We woke at 5:00 to the roosters and the dogs. In fact we hadn’t really been asleep at all. All night the community celebrated, which we could hear from our campsite long after we had left the party. We walked down to the school in the dark of dawn to meet the jeep that would … More Day Eleven: A Bittersweet So Long
Bridge complete! With the bridge complete, we held an inauguration ceremony with the community, officially opening the bridge. Kids came to give speeches, telling us how the bridge will help them travel to and from school. Heidi gave a speech as well, thanking the community for being incredible hosts and letting them know that we … More Day Ten: We Have A Bridge
Day nine was a beautiful day to finish a bridge! The sun was out and we were able to finish decking before lunch, connecting both sides of the bridge, which was an emotional experience. Later that day we started on our fencing and finished fencing later that afternoon. Next we took down our safety cables. … More Day Nine: Bridging Two Sides
Under thundering skies we returned to work after a weekend retreat in Santa Catalina, a seaside town on the Pacific. As we continued our decking we were hit with a heavy rain storm, which prevented us from finishing the decking. Henry and his friend Elvi returned to site that afternoon after school, as they had … More Day Eight: Heavy Rain
If you need us we’ll be here, in Santa Catalina (with wifi…..kind of):
Everyone was a bit exhausted come Friday morning. Luckily the women who volunteer to make our breakfast were unusually late this morning, allowing us to sleep past 5:30. For the past four days, women from the community who want to participate in some way on the build, have come to our campsite, sometimes as early … More Day Five: TGIF
The BuroHappold crew finished measuring the restraint cable this morning. It was a tedious job that required absolute accuracy, but the setting could not have been better. We were just a bit offsite towards the valley. The sun was out, people from the community walked by on their morning journey across the river saying “buenos” … More Day Four: Hook, clamp, bolt
We woke in the rain. We ate breakfast in the rain, walked to site in the rain, and had our daily meeting in the rain. Our task for the day was to pass our greased cable through the river to the other side. We did this in rain. We also bent rebar in the rain. … More Day Three: Here comes the rain
Women from the community came to help us carry our decking down to the river from our work station above today. They worked in dresses, which we learned they hand make themselves, each woman learning to sew as a young girl. The women in Caloveborita do many things. They walk hours into town for food … More Day Two: “Who says women can’t be engineers?”
We woke in the dark, to the roosters crowing and the dogs barking. We enjoyed a quick breakfast – black coffee, eggs and tomatoes – and were off to site. We walked through the valley towards the river as the sun was rising and the fog was starting to burn off. When we got to … More Day One: Already Ahead
Field Notes 