Temporary housing keeps going up in Sauce

It's a three stage process.

First, families who have lost their homes move into plywood structures, then an insulated white temporary house is built on the site of the house that collapsed.

Finally a new earthquake resistant house will replace the white temporary house subsidized by the government.

Earthquake 8.0 hits Sauce

At 2.44 am on Sunday May 26 Lourdes and I were woken by violent shaking that went on for almost 4 minutes.

I immediately knew we were in a strong earthquake and that older structures would be undergoing terrible damage all around us.  I prayed to the Archangel Michael that there would not be injuries and fatalities.

I have felt an answer to my prayers during the last few weeks as there is evidence all around of  damage to structures but miraculously there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries.

At present government agencies and the military are hard at work putting up temporary housing for those who have lost their homes.  Our large central 'Plaza de Armas' now has these plywood structures on three sides and the cement football court behind Estrella de Sauce has a crew of young soldiers (my English students) putting up more of the temporary huts as I write these lines.

We feel very fortunate that our house came through without damage and Estrella de Sauce only has a small amount of wall damage.

Photos. Luis Justo

Sailing catamaran is now a trimaran

Our sailing catamaran is a home-built design that functioned well but sat too low in the water.  This defect has now been remedied by the addition of a third hull in the middle making the catamaran a trimaran.

This is being a lot of work but will make the boat much safer and with more carrying capacity.  Thanks to Tobe Halton who greatly assisted me with the tedious and nasty job of fiberglassing the additional hull.

I now have at least a month of work putting the boat back together in its new configuration.

Photo: Luis Justo

Our dock is now double the length

Photo: Luis Justo

Many thanks to Tobe Halton who worked with me and some local carpenters pushing the dock out into deeper water which will be much better for swimming.  This was not an easy job as we were using recycled wood from another dock that had to be taken down when the new municipal dock was being built.  It was like putting together a giant jig-saw puzzle.

We built a 'tambo' boathouse on the end to house our rowboat and dugout canoe out of the rain.  Eight years of bailing after every rainstorm is now hopefully at an end.

Next project will be a dockbox to house hammocks, life-jackets, paddles etc and a swim ladder.

Preparing 'la escuelita'

We are getting ready for the southern hemisphere beginning of the school year.  Our three volunteers Emma, Yanna and Stefania have been painting a beam that runs across the main classroom area of 'Estrella de Sauce' in preparation for the arrival of the children in just a few days.

Photos above by Emma, below by Tobe

A new gnome from an old tree trunk

We are busy getting our after school enrichment program here in Sauce ready for the upcoming southern hemisphere school year.  A dead orange tree in the back yard had to come down leaving a stump that I just formed into a gnome by chainsawing, sanding, carving, painting and making a nose on my wood turning lathe.  Tobe Halton took the photos.

Recycling an old boat

My friend Tobe Halton is here.  We've been playing lots of music as well as working on renovating this old abandoned wooden boat with a view to converting our sailing catamaran into a trimaran for improved flotation and carrying capacity.  Right now we are covering it with two layers of fiberglass which gets fastened to the wood with LOTS of screws.  Nasty work but hopefully we will enjoy having a better boat at the end of the fiberglassing marathon.

After repairing inside and out this third boat, which was kindly donated by some friends, we will launch it and locate it in the middle of our catamaran.  This will have the effect of creating a trimaran which should float higher in the water.  More freeboard you see.

Normally traditional wooden boats last only about a decade here as there is a marine worm which slowly eats the wood away, which is why we are seeing less wooden boats and more made of aluminum as the years roll by.  By covering this one with fiberglass below the waterline it should last several decades more.



Tobe driving screws

Martin drilling