Stepping the Mud

The building continues. Its slow, but it continues. We have a handful of things working against us, but thankfully, I have discovered that I enjoy building with adobe. It kind of takes me back to playing with Legos when I was but a wee little lad. Its just so nice to be able to do work that you can stand back and look at when the day is done. Marked progress. Its even better knowing that this particular model has probably never been done before. The style and shape of the house is very old, but this is probably the first time that the whole structure has been covered in chicken-wire before plastering, thus rendering it more stable and earthquake resistant. It has occurred to me that I am probably the world´s foremost, leading expert on the application of chicken-wire to ancient, Indian, adobe structures. I don´t know that I´ve ever been the world´s foremost, leading expert on anything, but I never dreamed it would be for something like this.

This is mostly true because the leader of the project went to Chile for 2 weeks, leaving Nati and I, to build the house on our own. He went to lead a few weekend meditation workshops to earn some money for the project. A part of me thinks it might have been nice for him to have some money before he started the project, but... so it goes. He doesn´t have much more experience with this kind of construction than we do, but he has some, which is more than either of us. But I´ve always been the independent sort anyway, and it´s been nice going at my own pace, juggle breaks a´plenty.

The initial idea of this project was to try to get the locals involved in construction, thereby educating them on alternative ways of building, but so far we only provoked mild curiosity. People stop by to see what the gringos are doing, say they´ll return to help (often promising a hearty group of friends), but we generally never see them again. There´s a guy named Jhonny who stops by almost daily to videotape our progress. He wants us to come build something for him. He´s very interested in ecology and alternative building, but not enough to get his hands in the mud. He´s a nice guy though, and at least he shows genuine interest in learning.

Not even the family we´re building the house for seems all that interested. They help every once in a while, but usually just for an hour or so. They´re generally to busy screaming at each other.

I really probably shouldn´t talk shit about the people we´re trying to help but... so it goes. It kind of makes me sick sometimes, and it definitely affects my mood, but the only way they seem to know how to communicate is by screaming. The whole neighborhood is that way. All day long. It´s exhausting. Adults to kids. Kids to adults. Adults to adults. And everyone to dogs. And there´s lots of dogs. And you guessed it, the dogs are barking at each other all day long too. One of the more tragic examples of late, was a lesson in writing from the mother of the house to her four-year-old daughter. At the top of her lungs and angry : ¨Why are you writing outside the lines!¨ ¨Do it like the picture!¨ ¨You don´t learn! When you were little I had to hold you under the water to learn! And know I have to do this!¨

Crazy. I wish I was exaggerating. I´ve never seen or heard any physical violence - maybe a spanking here and there - but the verbal and emotional abuse is through the roof.

I was walking behind an older lady the other day for about 10 minutes, and the entire time, she was screaming at dogs, throwing rocks at them and swinging a big stick around. She´s like this most of the time.

I don´t know if it´s just post-earthquake stress, or the big electrical box that we live under, or if its just always been this way. Its really hard sometimes though. Its hard to stay positive in an environment like this one. A big part of me thinks we jumped in to this location to soon. We were lead to believe that things were further along than we thought before we came here, by the project leader, and the local government. But here we are and we are doing our best.

I´ve started meditating which helps a lot, and we´ve started showing movies at a vegetarian restaurant in Ica 2 times a week to help draw attention and potentially raise some money (2 Soles suggested donation). The films are documentaries (What the bleep, Inconvenient Truth, The Corporation, etc.) and somewhat connected to the general theme of our project. Partly though, its just a chance to escape our tent for a while and watch a movie.

We´re also going back to Lima this weekend to sell some more stuff, hopefully see Stardust, and drink coffee, la verdad. A mini vacation. And hopefully we´ll pick back up with the travelling again in the first part of November, Brazil-bound. There´s a Rainbow festival in Bahía that we´d love to get to in time. Vamos a ver.

And here´s a few pictures for the folks who don´t like reading.

This is how we mix the mud and squish the mud. It´s mostly just earth, with a little horse shit thrown in for flavor.

This is my expertise. The whole structure will be covered in this fashion, then plastered. It hurts the hands, but there´s nothing quite as soothing as submerging your hands in mud and horse poo, after a long day of bending wire.

And this is where the house is to date. If you´re the kind of person that likes to date houses.