Peru House Project Update

The Ormachea-Hermoza home construction is going great. The foundation is finished and we are preparing to pour the columns.

It was an exciting moment when we removed the wood forms from around the concrete base.

The footprint of the house was clearly visible.

marc fitting the wood form around a column

That gave the project a sense of reality and inevitability—no turning back, full steam ahead.

up we go

I marked the occasion by buying the crew a few big bottles of beer—the celebratory elixir of choice among construction workers the world over—and joined them for a traditional Peruvian round of drinking (even though I don’t drink beer.) Sitting in a circle, using one glass, each guy pours himself a glass, then passes the bottle to the next guy while he downs the beer in one gulp. No lingering, no sipping—pour a glass, chug it, hand the glass to the next person until whatever it is you are drinking, no matter the quantity, is gone.