It´s been a busy few days with late dinners, so I hope to catch you all up on my current Habitat build (because it certainly won´t be my last): On Day 2, May 11 (thanks for all the b-day shout-outs), we had a morning meeting at the national Habitat offices in Sante Fe. This was actually a house. The economy and real estate are so shaky here that this was pretty much all that was available; plus, a year´s rent had to be paid up front to guarantee they wouldn´t back out of the lease. There we learned about the GV program in Argentina and had a great lunch of empanadas. Nothing is better than the real thing. Then I was surprised with a dulche de leche cake. Rebecca, my co-leader, had informed the Habitat volunteer working with us, Lynn Merril, that it was my birthday. That was so incredibly sweet of her. The team and Habitat staff serenaded me with a spirited version of "Happy Birthday" that brought tears to my eyes. Nothing is better than celebrating your day twice.
We followed that meeting with a five hour bus ride to Sante Fe, where we are camped for the next two weeks. Thought that would be worse than it was, but I slept part of the way and read, listened to my iPOD, or watched a bad movie for the rest of the way. It also didn´t hurt to check out the winter stars. (Since we crossed the equator, the seasons are opposite, but it´s still 75 during the day. Go figure.) It´s funny seeing the constellations we would normally see in the winter months. Anyway, we got in to Sante Fe around 8:00 PM and were met by Mariano Moreno, the Sante Fe Habitat coordinator. He walked us to our hotel, which is basically a bad, cheap hotel. The mattresses and pillows are foam, the paint is peeling, the windows don´t close, and it´s dirty. Plus, we only get one towel and was cloth. Maybe we are spoiled back home, I don´t know. I understand that Habitat wants to save money, but this is ridiculous. I´ve been very lucky on all of my trips. But we are here to work, that´s the most important thing.
The first day on the worksite (Monday, May 12) was easy. It started even earlier though, with me, Rebecca, Brad, and Lizeth (a team member who has really stepped up and is acting as our translator) meeting at 7:00 AM for a run. It was still dark when we headed out for a run of about 4 miles across town and along the water. (Must pause here and give a shout out to my trainer, John. I´m not neglecting anything. Another run is planned for tomorrow and there´s plenty of heavy lifting and upper body work going on at the site.) Like I said, the first day on site was easy. It started late at 9 AM with a meeting at the Sante Fe Habitat office. We were all starving at this point because we thought we were having breakfast there and slept in late. We got to the site around 10 AM and had a lengthy orientation. Mariano, our site supervisor, took us around showing us what needed to get done and what he hoped we would accomplish. We were split into three groups: breaking rocks into usable pieces of rubble for mortar, sanding and filling in cracks on four houses (this was me) (these houses are our priority), and interiors. It was a rather short day; in fact, our days seem very short because we´re starting at 8:00 AM and ending at 4:00 PM. The team seems to really like this.
Who knows how the rest of the trip will go but everyone seems to be having a fun time so far. Check back soon. Now that I know where the Internet cafe is, you´ll be hearing from me more often. Miss and Love you all!
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