I arrived in Chel and Xesalli on the thirty first of January and it is now the 14th of February. Boy a lot has happened in two weeks. I really enjoyed the welcome here this time and have been amazed at how well things have gone during the year. Higinio met me in Chel and we started meeting with the leaders in Xesayi to develop and develop an agreement and plan for the water system. The source for water changed again because the owners of the spring’s children and the kids of Xesayi got into a row and he won’t sell for mercy or money. The community had purchased a spring from one of its members but it is over twice the distance and in rocking terrain. We settled on using a biofilter system and taking water about two thousand meters above the community. It is a pretty pristine spot without livestock or people problems above it. Higinio and the delegation that accompanied us from Chel made some real good agreements and I am amazed at how much work this community is putting into this project. The community is providing sand gravel and labor. Three of us from Chel have also petitioned the municipal government in Chajul to provide the piping and while I am sending this report out I will be meeting with them again. I really hope they come on board. This would not only stretch our budget but establish a good form of cooperation. We ordered materials and while I waited for their arrival I started meeting with the widows. More on that later but first some photos. We started actual construction Tuesday the 11th and my body feels old.
Higinio and Pegro discussing plans at the sight of the storage tank.
Here is the place we will take the water from. It is bout 1500 meters up the trail. The community will hand dig and bury the piping the whole distance.
Providing sand is not done by phoning your local sand and gravel company
Each family has to carry 12 of these bags of sand 10 minutes to the site.
Pablo is 63 and out packs me. Today the community said I couldn’t pack lumber and I am glad for the break.
The lucky members have horses
We dug down four feet to gain support from the ground. A record is kept of each family´s work.
Pablo was still working
This is Martin, who I have hired to oversee the construction, as we are starting to pour the floor. Oh by the way mixing cement by hand is a lot harder when you have to pack the bags up the hill as well
We ordered 12 dozen boards from one of the local mills. Delivery was not included. Each family made three trips. 45 minutes up and 1/2 hour back.
I learned a new use of the Spanish word cuesta today. These two young men kept describing the trail as cuesta mucho.It is usually used in buying and pricing things but can also be used in describing the cost of effort to accomplish something. The leader of Xesayi was viewing these same photos and said this project "cuesta the gente mucho" but it will benefit them more
Once we started down there was no stopping. I fell four time filming this.
After five minutes they headed back up for two more trips
Maybe next time we can hire delivery
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