my name. I quickly found out that this magical machete was muchhhh sharper than the ones they had given the silly gringos the previous week in the coffee field. There is something about having a machete in your hand that makes you feel powerful, so naturally I started chopping down everything in sight. Then I saw it: a largeeeee tree which was clearly inhibiting our work space. I challenged my teammate, Bryan to chop it down. After a little coercion, he started hacking. About halfway through, Walter comes walking up the hill. I quickly run out before him and say "nada aqui, no problemas" with a guilty look upon my face. Walter continues walking and enters the construction site just as Bryan hacks down the tree. "SARITAAAAAAA" he yells at me hen busts out laughing. And not just laughing- a deep, lower belly laugh that makes your eyes water and causes you to pee your pants a little. So, from that time on, pretty much anytime something goes wrong, it is "SARITAAAAAAA que paso???" He has such a great sense of humor and understands my sense of adventure and shenanigans despite the language barrier!
Sir Walter is even such a good sport that he lets me paint his face with black oil we use to coat the concrete molds. Somehow, everyday I end up with it literally alllll over me. Last week, it was on my nose like a reindeer. Today, I painted a unibrow, just for fun. Then, I decided Sir Walter would look nice with one as well, so he consented and allowed me to connect his eyebrows as well. We all laughed and laughed the rest of the afternoon as we raised our unibrow and laughed about nothingness!
We've been working hard and have already completed 65 posts that are 226 cm long and weigh 200 pounds. Working on the side of a mountain is no easy work, we've been hauling bags of cement up and down as well as wheelbarrowing concrete. I never thought I would enjoy being covered in black motor oil, wearing the same nasty work clothes every day, rocking my 'peligro' head band and washing my hands with gasoline at the end of a long days work. I can honestly say: I've never felt more alive!
Picture blog coming soon- complete with the unibrow pics!!
