When it came to limewashing the adobe walls, the advice from Adam and Katy was to dampen the walls before painting and keep them damp after painting for 48 hours. Easy to do in the damp British climate but in the high desert of Bolivia the sun is fierce - the limewash dries as soon as it touches the walls. The result of our first test was disheartening.
We needed to add something to the limewash to help it stick, and our neighbour Victor gave us a suggestion used by his father when limewashing adobe walls.
We had to find some prickly pear cactus. Victor and Ed then cut it up and bashed it with a small axe to aid the release of the juice.
It was then placed in a large barrel of water and left for a week.
The cactus was then removed from the barrel leaving a glutenous liquid that, when added to the lime putty instead of water, gave a latex quality to the mix. It enabled the limewash to stick to the walls.
We were very pleased with the trial using the new mix, and very happy to have Victor's local knowledge.
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