Dia # 1

After 28 hours of traveling from Vail to Asuncion, we arrived in the city. The sun had already gone down and we were exhausted. After orientation, our team had dinner and South American wine. Needless to say, we all turned in for a good night of sleep before our first day of work. When we awoke, we were enamored by the Paraguayan skyline. We enjoyed a traditional breakfast and set out for our day's adventure.

The ladies with Saturnina

Upon arriving at the site, we were greeted by the soon-to-be homeowner, Saturnina ("Nina"), and her two beautiful children. The temperature didn't hesitate to reach the mid 90's in the early hours of our workday. Dust filled the air from the dirt roads, where cattle roamed freely. We weren't exactly sure at what stage we would inherit the house and to our excitement we started from ground zero. We began by moving by thousands of pounds of rock for the foundation. After we successfully moved all of the rocks, w took a break from the hot sun and enjoyed snacks at the neighbor's house. During our break, we played with the children and began the process of getting to know the family better.

We then returned to the site and dug three feet into the ground and began the process of filling in the foundation. Before we knew it, it was lunch time. In order to experience traditional lunch fare, Nina had prepared a delicious meal of “tallarine,” pasta, potatoes and beef. We enjoyed lunch with Nina’s extended family and children.

Back at the worksite, our foremen had continued to work and all of the rocks were in place for the foundation. We spent the remainder of the afternoon moving dirt and sand from the side of the road to where we were going to be mixing cement from scratch. Much more labor intensive that we had planned, it took us a while to find our rhythm and individual roles. However, once we successfully had our team in place, we were able to make substantial progress on the foundation.

Hard at work.

In order to help us combat the heat of the afternoon sun, our driver, Miguel, spent his time following us around the worksite giving us terere, a drink similar to mate but made with cold water. While the majority of us were working on the foundation, two of our team members, Brian and Leanna, spent the afternoon chiseling away at the clay hardened earth in order to dig a 6 foot deep hole for the septic system. Poor Brian, we left him with the hardest job of all on his birthday.

4 o’clock was our quitting time and our team was tired and beat from the sun, but excited about the progress that we made and what is to come. We traveled back to the hotel and celebrated Brian’s birthday, while recapping our accomplishments of the day.

Our team.