Friday Night Update

I know that most of you read the blog because of the interesting technical details I give. You know, how many volts here, or how many inches in diameter there, but sometimes you techies need to stop and smell the roses. Here are some pictures from the last couple of days in the village of Danta Uno.

Isn't she adorable?

This is Adolfo and Jonathan bending rebar for the concrete columns. I saw them with their matching gloves and contrasting hats and was struck by the image. In ways, they are alike, but in others, they are worlds apart. Heavy.

The flat area in the middle of the picture is a soccer field where, presumably, the children of Danta Uno play soccer, and the soccer moms of Danta Uno park their minivans and chitchat.

This is a snake, I forget the name, con-bla-bla or something, that was in a tree hanging over the road near Walter's house where we had lunch. It was about 6 feet long. I was told it was non-poisonous.

I drove to the hardware store in a nearby town called Jutiapa. Nearby was a butcher shop with meat hanging on hooks over the sidewalk! Inside there was a dude cutting steaks with - get this - a band saw. It was just like seventh grade wood shop but with meat.

"What's your semester project?"

"I'm making fajitas."
"Cool, I'm making a rack of ribs."

"Cool."

At Walter's house where we had lunch, the chickens and dogs wander in and out of the doors. I have no idea how they know which chickens are theirs and which are their neighbors.

This is AJ wearing his high tech shirt that breathes and dries quickly. I think I might have to get one. It has lots of pockets. This picture was taken at the power house after he used the drill to make mounting holes for the inverter. This baby cut through the cinder blocks like butter. They are easy compared to granite boulders.

I put this picture on the blog because it has a lot of little details. You can see the big spool of cable - a bobina in Spanish (think bobbin). You can see our first tree/power pole behind AJ. And you can see the power house a little bit.

Here we are starting to run the power lines.

Santiago has no fear of heights. He leans his ladder up against the pole and up he goes. Walter and I are pulling the wires tight while AJ and Elizabeth begin their May pole dance.

Elizabeth has been INCREDIBLY helpful and has many talents. We all think she is something special.

Here Jonathan is sitting on the first concrete column. It will support the big honkin' pipes that will come from the dam behind him. We are not building a dam, but rather reusing an old one built for drinking water collection several decades ago.