Che vos, back to la Quebrada de los cuervos. The next morning, I got out of my tent, climbed out of the ditch and walked another 3 hrs, this time with a couple of uruguayos that were strolling by in Hawaiinas. We made it! Now, I didn't have any food or water at this point, and was debating how long I would be able to stay and still survive the trek out. I'll be your tour guide of the park. On your left you have a classic view of Gabriel in Sunblock mode/ longsleeve shirt on body, short sleeve shirt on head, sometimes wrapped around the face, and baseball cap. Even when it is over 37 degrees Celsius. On your right, another classic, this is la quebrada de los cuervos. The "crows" are actually vultures that hang out, I suppose waiting for Yankees that don't bring enough water.

And now the test. How well do you know me on a scale of 1-5. In the picture on the right, I am quickly nearing a body of water, when I reach it, what is my next move?

You probably cheated and looked at the picture, but it's okay. :) La Quebrada de los Cuervos is a pretty cool place. It has cool bugs, boars, water, little cascades. Good stuff. And if anyone is in the giving mood, the park rangers cut all of the grass by the visitor center (a very big area), with a weed whacker; a lawnmower would make a world of difference =-D

Hey, I'm now well fed again and a little less bitter about the experience :) Here are a couple pics of the houses we built and the families we worked with. We've got in the picture on the right, Alberto and his family, Santiago "the man" and Ave from Estonia. Each house has 18 pilotes (more or less tree trunks) used as a foundation. On top go the ready-made and assembled floors and walls. Then we hammer away at the roof for a while. The finished product is supposed to be a temporary fix for about 7 yrs. as Techo and the families work towards increasing income levels and better health among other things.

A shout out to Niels Sepstrup Sorenson and that history business. I just read the Hispanic America Revolutions 1808-1826 by John Lynch.

Un techo para mi pais

I got back the other day from a program called ün techo para mi pais¨ or a roof for my country. We left for 4 days and 5 nights. The idea of the program is to build houses for people in dire need of better shelter. The group I was in built 2 houses along with the families. After construction, the program continues working the families with job training and education. Someone asked me what the most impacting element of the program was. To be honest, it was hunger and lack of sleep. About 80 of us slept in a school gymnasium, in which we were more or less prisoners. We ate 4 meals a day...which sounds great except that breakfast for a Uruguayan consists of a little bread with jelly. Lunch was a bowl of soup. Dinner was a bowl of broth or pasta with crackers. I figure we were taking in about 1500 or less calories a day which we used quickly breaking rock with silly shaped shovels. The sleep...the techo made us stay up until 12 to eat and then afterwards we had group meetings to talk about the work we had done or that we would do the next day. We slept at 1 or 2 and were out the door once more at 7. After the first day, I was just hoping to survive. After the construction, everyone applauded the cooks and the organizers...except me. When we got back to montevideo, I didn´t stay for the closing event, I hopped off the bus and ran my skeleton self home and ate and ate and slept. Now though, I can say the most important thing was the interaction of volunteers and families and the work we all did but during those 4 days, I would tell you it was flour in another sack if you catch my drift.