Today in Guatemala

This has been the 2nd day of our build here in Uspantan. We have 2 building sites. One is farther along than the one I am workinig on. It has concrete block walls that are about shoulder height, and a Guatemalan mason who is quite chatty. He was living in Atlanta, and in the middle of the night had a visitation from immigration and was sent back here. He is charming. That house is very sunny and hot. I am working on a house on a slope in the woods, also concrete block. There is a lot of digging going on by the men in the group. They are digging out very hard clay out of the slope and putting it in the floor of the house, to build it up so that a concrete floor can be put in. It will be mixed on the ground, and then poured into place with buckets. I am cutting very heavy wire which is half the size of rebar, someone shapes into the shape of a C, and then I cut pieces of wire so that I can attach the c shapes to rebar, amkinig a kind of ladder whch is used to reinforce the concrete blocks. Everything is done by hand. We form a bucket brigade to bring concrete blocks down from the street above where a truck has left it. The group of people who are doing the build are very interesting, all college professors, physicians, teachers, etc., and all liberal. Habitat tends to have people who are somewhat churchy, but this group is unitarians and less religious than that. All were very excited about health care passing, and loved it that Laurie called me 3 minutes after the vote! We eat at a house at a very long table where breakfast and dinner are served buffet style. The food is good, and on our way out in the morning we pick up a sack lunch with 2 little sandwiches, an apple and some cookies. Not luxurious, but far more than the people who live here get. The people here are very warm and friendly, and I think that they thought that the sight of me walking down the street in my overalls today was quite hilarious. Most guatemalans hit me about waist high. The poverty is pretty sad, and the child mortality rate is appalling, somewhere around 40 %. We see long lines of indiginous women every morning waiting to get $36 from the government. they get that each month for taking their children to the doctor and sending them to school. It seems to me that most women have a baby tied to their back, and I think that family planning is unheard of, or at least the Catholic church doesn´t want people to hear about it. The Internet is easily available, and the connection is very fast. Everyone in our group is working unbelievably hard, with the greatest good humor. There is no complaining. Tomorrow morning, we are doing a carnival for the neighborhood children, and we will be wearing clown costumes. I am giving a face painting workshop in my room tonight after dinner....I hope it wont take longer than 30 minutes, because I will need to take Advil and go to bed!!
Love,