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
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