And So It Begins

Yesterday marked the official start of our pool project and, boy, was it exciting and slightly crazy.

The crew arrived and started staking out the site. When that was done, work began on digging the trenches for the footers. This is being done by hand and is back breaking work. But in spite of this hard labor, all we heard were guys whistling and laughing.

Another thing that amazed us is that they were all wearing hard hats, work boots, and reflective vests. If you live in Belize any length of time, you will realize what a novelty this is for a construction crew. 

While all that was going on, we started getting more materials delivered. First came the block.

I think David said we have about 600 pieces. We suspect more will be needed, but this will at least keep the guys busy for the near term.

While the block was being off loaded, in came a dump truck with another load of sand.

The sand man no sooner left, then the truck arrived with bags and bags of cement.

And just when we thought the deliveries were over, in came a truck and trailer with 40 foot lengths of steel (rebar).

By 5:00, the crew packed up their tools and called it a day. We were exhausted and we didn't do any of the work!

We were surprised, but delighted, that many of the guys showed up a little early today to get started. They immediately went to work digging the trenches. This 7:30 to 5:00 work schedule will be the routine six days a week for the project duration. 

While it's very early on, I am so impressed with the work ethic and professionalism of these guys. Keeping fingers crossed we have nothing but smooth sailing going forward.