Mazunte Build - Waiting for the Man

We are so ready. In fact, we've never been readier to start the build. In fact, you could say that until now we haven't been doing anything but getting ready. That is an exaggerated over-statement, but not entirely untrue. Before we could really get going we had to provide adequate facilities for everyone involved, such as sitting, cooking, and eating accommodations. Also, there had to be a decent toilet and shower. About all of these things I have talked about extensively here.

Also, the work site had to be prepared. We needed to remove the top tires that were too small, so we could make use of some bigger ones. We needed to get sufficient tires, haul some dirt over from the neighbor's excavation, and pile it high to make it easily accessible for the next course. With time and lots of helping hands we managed to do all that.

Shot Past our Goal

But then, eventually we were ready to continue with the next course, but were delayed by bureaucracy: without the building permit we didn't want to continue raising the wall. And since there were loads of minor little projects that needed to be done, we started doing those instead.

Since then we finally covered the bathroom with palm leaves, connected the pressure pump with the heavy-duty power chord, built a kick-ass desk / book-shelf / electric charging station out of pallets, varnished all our wooden furniture, and even built a comfy little seat trio and a coffee table.

In terms of work preparations, we have bought rebar, cut and after a good amount of cutting and bending we assembled the two castillos and their footings, for the concrete pour. Last but not least, we took the bus on a midnight lumber-run, to get the trunks for the vigas that are going to sustain the roof.

The Paper-War Monkey-Wrench

So you could say, we are way ahead of ourselves… but that would be unmistakable optimism. The truth is, we had been wanting to be done with the tires by now! But there were some unexpected delays on side of the guys in their respective administrative offices, who just had to come back with some questions before granting us the building permit. I don’t even want to get into the details of Kafkaesque hyperloops they’ve been throwing at us, because then we’d find ourselves in the depths of Absurdistan. Suffice to say, none of it makes the least bit of sense.

As it turns out, the architect signing our plans assured us that once he talked to them, both local and regional governments were certain to comply with our build, and we'd have the permit in our hands by the end of this week. Great! (Though don't ask me where the architect gets this much power and certainty...) In any case, we are expecting to be able to hold a little ceremony for the "beginning" of the construction this weekend, and by Monday start hosting volunteers again, so we can quickly pound those tires and raise that wall. Until then, how did that song by The Velvet Underground go? "Waiting for my man..."

Follow our Construction Adventure in This Series:

An Impression of Hyperadobe in La Boquilla
Bending Rebar Like a Mexican
Working at Night for the Perfect Level
The Challenge of Scoring Tires
Creating Conditions to Work and Live
Previous series: A Theater on the Beach