Recap from Day 2 at the CFS

It was another successful day at school. This time, we took the buses with the students. (Well, most of us did. I was confused about the time and walked to school, thinking I'd missed the bus. Not only had I not missed it, but I walked the long way to the campus. Yay.)

Shortly after 8am, we got started. First, we met Robi, who is in charge of external affairs and oversees volunteer groups such as ours. After some introductions and questions, we were off to meet Eduardo and Mauricio.

We began by carrying stuff around. The wood that we tore down from the structure yesterday had been worked on all day already. Still, there were some pieces with nails stuck in them, and they were not all taken care of until lunch time today. These pieces of wood were then determined to be reusable or not reusable. The wood that could serve the school in a future project was then carried across campus to the storage area, while the rest was thrown into the forest. Some other items were moved as well, but the wood was the primary concern.

Emma and Patty carrying salvageable wood to the storage area

Trini and Felix working hard on the nail problem

We also did some other stuff along the way. A large group of us gathered a wire for electricity from some other place on campus. Then we carried it to the work site. We still have no idea what its purpose will be. We also had to finish the metal wire-tied structures that would serve as frames in the concrete.

The group carrying a large wire across campus for electricity

Trini with host mom Flor, who stopped by to deliver her lunch and help out

Eduardo showing us a scorpion, for those who are into those sorts of things

Most of the last part of the day was focused on mixing and pouring concrete. We did it the old fashioned way, mixing dirt and rock and then concrete mix, and then lots of water. We shoveled under and over, mixing thoroughly. We worked our way around the pile in circular fashion, switching people in and out to conserve energy. Then we added more water and kept going until the talented maintenance guys told us the concrete was ready. Then we poured some in each of the six holes to end the day. The guys are so conscientious about waste that they had the students pour the broken and unusable nails (that were stuck in the wood from earlier) into the concrete. The first thing we will do tomorrow will be make more concrete to fill more holes.

Felix carrying a bag of concrete mix

Ella and Lara having fun talking to a student at lunch

Mauricio pouring the concrete into the mix

Mixing, mixing, mixing

The left side of the treehouse at the end of the day

We were told that the project will not be complete when we leave on Friday, but we will hopefully have about half of it done. Then another group will finish it off.

Stay tuned for a post about our afternoon adventure. It should be up soon. Photos are also uploading to the Dropbox site, with more than half from the day uploaded thus far.