Work got done

Rehydrating while the ladies get work done

Built a house in Tijuana this weekend with my friend that works for Amor Ministries. Amor specializes in building homes for needy families in impoverished areas, mostly in Mexico, but I checked their website and I guess they do work in other places too. I've only ever built a house in TJ.

We had a small group this year, but there were still enough people that the whole thing would have gotten done even if I weren't there. I know this because I've been on trips where the work wouldn't have gotten finished if I weren't there and it was miserable. This year was probably the easiest build I've ever done: super nice people on the crew, perfect weather, the arrangement of the house meant we had less work to do than on a typical build (one wall abutted an existing structure, so we didn't have to stucco it), and we had a work area in which to stage/build the pieces of the house. Special bonus: The smoldering piles of trash tended to cover up the smell of the feces. It's the little things.

Poop was a common theme on this (and other) trips. The banos onsite are an adventure (see below, re: Bruce), and the port a potties in the campsite, while adequate, are not anyone's idea of luxurious. So when and where you might have to "do the big one" is a subject of much speculation. Put simply: America > camp > local bano > roadside. Girls have it tougher, no doubt about that.

Some highlights:
- Bruce ALMOST falling into a cesspit. You really shouldn't stand on anything that's been in Mexico for more than one season, but you especially shouldn't stand on old plywood that borders the hole dug out for the crapper. No harm done, and Bruce got only a scare. Had he fallen in it would have been a very eventful day.

- My butter-soft hands blistering through my gloves. I'm such a sissy.

- Visiting with my friends, who make me laugh, and show me how to be a better person. This theme was important to me, so I'll cover it in a separate post.

- Finishing each day in time to take a rinse/shower when we got back to camp. It makes a difference.

- The patriarch / trip-sponsor handing me a piece of 2x4 and quietly asserting "If you call me Mr. Illingworth one more time I'm going to stick this up your ass. It's JDI to you." (He was kidding. Sort of.) The best part is it was two jokes in one, because while Mr. Illingworth was too formal, I still didn't get the more informal "Dave". I alternated back and forth between Mr. Illingworth and JDI from then on, depending on mood.

- Blair's campfire story about a particularly challenging dump he took at the Amor offices. It was so strenuous that he began to sweat profusely, and was forced to remove his shirt during the act. I laughed. 

- Improving the quality of life of the family for whom we built the house.

More pictures as they become available. Mine aren't very good so I'm waiting for the other shutterbugs to post theirs.