Building Break: CAPOEIRA!!!!

CAPOEIRA = BRASILIAN FIGHT DANCING!

So while building was by far my favorite thing to do while on this trip, we also had the incredible opportunity of being immersed in the wonderful culture and traditions of the Brasilian people. One of our most memorable experiences was being given the opportunity to participate in Capoeira classes, given for free for the kids in the community at the local activity centers in Colinas. Capoeira, or Brasilian fight dancing, is Brasil's martial arts. It is also incredibly difficult to do! But thanks to the patience of our instructors and the candor of the other kids in the classes, we were all able to give it try and came out of the experience with a love and appreciation for this great skill. These Capoeira videos below are some of my favorites from the project! ENJOY!!!

Vid #1: Chris and Caro fight each other on the first day of lessons! 

Vid #2: Watch some real pros go at it! Don't be fooled by their size!

Vid #3: Watch a Pro Capoeira Fighter show off his skills!

Next time: The house starts lookin' like a house!

Brick-Laying Adventures!!!!

WEEK 1 to WEEK 2 --> Learning to Lay Brick & More Digging/Wheelbarrowing!

In these next two videos, you'll start to see how quickly we were able to progress with the building of the house once we learned the basics of making cement, laying down brick neatly & evenly in straight rows, and of course, continuing the process of filling the rooms with dirt & pounding them down. Once we all got into a routine, we were able to accomplish a significant amount each day we were at the worksite.

At this point, we had also come very far as a team and had already determined and respected who was good at what and let them at it! Alex was our resident cement expert. Sarah, Liz, Catherine, Anabel, Crisha, and Caro had become our semi-pro brick-layers. And the rest of us were holding down the fort doing rotations of digging, wheelbarrowing, dumping dirt, pounding dirt, and delivering supplies of cement and bricks to the bricklayers. We finally had a system down that worked and it was doing us wonders! Plus, we had the GREAT ADVANTAGE of having three amazing teachers and supervisors in Silvio, Narcissus, and Joel, our three professional Brasilian construction workers. Though we had a bit of a language barrier between us, they were super-patient with us and guided us through all of the steps with kindness, generosity, and just a little teasing! :) We all couldn't thank them enough!

Brick-Laying Vid #1

*Please note that the girl that I mistakenly call Gabriela is actually her sister, Barbara! Mea Culpa!!!*

Viewing the Progress...

*Note: That hole that you see in the ground at the beginning of the video will become the septic tank in future vids! Stay tuned!*

Coming Soon: A break from the building process, and then the house starts to look like a house!

Serious Groundwork....

WEEK 1 - Shoveling, Wheelbarrowing, and Pounding:

During the first few days of building the house, our main task was to keep building up the foundation of the house. Unfortunately, that meant that we had to continuously do A LOT of 2 things: shoveling and wheel-barrowing. Upon our arrival to the worksite each day, we were greeted by a giant pile of dirt that we needed to shovel into 2 wheelbarrows (each of which had a wonky, semi-deflated wheel). Then, we would roll each barrel of dirt into the rooms of the house until the spaces were leveled to align with the first row of bricks. Needless to say, we moved THOUSANDS of wheelbarrows of dirt from the outside of house to its interior. Yes, it was a tedious, monotonous, and strenuous job, but personally speaking, I found it quite therapeutic... There's just something about shoveling that can just calm you. ::SHRUGS:: I know...I still haven't quite figured it out yet.

Anyway, these two videos show Caro and Chris executing the next step to the process: pounding the floors flat. We all HATED this step, but in the end it taught me a fews things:

1) We are so fortunate to have machinery that can do this.

2) Manually pounding flat dirt floors using a 15-lb cement block attached to a pole can be a great workout for your biceps and triceps.

3) Callouses on your hands and stubbed toes (no matter how painful) do, in fact, heal.

Join us next week as we learn the art of brick-laying!!!

Day 1 - What a Foundation!

CACAO, Colinas, Brasil

As we see the worksite for the first time, we realized that we were really starting from scratch on this project. With no real construction experience between us, and a very limited knowledge of Portugese, we were all a little skeptical as to how it would all turn out... 

Tune in next time and see us in action as we learn the ins and outs of building a house in Brasil!