Plumbing projects, yes I can!

Picture: Faustino, the furniture extraordinaire


Tuesday August 10th
Journal by Art

I woke up in the morning with a headache, either thinking about the plumbing in the back bathroom at CASEM or just a lack of water. It should be gone after eating breakfast.

When we get to CASEM, as we make our way to the back room, we are introduced to Faustino, the artisan who made the chairs we are sanding. As we work outside, sanding the chairs, we talk with the other artisans or CASEM staff. We learn from each other, teaching Spanish and English and how to sand and scrape using local tools. Before break, I am working with Edith and Irma.

After break, I get the hose to fix the back bathroom. It doesn´t look the same as the old one but I tried it out anyway. SUCCESS – it worked! The headache is gone.

I continued working on the chairs with my little group, trying to understand Spanish. If I could not understand it, I asked Daryl for help.

Lunch was a great time for all of us to get together and “break bread.” We had salad, rice with chicken, black beans, and fruit punch. The food was great and it really hit the spot. After lunch, part of the group went to the cheese factory. As for me, taking a nap was better – a much needed rest after a big meal.

Back at work, Valinda and I were talking about the tools CASEM had to use. We shave bark off the chairs with old dull knives. We sharpen them with sand paper but some can´t be sharpened very well. We talked about stopping at the hardware store in the morning and buying a hand planer, if they had one. (Later, Nia explained that it would be preferable to continue to use the tools that the CASEM associates were used to working with.)

As we ended the work day (number 2), it made we happy that we had finished the work we had been asked to do.)

That evening, dinner was quick with a sandwich and fries so that we could go to the night walk in the rain forest. It was great! You just had to watch your surroundings. But the best part was as we are driving out. That’s when the van in front stopped; we saw the riders jump out and point into the trees. They had spotted a large sloth. We watched it for several minutes. A perfect ending for a great day. Pura vida!