Anyone who has ever spent one day in construction would probably agree that building a house is a process fraught with roadblocks... missing materials, missing contractors, etc. Knowing that, I expected roadblocks in my time here. I just didn't imagine that the first one would be literal! It seems during my flight from Cochabamba to Tarija yesterday, a group of farmers put up roadblocks around Tarija to protest against the government about the distribution of a group of emergency funds.
So I am here in Tarija still, which is actually a blessing in disguise as I am spending my days getting a hands-on apprenticeship in the construction Bolivian-style, working with the Habitat team here. Today we visited 5 houses in various stages of construction. As I stood on the roof of the first house, learning how to do cement roofing for a house we are working on tomorrow, I laughed to myself when I realized that the very first build I did with Habitat in 1992 was laying shingles on a roof. Cement it a lot harder, dirtier work! I'll post before and after shots. The head of construction is too nice to say it, but I can tell it is a mini-test to see whether I'm capable of a hard's day work, so the pictures should be amusing.
The other benefit from the roadblock is that it is giving me a little time to get back into speaking Spanish after 3 years. Which is good news, since I found out today that there's a "smallish" press conference planned in Villamontes, awaiting my arrival. Rumor has it the blockades will be lifted Wednesday and we will make the 10 hour drive to Villamontes.
But until then, saludos from Tarija,
naomi
Nice pictures! Hope the work hours are more manageable (-:
Posted by: Aditya | July 23, 2007 at 07:15 PM