The camera is still in the shop, so no photos of the house's new doors and windows or the lovely greenery that's sprouting up everywhere courtesy of the afternoon/evening showers.
Thankfully, the roof is up.
Since we're on the side of a mountain, the lot slopes and if you look at the photos from mid January (dry season), you'll see that the dirt behind the carport (that entire side of the house had dirt much higher than floor level.
Back in January, when he saw where the house would sit, Paul hired Thomas and the tractor to dig out two to three feet of dirt and rock. Thomas' efforts nearly stopped the temporary creek that flows through the carport when it pours. As we push for a permanent cure, we dig small ditches to determine how much deeper we need to take the area down to. (this is more like 2-3 inches instead of feet, so we're very close).
Unfortuantely some of the crew do not understand why anyone would want little ditches around their house, so when they see a low spot, they help us by leveling the area - generally, this is done when they're cleaning mortar and stucco out of their wheelbarrows - makes great dams ... the water has run through the carport twice.
As we drive around Volcan, we see many roofs with rocks on top of them - locals use these to hold down roofing (much more economical than nails)... Oddly enough, a significant percentage of the homes have leaky roofs. The typical response is to move whatever might get wet to a dry spot.
My response to seeing water edging toward the carport is to rush out into the downpour (generally with a shovel or pick ax) and check the ditches to find out what's blocking them. I'm fairly certain our work crew is convinced I'm either a real water lover or a loca gringa... I mean why else would anyone go running out in the rain with a shovel instead of an umbrella?
