As I was, you may be wondering where in the world is Puerto Escondido? It’s a small surf town on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. You’ve probably heard of Puerto Vallarta—keep heading southeast along the coast. Eventually you’ll hit another city you’ve probably heard of—Acapulco. Keep going and just … Continue reading
Day five. It’s Friday. Hard to believe our last day of work has arrived and the build is coming to a close. We, the team, are our own family now and grateful to have spent this week getting to know our partner family, Habitat staff in Puerto Escondido and a few members of the community. … Continue reading
Usually by the time Global Village teams get to day four, we are all feeling the effects of doing jobs that we are unaccustomed to. After the shorter workday on Wednesday and a break for some fun, Thursday tends to be the longest and often most difficult day of work. That should have been the … Continue reading
Day three often signals a midweek break, in that we usually end the work day a bit early to participate in a cultural activity, usually relating to the community. In our case we broke for lunch and Arlet and Hilda, another future homeowner in the group, showed us how to make tlayudas, which are basically … Continue reading
Day two and the same jobs continue: moving and laying bricks, sifting sand and mixing mortar and our newest task, cutting and bending rebar. The house will have a bathroom, kitchen, two bedrooms and a dining and living area inside, and a small front porch on the outside. In total about 50 square meters or … Continue reading
If you are like me, when you hear the words Oaxaca, Mexico thoughts of Rick Bayless walking through crowded weekend markets in search of chilies, cinnamon and chocolate and encounters with short, leathery-faced abuelas making the perfect mole might come to mind. Indeed, Oaxaca is known as the food capital of Mexico, and it was … Continue reading
What would your life be like if you gave a little bit? You don’t have to give everything, but maybe you could give a little bit more of your time, your money, your knowledge, your encouragement to help someone else. How would your giving affect the lives of those in your family, neighborhood, community, country—the … Continue reading
Day 5 What a week! We spent the morning working to finish up some things before we had lunch and brought the build to a close. We continued working on siding the soffit fascia, which proved to be a bit of a challenge, pounding nails overhead and making long cuts with only a hand saw. … Continue reading
Day 4 We started today in early morning mist and fog and a bit on the nippy side. In the end, after we started to concentrate on our jobs, we were warmed up in no time and before we knew it, “Break time.” Breaks are not negotiable on a Global Village work camp. By the … Continue reading
Day 3 Our addition is really starting to take shape. The roof trusses we built on Monday went up. The walls we framed were put into place and insulated. And we began to put up the siding. Now that the structure is in place, Claudia visits the space at the end of each workday. It’s … Continue reading
