Sand Problems

Of course this drama will never end until our house is finished, and at the rate we are going, it will probably be another 10-20 years...So get ready for a lot of blog posts. Maybe I should just start another blog called "Don't build a house in Guatemala" but I'm still sweaty and in Petén, so I'll stick around here for now.

When I ordered my trailer full of sand, I was given the options of 32 meters, 35 meters or 38 meters. I of course chose 32 meters knowing that the amount of sand would be the same either way and hoping that with my low order I would have a better chance of it all fitting on the truck.

I told them that I would pay for what was delivered and was assured that I would receive that correct amount because Manuel would never cheat me. I told him that while I appreciated him saying that, my albañil would be measuring everything anyway.

So when the sand arrived Lico measured everything out. The driver told me that they had brought me 35 meters of sand, but would only charge me for the 32. Red Flag number one. Nobody gives anything for free.

It came out that the length of the trailer is 12 meters. The interior width is 2.28 meters and the height in the center of the trailer was .85. That comes out to 23.256 cubic meters. That's almost Q1000 worth of sand that did not arrive. I told the driver no problem, that I'd just pay for the sand he brought and that he didn't have to make another trip. I was then told that he had loaded up 32 meters (wait, I thought it was 35...) but that some blows off the top during the trip. I told him that he should buy a tarp because it is not acceptable for a third of my sand to blow off the truck. "No, you don't understand, it doesn't blow off the top, it compresses with the vibrations of the road." He then explained that you have to add 10 cm to the top for compression because that's what everybody does.

It doesn't matter that adding that 10 cm only increases my total cubic meters to 24.276, I told him that I don't pay for air. I had never encountered this before and it didn't matter to me if he steals from everybody else, I only pay for what I get. Then he said that my albañil doesn't know how to measure and that the truck is actually 12.6 meters long and that gives me my 32 meters when I add the 10 cm. Well, that's still only 27.29 cubic meters, but I acted very chapin and took great offense that he would dare criticize my worker's measuring skills, plus I had just bought him a new tape measure.

After a little more talking I told him to unload all of the sand and that Lico would remeasure once on the ground because unloading the sand by shovel would take care of the compression problem. After all that we came up with the same amount of sand-23.25 cubic meters.

This had still not been resolved when the owner finally arrived. He wanted the rest of his money, even though he still hasn't delivered my block. I prepaid Q9,000 out of Q15,000 and the block is worth Q8,500 of that. I told him that I would pay him on Monday if he really did deliver the block, after I had counted all the block, and discounted the sand he didn't bring. There were lots of "Fijese" thrown about and more explanation about how my worker couldn't measure, the truck is actually longer than it really is and sand settles 10 cm, no matter how high it is stacked.

Of course, I didn't pay any more money, because I knew ahead of time that he would be asking me for it and I left my money at home. That way I could truthfully say that I didn't have any money with me...fijese.

Now I have to decide whether I stop buying from him altogether (the logical Gringo's first choice) or whether he has learned that the Gringo in San Pancho is tacaño (cheap) and not tonto (dumb), therefore bringing me the correct amount of materials from here on out.

It Doesn't Just Happen To Gringos

So out of my 4 new workers, only one is worth asking back for next week. I really need two assistants though for my albañil (mason). The guys were complaining about the heat and how they wanted to start arriving at 4am so they could leave at noon before it got hot, but after a long explanation that they didn't understand about how I knew they would take the same amount of breaks, therefore not working a full 8 hours, and that it is impossible to work well while still dark outside. After explaining these points several times, I finally just told them that if they don't like working when it's hot, they shouldn't have moved to Petén and that I could find workers who didn't complain about the heat.

So I did. I called Quincho in Guate and paid his bus ticket (which he'll pay me back next week by working) to come and start. He is stronger than most people here, works hard all day, and I have a rapport with him to be able to explain how to do things right without him getting all mopey and offended.

So I went to the bus office here in El Chal to find out how to pay for his ticket. I was told to come back at 6pm and to tell Quincho to be at the station in Guate at the same time to catch the 7pm bus. I would pay for the ticket, be given the actual ticket, but Quincho would be put on the bus manifest and all would work out. To my surprise, that's how it worked out. I paid the Q110 and he got a seat on the bus.

That night, about halfway to Petén, the bus driver told Quincho to get off the bus. The driver claimed that Quincho's ticket was for only Q60 and since Quincho didn't have the ticket in hand, he had no proof. Quickly the driver came up with the solution that Quincho could get a ride all the way, but he had to leave his bag with the bus driver. "Don't go to the office, come and pay me directly tomorrow," the driver told him.

So at 6 am Quincho was at my door. I gave him a ride to the city (Santa Elena) and I went directly to the office to complain. The man behind the counter was shocked, but went in search of the bag. Of course, the bag was not in the normal holding area. After a phone call to the driver, we were directed to a place in the market where the driver was waiting to watch the game on tv, and had the bag with him. Upon arriving, there was another argument about the Q50, but we finally got the bag without having to pay. BTW, World Cup means bus drivers sit around the market and get hammered. There were several empty cases of beer next to several more unopened ones and these drivers were on 12 hour break before driving back to Guatemala City that night.

How To: Buy Rocks

I know it's soon to talk about another house supply story, but I wanted to share another experience I had today when buying rock. Apparently I need a lot of rocks. These rocks are pieces of mountain broken down to slightly larger than a softball. A large dump truck holds about 1,000.

So I arrived at the quarry (this one in Santa Elena because all the other quarries break up their rocks to make gravel and won't sell them to you) and walked around for about 10 minutes before I finally was spotted by a guard. He came very close to rolling down the mountain of gravel with shotgun in hand, but luckily he caught himself all 4 times and made it down on his feet. Together we looked for the guy in charge.

While walking around I explained what I needed and asked him about the prices. The neat thing about guards is that they notice prices, but don't get caught up in ripping you off because they don't really care how much extra the boss gets. I was told that a double load costs Q600.

We finally found the guy who informed me right away that the double load costs Q1100 and is not really a double load, but 1200 rocks instead of 900 rocks. Now I know that they do not take the time to count out every rock, and the guard had just told me that a single load was Q300 and a double load Q600. He is at this point looking for a spot to pee while staying in ear shot so he can see if I'm going to get him in trouble.

I whistled at the high price and asked if that included delivery. One sign you are getting ripped off is if they say that other things are included. The fair price is one thing, and all the extras cost more. He assured me that that included everything and they would leave tomorrow at 7am.

I told him that I had heard from my friends (thus making the guard both my new friend and plural at the same) that the price shouldn't be more than Q600. This time he whistled and told me that he would be losing money to sell it to me at that price. Keep in mind that this is another tactic. His rocks are free. He just breaks them off of the mountain on his property.

I had the advantage on this one by knowing the fair price, so I held firm on the Q600, but ended up paying a little more than I should have for transportation and ended up at Q800 for the rocks and delivery 20 minutes away. Now I have to ask one of my workers to count rocks because I insisted (as I have with all the materials that I've bought lately) that I only pay for what is actually delivered.

My mason told me that I shouldn't buy rocks. He said that it is much easier and cheaper to find somebody with a mountain on their property and ask how much to buy the mountain. Then all I have to do is pay some guys to break up the mountain into little rocks, then hire some big trucks to take it to my property, then pay some guys to unload those trucks. Somehow he thinks that is cheaper than the $100 I just spent. I tried explaining that time is money, but that did not translate culturally.

So I Wanted to Buy Some Gravel

I have been running around for the last week buying materials for our wall. Construction started Monday. Last week I bought 2500 blocks, 32 cubic meters of sand, 1000 pounds of 3/8 in rebar, 200 pounds of 1/4 in. rebar, 2 shovels, one wheelbarrow, and one pickax.

I still need boards for scaffolding and forms, gravel, rocks, and bags of cement. The cement I can order as I need it so that I don't have to worry about moisture. There are several gravel pits around San Francisco, but you can pay as much for delivery as the actual gravel. On the way to Santa Rita basically across the street from our land there is a large quarry. I've asked about it before, but everybody told me that it was a private business and that they didn't sell their gravel. Just recently they put up a sign though that said "gravel for sale."

Saturday I decided to try and go by to see if they could bring me a dump truck full. While delivering more per load, it also keeps me from paying my workers to spend half a day unloading a truck of gravel when they could be digging a trench. When I got there with Lico, my mason, I found out they were closed, but I talked to the guard anyway. Here's our conversation:

Jimmy: Hey, is the boss around?

Guard: No, he's gone and won't be back until Monday.

J: Ok, I'll come back Monday then.

G: What do you need?

J: To buy some gravel.

G:Well we don't do that anymore. We're all out of gravel and we don't have enough for our own business. You have to go to San Benito (only 15 minutes away, but a lot more money to have them deliver.)

J: Ok, I just thought since the sign was new, you'd have gravel. Suddenly notices a price sheet nailed to the wall. Is it ok if I check out the price sheet so that I know what's fair to pay in San Benito?

G: Sure, how much do you need?

J: About 30 cubic meters.

G:Wow, that's a lot. We don't have that much.

J:Ok

G: Wait a second, let me call the boss over here to talk to you. Walks 10 feet up a little hill, whistles and waves his arm. Makes a grunting noise and walks off behind a mountain of gravel. After 10 minutes he comes back.

G: Fijese, you have to go to San Benito.

J: Ok.

G: We can only sell small amounts.

Lico: How much can you sell if we need just a little at a time.

G: 3 meters or more.

L: 3 or less?

G: 3 or more.

J: So, at least 3, but up to how much?

G: Oh, bunches. See that big mountain back there covered up with tarp? That's all gravel.

J: So could I have 30 meters?

G: Oh no, you have to go to San Benito. That's too much.

J: So could I order 3 meters?

G: No, we don't have enough.

J: Ok, I'm going to San Benito.

What made me feel better was that Lico thought the conversation was just as crazy as I did. If he had thought it made sense I would have been a little worried.

What We Do Before a Team Arrives

We've had several teams come and visit us, so we have some sort of a general plan of what to do before a big group arrives. Of course there are hotel reservations to make, but we have to do this 3 times. Once when the group confirms, once the month of the reservation (they start a new hand written reservation book every month, so the first time they write the information down on a post-it) and again the day before the group arrives. This gives them 24 hours to move people out of the rooms and get the refreshments out of the fridges for me. Since the hotel is privately owned, "associates" of the owner in town for "business" get to stay for free with no reservation. I just make sure they're not in any of my rooms.

I also have to calculate about how many bottles of water everybody will drink then increase that estimate if it is an adult group and discount it for a teen group. Teens tend to drink more sodas when we are out and about rather than the water I buy. Once we ended up with 100 bottles of water lying around the house after one group left. I also buy gallon jugs of water for each room for people to brush their teeth. Adults go through this faster than teens as well, but I like to think it's because they're drinking more coffee and not skipping out on basic hygiene. I also buy spoons, cups and bowls, coffee, creamer and sugar for everybody to use for breakfast. As soon as a team arrives we head to the grocery store to buy cereal and milk for breakfasts, but it makes it easier for them to have only have to choose things on the cereal isle without having to lead everybody to each individual utensil to pick out.

Hot water and air conditioning are installed in every room, but not always working. Also, one time with a reservation of 7 rooms I arrived to find only 3 were available and only one with hot water.

So on the day the group arrives I load up the truck with my purchases and coffee pots and head to the hotel. For this group that will be 30 cases of water bottles, 10 pkgs of bowls and spoons, 6 pkgs of cups, and 18 gallon jugs of water. I get all the keys and remote controls for all of my rooms and go down the line turning on the showers and air conditioners while closing all the windows. Then I start making trips dividing out all of the supplies while periodically checking that locks work on doors, the air is getting colder and the water is better than cold. If I have six rooms reserved, at least two will have something wrong with them which means changing and moving everything. At least I catch it before I have a bunch of tired people with their bags half emptied at midnight calling me to tell me it is still hot in their room.

From the very beginning we found a reliable driver who speaks pretty good english, so that is not an issue for our groups. I do also have to go by and alert all the restaurant owners of the amount of people and on what dates I would like to eat there. They are never that full anyway, but they need to know 20 people are coming so that they are well stocked with food and cooks.

There is also lots of ministry prep work too. For this team I have had several meetings with our Kekchi friends. We will be in 8 villages in 3 days doing evangelistic presentations. Our friends will use this as the foundation to start a new mission in each village. I've been editing a puppet recording for that part of the presentation. Below is part of the audio. Don't worry, there is no video so it's ok to be all black. (FYI, There are only two people who read this blog who will understand what they're saying.) The birds in the background except for the very last segment are the actual birds in our yard when we did the recording. The sound track I used is called "jungle birds" and sounds exactly like what I'm listening to outside my window now.

Sand, Mud Slides and Sinkholes...Oh My!

We've received a lot of emails today asking if we were affected by the storms and stuff from last week. I can happily tell you that there are benefits to being in the jungle! All Agatha did to us was steal our rain clouds for a few days to return us to the blistering hot days of dry season. We don't have any volcanos or even mountains to fall on us, so ha ha to all of you people in Antigua with your "perfect weather all year" or "land of eternal spring."

But seriously, there is great devestation in the mountains and many of our friends were greatly affected. Here are some links if you would like to see pictures of the volcanic sand in Guate and want to know why the airport is closed down, or the sink holes in Guate, or go to expat mom's website to read several interesting posts about the storm and it's effects.

I tried getting everybody to come to Petén, but had no takers. For now, the skies are clear.