Letters to the Old Country: Camp Chakha'asi

The palmetto palm sticks for the walls, and the sticks for the roof were delivered. These and all the posts and beams were moved to the construction site. Some of the new sticks had to be peeled, and a tent was constructed.

Pictures follow:

A tent needed to be constructed. What we needed was a big plastic tarp.

The tarp is stamped with the logo of USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. These tarps probably arrived here in the aftermath of hurricanes to temporarily replace peoples roofs. In any case, they circulate in commerce long after disasters as a big piece of strong waterproof material is a very valuable thing here. I think such tarps are often rented out for money, but, in this case, I was able to borrow the tarp for free. Possible out of friendship, or possible out of some innate sense of fairness, as the original recipient of a tarp got it as a gift from the American people at a time of dire need. What goes around, comes back around.

More peeling: The top sticks also need to be peeled. Peeling promptly commenced. Peeling sticks, at least from the bob tree is hard. Negrito and Madre Cacao bark just strips off, but bob takes a lot more effort.

These are tesiste or palmetto sticks, or Acoelorrhaphe. These will be wired together to form the walls. They are resistant to rot due to moisture, but should be kept out of contact with the ground, and for best resistance should be plastered.

Here is Christopher taking a break to eat a cookie, next to one of the piles of palmetto sticks. There are a number of piles. There are 575 wall sticks. I am told this should be more than sufficient. I hope so, because we could use any extras to build a fogon, sort of a detached kitchen/cooking area. That is a small building with a wood fired stove. We will have a gas stove inside the house, but, to cook beans, or roast a chicken generates so much heat that it is better to do that in a drafty building separate from the house.