BOLIVIA BLOCKADE

Ed had to leave early to drive out to the land this morning - 5 am to be exact. And he wouldn't be able to return to Sucre for a couple of days. Nor will I be able to visit our land. Bus drivers had decided on a 48 hour blockade of all roads leading in and out of all cities in Bolivia.

The drivers are opposing a highway safety decree that was recently approved by the government and orders the removal of the vehicle from service for a year and cancellation of the bus driver’s license for good when he has an accident while driving under the influence of alcohol.

The transport workers said they agreed with the sanctions against drivers who operate their vehicles while drunk, but not with the removal of the vehicles from service since they are the very source of their jobs at the transport firms.

According to government statistics, each year more than 1,000 people die on Bolivia’s roadways in traffic accidents. In January of this year there were more than 100 deaths related to bus crashes in the country.

Bolivia is one of the least regulated countries in terms of transport safety, with only Argentina and Chile operating bus transport in South America that adopt safety standards comparable with those in the Western world. The bus companies in Bolivia seem more interested in making money than ensuring the safety of their passengers. They sell more tickets than there are seats during busy times, resulting in people sitting on stools in the aisles. Many of the buses would not pass mechanical inspections in first world countries - only last year a bus Ed and I were travelling on had one of its tyres burst into flames (right underneath where I was sitting) because the brakes had heated up to a red hot level (probably no brake pads left, only metal).

Most long distance buses run at night time, there are no relief drivers so the solitary driver is on his own through the night on treacherous roads, keeping awake by chewing coca leaves. The breaks are short and at the end of a long journey mistakes are common, as experienced by us in Peru a couple of years ago, when the bus we were travelling narrowly missed falling down a ravine after colliding with a fruit truck. (see my blog of Jan 22nd 2008 - A Close Shave on the road to Cusco, Peru at http://junedonaldson.blogspot.com/2008/01/close-shave-on-road-to-cusco-peru.html).

Drivers working whilst under the influence of alcohol are not unusual in Bolivia. During Carnaval it is hard to find a long distance bus driver who hasn't be celebrating with copious amounts of alcohol. Their employers seem unconcerned and there are no checks to see if their drivers are fit for the road.

There is no doubt that the Bolivian government is right to bring in a law to remove the licence of a driver who causes an accident through being drunk at the wheel. But the government is also right to penalize the bus companies by confiscating their vehicles for allowing their drivers to take control of a bus full of passengers in an unfit state to drive. Only in this way can accidents be prevented. Whatever sympathy one has for the drivers, they must see that the safety of passengers who trust their lives to the bus companies and their drivers must take precedence over jobs.

WHAT DOES NOT DEFEAT US........

Two days after the devastation caused by heavy rain, Ed called me from the land to say he was going to pour the second part of the concrete roof that day. There were more thunderstorms and heavy rain predicted for mid-week onwards, and Ed decided enough was enough. We had to get a roof on the already fragile adobe walls.

The previous day had been spent shoring up the damaged sections using beams and wooden lintels.





We wheeled out our shiny new concrete mixer purchased after struggling during our last pour with a hired mixer that was only just short of useless.





On the right is a photo of Hipolito using a vibrator to ensure there are no bubbles or air spaces in the cement.




Nothing gets wasted on our building site, and the adobe bricks that had become waterlogged were broken up, ready to be made into new bricks!


Our workers did a great job, finishing the roof before dark, so we cooked up some hamburgers and celebrated with fizzy cola and orange drinks.

BAD WEATHER SLOWS OUR PROGRESS

We study the weather forecast daily on the internet, and it looked as though the rainy season was starting to peter out. That was until last Saturday night, when it started raining at nightfall and continued throughout the night and into the morning.

Of course we are living in Sucre, about 20 kilometres from our land, and it often rains in the city and doesn't out in the countryside. But this time it was not to be, and we knew we were in for a shock when we had trouble negotiating the normally dry river in our 4 x 4 on the way up to our land.

The living room resembled a swimming pool and our immediate concern was to remove any water that might have seeped into the foundations underneath the enormous 5 metre columns we were building at the front of this area.

We had been ready to pour the second part of the concrete roof early this week, and all the beams and insulation pads had been installed. We had put tarpaulins over all areas as best we could, but the sheer volume of water had proved too much for our efforts to waterproof the adobe walls underneath.

The wooden poles placed to support the roof beams had been carefully measured to ensure a gentle run off of rainwater from the finished roof. But the rain had saturated the dirt floor and the poles had sunk.

The adobe arch leading into one of the bathrooms had collapsed.






The same bathroom arched window had also collapsed.





Throughout the section prepared for covering with the roof this week there was further damage to be seen.


Even my bedroom, which had a roof on, didn't escape the rain, as the water from the living room area had run down the sloping corridor.....


and the electrical box installed ready for our power hookup this week suffered a drenching, too.








But we pumped out and bailed out the living room with buckets until the area was reasonably dry.

Today we explored many options with our maestros as to how to proceed with the roof. The common concensus was to place wooden lintels over damaged areas next to the roof beams, pour the concrete roof and then rebuild the archways from within.

This has been our first setback during our experimental build. Yesterday we felt rather knocked down, but we have already bounced back and are optimistic that our beautiful house WILL emerge from this and any further challenges from mother nature.

ADOBE WALLS GO UP TO SUPPORT THE SECOND PART OF THE ROOF

After completing the concrete roof on the first section, the adobe bricks were brought out to build up the external and internal walls on the middle section, the utility room, the second bathroom (photo below) and Ed's bedroom.


Of course, another lintel had to be constructed over the full length windows in Ed's room.





Here you can see Florensio and Mariano building the archway linking the living room to the corridor,

and filling in the gaps between the arched door leading into Ed's room.





A bigger picture of the internal walls showing the completed lintel in the background.

THE FIRST PART OF THE ROOF GOES UP

Hot off the press - new pix! - will fill in the details and the stories that came before as and when i can!

READY FOR THE ADOBES!

At last we can stop looking at our adobe piles and start using them to continue the walls!

The dirt is sifted through wire mesh then mixed with straw and water to make the mortar that will anchor the adobes in place.




Our master craftsman Jeronimo ensures straight lines as he starts the process.


Ed makes the first of many plywood forms for a small window in the main bedroom to provide ventilation.






The 70 cm walls will keep the house warm in the winter evenings and cool in the summer. Additionally, they will need to be sturdy to support the flat concrete roof.





The wall grows quickly, the window form is in place, but there is still a long way to go....................

STARTING THE LINTELS

Work is begun on the concrete lintels that will span the large glass doors and windows. As in other Latin American countries, wooden posts are used for scaffolding instead of steel.

Thin plywood sheets are laid across the columns to form a base for the concrete lintels to be poured.


Reinforcing rods are bent into shape and hand-wired together to form 'cages' that will strengthen the concrete lintels.



Because our walls are rounded, each cage has to be carefully manipulated into the required shape.

Forms are then built around the cages for the concrete to be poured inside.



When the concrete is dry the forms are removed to reveal the lintel.