Our Final Blog Post

WE’RE DONE!

After a month of sweat, hard work, and overcoming frustrations, we have finally finished our monster of a bridge! Once we put the wood onto our bridge, the rest of the construction was pretty smooth sailing. The installation of our Wind Guys, which are the lateral bracing on our bridge, took a little over a day to complete. While not terribly difficult, the process still included tasks like pulling cable, cutting down parts of trees with machetes, and utilizing Jon Barry’s super-strength to tighten the cable clamps. The rain delayed us a little bit, but of course it was no match for our determination to finish.

After this installation, our only remaining task was to install the chicken wire fencing onto our bridge. As our eight-year old friend Axel advised us earlier in the week in Spanish, “The bridge looks good, but you should think about putting a fence on the side.” This was already in the plan, of course, but we were happy to give him credit for the idea. Putting on the wire was a very easy but tedious task. The bottom of the fence was to be nailed using “U-nails” onto the planks of the bridge; since the height of the fence was taller than the height of our bridge, we folded the excess fence over the top cable and tied it to the rest of the fence with wire. Had our team (and the masons) worked on this alone, which had been the case for most of the week, it would have taken us more than a day to complete. However, much to our delight, a crowd of people gathered on the bridge and helped us out!

It was really nice to see Nicaraguan men, women, and children alike help finish off the bridge. A lot of our frustration during this trip was rooted in what seemed to be local indifference about the bridge. While we had occasional help to carry cables and mix concrete, we spent most of the construction working with just the masons and ourselves. This was frustrating because we know that the locals lose at least 60 days of work when the river level is high (the level rises to about six or seven feet starting in September) and thus have a lot at stake with this bridge. Additionally, we were told by Bridges to Prosperity before arriving that we would have a large amount of help from the locals during construction. Better late than never, though, and it was nice to see the people bubbling with excitement as they finished off their bridge.

Our last day on site, Thursday the 23rd, we had an Inauguration Ceremony for the bridge. The ceremony wasn’t as intimate as we would have liked, as “bigwigs” from organizations we occasionally worked with during the design and construction process, such as Gran Pacifica, the municipality, and the local University in the area, led the ceremony. Nonetheless, a large number from all communities were present and we had a great time relaxing and spending time with them without having any unfinished work in the back of our heads. We hung out in the community well after the ceremony ended and well after nightfall came. The kids loved taking pictures with our cameras and having us throw them into the air for as many times as we could. “¿Cuantos quieres?” “¡Veinte!” Once the kids went to bed, we hung out with the masons, Everto and Yaris, and a woman named Maria, who worked at the farm that helped us a lot throughout the month.

It was definitely bittersweet to leave Nicaragua. Most of us have been in the States for almost a week now, but we all still have the communities and the bridge in our minds. While we knew this would happen, our month helped us appreciate all the luxuries we have in the United States, such as the ability to shower and wash our clothes at home (and not in the river). It helped us appreciate that we have easy transportation to any place we want, unlike the locals in our community who could not even walk to work for two months out of the year. Our time there also helped us to appreciate the simple life that the Nicaraguans have as well. We spent a lot of time playing with marbles and slingshots with the children after school. We enjoyed our time chatting with the masons as they drove their oxen to carry stones. We loved the warm everyday hellos from the women in the village as they carried clothes down to the river. Despite the challenges we faced, we will always look at this experience as one of the best in our lives. Not many people will experience what we have over the past month. While building this bridge was the fulfilling and worthwhile goal of this trip, it definitely wasn’t the total scope of our Nicaraguan experience. Until we meet again, Nicaragua, you will always be in our hearts.

Day ? … We’ve been here how long again?

It’s been over a week and a half since our last blog. In some respects we’ve come a long way towards the completion of our bridge and our general “how-to-get-things-done-in-Nicaragua” knowledge, while in other respects, let’s just say we discovered 100 ways of how to not get past the breaking waves while trying to surf and managed to get ridiculously sun burnt on an overcast day. Also, to add to his fire-related tricks repertoire, Tony has discovered a new way to light matches from Quique … just don’t stand directly in front of him when he shows it to you.

For nearly two weeks we’ve been expecting/finagling/fighting for our wood to arrive. We plan on writing an entire blog post devoted solely to our wood saga, but to give you a quick idea of what this looked like please read on! Originally B2P had ordered our wood from some crazy lady, Darlene. We had given her $1100 for the wood (half of the total contract). But failed lesson numero uno in Nicaraguan business: always write a contract and get your receipts! – a lesson we haven’t forgotten since. After several days of talking with the local mayor, tracking down permits, driving out to Timbuktu on a tractor to find the missing crossbeams and planks (this time with more muscle than Darlene had with her … another useful Nicaraguan business trick), and being promised the rest of the wood every day for at least a week we finally got half of our wood from miss Darlene (to match the amount we had already paid her). The next adventure to procure the rest of the wood involved many trips to Managua and the “Oriental Market” (which despite Quique’s concern involved no HIV-filled needles, but was in close proximity to both male and female hookers). After the third trip to Managua on the back of a flat bed truck, four of our team proudly rolled into our jobsite with the remainder of our wood – only about two weeks overdue!

So, yes, let’s hope that the chicken wire fencing that the boys are now planning on getting in Managua tomorrow will not cause as much of an issue as the wood did! We virtually finished laying the planks for the bridge yesterday after only a few more hiccups. These may or may not have included things such as the cables not being a consistent distance apart from each other all the way across the bridge, causing our nicely predrilled holes in the crossbeams to no longer fit any more, a zillion curved and non-uniform planks, excessive friction from the cables while trying to push the crossbeams out one the cables while being harnessed 60 feet up in the air … well yes, you get the picture – we were excited to have enough planks to be able to cross the bridge and were proud witnesses of the dozens of community members crossing with their groceries, children, machetes … and a whole slew of other items one typically sees in this country. ;-) Despite the inconveniences the afternoon thunder storm caused during our attempted stretching of the windguy cables across the bridge, it was actually incredible to see how much the river rose from the hour of rain and how the stepping stones across the river were hidden under the water. After this we actually had trouble keeping people OFF our unfinished bridge as we were working on it in the afternoon!

Today was yet another full day of work and hands-on problem solving. The major accomplishment was the tensioning of the windguy cables on half of the bridge. We never really knew how exactly this would affect the bridge (other than making it look sweet and 200% more legit than it did without them), but the effect on the stability of the bridge was like night and day! It was actually quite interesting (and yes, slightly frightening as well) to witness the plethora of torsional and vertical periods that the bridge experienced as different amounts of deadweight were added to it. However, today, after we had tensioned the windguys on half of the bridge it was clear just how much these would help the stability of the bridge, and hopefully the peace of mind of everyone who will be crossing it! As soon as you passed the point on the bridge without windguys yet, the bridge would again start rocking with your step. Thank you Dr. Kareem and Wobbly Structures (yes, this IS a name of a class that we structural engineers are required to take) for teaching us so much about wibbly-wobbly bridges!

We are hoping to be completely done with the bridge in three more days. We still have to finish the installation of the windguys, put up the fencing along the bridge and construct the approaches for easy access to the bridge. We are also praying for a huge rainstorm right when we finish, just so that we can see how high this water gets during the rainy season, and how helpful our bridge will be once the river truly does become impassable.

Those are pretty much the highlights for now. Stay tuned both for the wood saga as well as how the completion of the bridge and the inauguration ceremony goes.

-Brittani

Day #14

So we've been here a full two weeks already, and it's been a whirlwind of ups and downs, to say the least. While we've given brief updates on the progress of our bridge, we thought we'd give a more in-depth look into our experience thus far. Since arriving on site on Friday afternoon, we've worked non-stop ten hour days doing everything from digging holes to carrying 1200lb cables across the gorge to mixing concrete (both by hand and with a concrete mixer) like champions today. We're in the midst of the rainy season, though we've realized that that means very hot days and storming nights. In case you didn't know, our bridge is a 125 meter monster (the length of a football field including the endzones, to put it in perspective) and is about 20 meters (~66 feet) high. The bridge spans a gorge with a river running though it, which is currently the only way that people can go from the San Diego community on one side to the San Bartolo community on the other.

Our first couple of days were both very tiring and very boring. While we expected the community to give us a jump-start on the project by the time we got there, we found that we were basically starting from scratch. As a team, we had to dig a seven-foot hole, along with four other smaller holes for the anchors of our bridge and "wind guys," which are cables for lateral support that we found our bridge needed during the design process back at school. After digging, we rounded up about fifty people to help us carry the seven 1200lb cables down the gorge, across the river, and back up to the other side. It was quite the production, taking a full day.

Rounding up a lot of people was a pretty exciting feat for us, though it really should not have been. Per our agreement with Bridges to Prosperity (B2P), the community and governing municipality were supposed to provide enough manpower for us during construction as well as some materials, including rocks and sand. This happened to not be the case, and we even held a town meeting with the San Diego, San Bartolo, and Piedras Pesadas (next to the SB community) communities after a few days to lay out expectations and ask for more involvement. After promising them a plaque with the names of those who have participated for more than seven days, participation has been better. Unfortunately, the materials situation has not been as easy. While we were slowed down a bit by waiting for deliveries of sand and gravel for the concrete, we were able to keep on track with our schedule pretty well. Our biggest problem has been the delivery of our wood for the crossbeams and planks of the bridge.

After digging holes, our team spent a lot of time mixing concrete both by hand (really slow) and with the mixer (its arrival was a lifesaver). Using the mixer was great but also proved to be tiring, as we had to haul buckets full of sand, gravel and water into the mixer, not to mention 95lb bags of cement. We've gone through over a hundred mixes while here, so it definitely wore us out.

By far, the most fun and exciting part of the bridge came after tensioning the cables. With the cables spanning over the gorge, we began to feel like we were making real progress. In order to check that each of the seven cables had the proper sag and were in their proper place relative to each other, we sent the ever-brave Jon and Brittani, harnessed and all, to the middle of the span. They went to the middle of the bridge span, taking measurements and checking that things were level. Later on, to mark where the crossbeams would eventually go along the bridge, we sent out "La Jefe" Megan across the cables, making her the first to cross our bridge! By the end of it, everyone had gone on the cables above the gorge just for fun!

While we've been able to stick to our construction schedule up until now, we're finally hitting a delay. Though we ordered the wood for our bridge weeks ago, it has yet to completely arrive. We talked to the woman in charge, Darlene, and expected a delivery on Saturday; she never showed up. We do not believe that she actually had the wood ready at the time. After continual pestering of her, we ran into more problems with the delivery, as she got held up with the police for not having a permit to cut or deliver the wood. Even after we helped straighten up the situation with the police, she has still been giving us excuses as to why we don't have all our wood. She delivered a little bit of wood yesterday, but not nearly enough for a full day's work. We are hesitant to move on to another vendor just yet, as the B2P person who ordered the wood from her already gave her $1000 before any wood was delivered (not quite how business should be done in Central America). We have talked to her and she is supposed to make a delivery of wood tomorrow at noon, but we'll see. Otherwise, we'll be out of work for tomorrow.

Though we've hit a little delay, we're still on track to finish the bridge earlier than expected and are very excited with the progress we've made. On day fourteen, we find ourselves with the most tiring work behind us and our bridge taking real form. Today, we spent half of the day putting up as many crossbeams as we could with the wood we have. Once the rest of the wood gets here, we should have the crossbeams and planks in within a couple of days. After that, we will be connecting our "wind guy" cables to the bridge (which, if nothing else, will make our bridge look even more legit), putting up fencing along the bridge edges, and then have the inauguration of our completed bridge! It's been a fun ride so far, and we're really excited to see this bridge as it goes closer to completion.

Keep praying for us and watch out for more updates!

-Tony

Day #9

Feelin Fine...

Although it is very hot. And I've worn the same socks and pants for three days in a row now. It turns out we live in a magical house that has no heat and no air conditioning but manages to get hotter at night even though it gets 10 degrees colder. Our bodies have becumb nome to heat & cold... but not really. That would be totally sweet!

Community Involvement has come flying out like some sort of wild Nicaraguan Chicken. Apparently all these guys needed was a swift kick in the butt from Quique (who now walks around with a cane when he is not riding a horse or a motorcycle). We had about 50 guys helping us collect piedra and pour concreted yesterday morning and then another solid 30 come out this morning. The past two days have been spent with concrete mixers and various two-wheeled vehicles attached to tractor hitches. Everything is more fun when it is being pulled by a tractor (Except Megan).

We are pretty excited about our progress so far - especially in regards to pouring concrete. Four out of six anchors are complete, and we hope to finish off the last two tomorrow that's what she said.

Til Next Time,
We're the 8 best friends that ANYONE could have

Day #7

Next time we'll ask for a "continuously" working concrete mixer.

Yesterday (Day #6) was a day of firsts for many of us, with the exception of Mike Paddock, our ever-so-wise engineer. For the seven of us juvenile delinquents, mixing concrete by hand was as foreign as watching Tony breath fire the other day. Luckily, we had better luck with the concrete and we were able to complete the job without a trip to the hospital. A few of us did report "klink burns" to our health and safety officer, young Mitchalot. What are klink burns? Mitchalot, whom the village kids like to call "Michael" for some reason, explained after consulting WebMD that they are reactions to heat in the form of sparks from "klinking" metal. Such has been the advice for the self-proclaimed "health guru" (supposedly that was his name in nickname in high school??). Mike Paddock, on the other hand, informed us that "klink burns" are the common name for the stinging feeling when cement reacts with moisture on the skin. Anyways, by hand, we mixed 16 bags worth of cement to form the footing for one of the anchors. Today, we again mixed 16 bags for the other bridge anchor but in half the time by using a "mud machine," as our good friend Big Bob likes to call it. Apparently

the machine has a temper and only works when Brittani says nice things to it (the jury still hasn't decided whether its a boy or girl). After stalling on us literally hundreds of times -isn't that right Meg- we realized all she needed was some motor oil and leveling. We are beginning to realize the importance of crystal clear communication because we asked for a "working" concrete mixer but should have asked for a "continuously" working one.

In other news, we decided to gather the community again with the hope "to light a fire under their butts," as our Project Manager so eloquently phrased it. The meeting brought together the three villages that will be utilize the bridge on a daily basis: San Diego, San Bartolo, and Piedras Pasadas (translation: "Heavy Rocks"). Enrique, shorted to "Quique," led the meeting. Something tells me he'll be in politics someday, because he sure knows how to influence the locals.

Lastly, I suspect some of our followers would like to know just where we are in the construction phase without having to cypher through all my blabber so here's a list of what is complete:
Excavation of both bridge anchors
Excavation of all four wind guy anchors
Construction of the tower foundations
Construction of the towers
7 of the 9 bridge cables have been pulled across the river
Pouring of footings for bridge anchors
Construction of rebar cages for bridge anchors


So, to sum it up, enthusiasm remains high within our team but morale within the community continues to dwindle. For some reason, the team seems to respond positively to Brittani's random outbursts of Shakira's "Waka Waka" but the community doesn't appreciate it. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Day #5

Are we still alive?

I realize we haven’t blogged in the most crucial days of our trip and some of our very caring friends and especially our Mother’s were probably getting worried. Oh and by the way, Happy Mother’s Day from Nicaragua (oh and also by the way, Brittani got a flower).  But hold your breath no more, we are alive and doing well. These past few days have been physically and mentally exhausting but we are slowly getting into the groove, which is the reason we have the time and energy for this post.

So what have we been doing for the past four days? Well, we’ve been experiencing language barriers, busting our butts, digging anchors, dragging cable, playing Marbles with village kids, deforesting with Machettes, getting our boots wet, sweating so much that it looks like we went swimming, moving 15,000 lbs of cement by hand, drinking Pepsi out of bag, killing Japanese beetles like its our job, making friends with a Harley driver named Big Bob, getting love notes from village men (and just to clarify, the girls were the recipients), and violating just about every ISSLP rule like not keeping a journal, driving in the crazy streets of Managua, partying like we’ve got nothing better to do, and most importantly, Mitch is trying to jumpstart a revolution to overthrow the Sandinista’s. [Rachel, of course none of the later are true, but they are… well maybe].

On a more serious note, Megan saw Quique’s butt and Tony decided to go out on a limb and trying the delicate art of fire breathing. He ended up in the hospital and hasn’t been able to speak for a couple days but the doctor says he’ll be alright… The “yes/no” pad has been working pretty well.

On a more, more serious note, construction has been moving along at a splendid pace although we are well behind schedule. We were hoping to have all the excavations completed and most of the tower constructed, but that was not the case. When we arrived only one of the anchors had been dug; and mind you, these anchors are not the same thing you toss overboard when you want to go swimming from your boat, these anchors are 3 meters long, 1.5 meters wide, and 2.5 meters deep or what we like to call a “Quique” in depth. As of yesterday, we dug the other anchor, and the 4 smaller anchors for the wind guys, which will provide support during hurricane-force winds. Today, we dragged the 7 – 160m cables across the gorge using the strength of 30 community volunteers plus your’s truly and began work on the towers. Before today the bridge was lacking significant and essential community involvement but we believe their enthusiasm is on the rise. [I could go off on whole 5-page rant explaining the issue but I thought I would keep this brief… or at least not more than 2-pages double-spaced.]

Well, I’m approaching the two page mark so I better rap it up. If anyone has comments or questions please comment on this blog. Otherwise, we would like to share a link to our team’s theme song and hasta luego.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGrfLQVVI8A

Day 1

We've touched down in Managua after a long day of traveling - inclement yet not-so-surprising weather in Chicago almost stranded us in Miami. Unfortunately it seems that we won't make it to site until Friday, which may set us back a day or two. On the plus side, however, the team has the opportunity to spend the next two days in Managua and get settled into way of life here. I'm excited to see the progress the community has made on bridge construction so far, and it'll be nice to finally be immersed in the community in which we'll be working. As of now we're idling at the local backpacker's inn, but after a couple drinks and nice conversation we'll be ready for the day tomorrow. More to come...