WORKING HARD IN THE SUNSHINE

Hello Everyone-

This week is the first week with no Pan De Vida. Our first two days were pretty much the same as every other week. Monday we worked around the house and I did work for Fine Designs. Tuesday we went to Sayulita with Armando. Armando is our next door neighbor who is originally from Manzanillo. He owns a surf board but never gets to go surfing. We have been inviting him to Sayulita for many weeks. He finally got the approval for a day off from his work and we squeezed his board inside our car and headed up to go surfing.

We were hoping there would be no jellyfish so we could all enjoy the water. When we pulled up, we walked to the water and there were no jellyfish or waves either. The bay was completely smooth. The water was clear and very warm. We could not even ride our body boards. I decided to try finding the wedding ring, praying for a miracle. For about an hour I searched but did not find it. I realize it is probably gone for good, buried below the sandy bottom.

In the afternoon some small waves came in and Armando and I paddled out to the surfing side to try to catch something. I caught 3 waves all the way to shore. Armando’s board was much too small for the size of waved they had that day. He did not catch even one wave. We had a good time hanging out in the water and catching sun. Armando got very dark in just one day... When he went, he was about the same color as Leslie, by dinner time he was looking like a Native American.

After we came home, I went down to the Malecoln with Leslie and we bought a replacement wedding ring for $10 at a silver store.

Today Leslie had her last day at Quimixto. When she came back we both went up to Mezcales in Nayirit to help Lee Short and his wife Carol build their house. Lee and Carol are a missionary couple who go to our church. They helped us paint Vera’s upstairs. It was an opportunity for us to give them some help back.

Their property is in front of a mango grove. They are building the foundation right next door to another building under construction. The neighbors house is one story high, and they have dug a 2 by 2 meeter septic tank. They also just dug a well that drained a little water into the septic tank.

It is tough to work in the sun! My job was to dig out the soft dirt in an 8 foot hole on the other side of the septic tank. As I began digging the water from the well run-off leaked into my hole. It turned the squishy dirt into a thick paste that would not slide off the shovel when I tried to toss it out of the hole.

I ended up climbing into the septic tank and bailed out the water then filled in the gaps of the tank to prevent water from leaking onto Lee’s foundation. After patching the inside of the tank, I patched the outside as well. When finished I was exhausted!!! My t-shirt was drenched with sweat and I had a little headache.

Leslie was tying together the rebar for a large column. It was fun to be there doing work together. She taught me how to tie the bar together with wire. I helped a little while trying to recover from my over exertion.

After we finished tying together the rebar, one of the mexican workers helped me clear out the hole. Part of my frustration was that after 15 minutes I had no place to put the dirt. This meant I had to throw dirt from the hole to a dirt shelf above... then climb up and shovel the same dirt again. When the other worker was there, he would shovel the dirt to me and I would shovel it out to a bigger pile... with that system we eventually got the sticky mud out of the hole and chiseled away at the wall to make a 1 meter square platform. We used Shovels, picks, and a very large chisel to square up the walls.

I realize that I have never really worked that hard in the bright sun. At Alaska Airlines I was always inside the plane in the shade and the work happened in chunks. The plane came in, and we would down load the bags and then rest for 5 min or so... then upload the bags and push the airplane back. When all you have is a shovel and a hole that needs about an hours worth of digging, I did not know how to pace myself and boy did I get tired!!! In the late afternoon I did a lot of sitting around. I had a headache and felt a little nauseous.

Leslie ended up picking up a shovel and pick and worked on digging a hole for the footing of a wall. By the end of the day we were surrounded by gnats. Leslie said she felt like a dirty dog with all the gnats swarming around us. We dashed to the car to run away from our cloud of insects. Leslie pictured herself as Linus from Charlie Brown.

During the car-ride home, I was telling Leslie I did not feel well. She offered to drive. I made it from Nayarit back into Jalisco. Somewhere between the Corona factory and the Marina I vomited into my hat. Between heaves I emptied the contents out the passenger window. I can imagine the passers-by thinking I am a tourist who had too much to drink. It was pretty embarassing but made me feel much better!

After showering, resting and eating dinner we are ready for bed. We both have had too much sun these past few days. Tomorrow we plan on staying inside most of the day.

It is hard to believe June is almost over and we will have just one month left. If possible we would like to go to Guadalajara in these coming weeks.

Thanks for checkin’ in.

Joel and Leslie