Trip 3 Day 3

Today we woke to find that Lauren and Brittany both were up all night sick and could not go to work with us. This took us down to five workers to get the job done. We gave the women all of the appropriate medication that we had and headed off to work.

We hopped into the truck as usual and took the twenty minute ride to the sight. Again, the skies were overcast and it looked to be a rather chilly day, by Guatemalan standards. Once at the house, we began to prepare the blocks and mix the mortar. The goal was five layers of block. First a standard layer. Then, a layer of "U" shaped block that was filled with rebar and concrete. This created a beam around the entire house, tied into the columns that run vertically at each corner and on either side of the door and window. We completed these two layers by lunch time. Just as we started to pour the concrete into the "U" block it began to pour. We rushed to get the beam complete and ran into our families current home for lunch. Maria, the mother, made black beans for the family's lunch. She offered us all some to supplement the lunches we had brought.

After lunch the rain began to settle. Unfortunately, every time we began to work, the rain poured down on us. Finally, the rain held up and we began to work. We put some rough scaffolding up, made of blocks and wood boards. We then completed two more layers of block and left the fifth row of the day to complete tomorrow.

Good news of the day, the baby, Jasmin, seems to be warming up to us. We brought her some candy and she actually smiled at us a few times.

-Patrick Daffin