Tools and Attire

We had a great day today. We visited a potential building site in the village of La Concordia, just outside of Tacuba, and about 2 ½ hours northwest of San Salvador. We first learned of La Concordia through out friends at Café Campesino, a fair-trade coffee roaster and distributor located in Americus. To get there you first go to Ahuachapán, which is where the orphanage I’ve written about is located, and follow the signs for Tacuba. This will take you up a steep, one lane cement road that suddenly turns into a dirt path. You then back down the hill into town and ask for directions to learn that the real road to Tacuba is two blocks to the right. Proceeding on you enter a hilly jungle area—but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Today was when I promised to talk about what you should bring to the Millard & Linda Fuller Build—we’ll have to visit La Concordia later.

As to the build, we suggest that you bring:

ATTIRE—
Most of the village women wear dresses and the men long pants. No one is offended, though, by women or men in modest shorts, so dress to be comfortable—it will be balmy.

Bring a hat and wear solid, closed toed shoes—work sites are naturally hazardous.

Bring a pair of good, heavy gloves. You will likely be moving cement block and doing other chores that your hands will appreciate some protection from.

PERSONAL TOOLS—
There is little carpentry to be done and for reasons that are mysterious to me we have a good supply of hammers. You’ll make good use of the following (make sure your name is well marked):
Tool belt or nail apron
Metric tape measure
Phillips & flathead screwdriver
Pair of pliers
Utility knife
Small level
Water bottle

If you’d like to contribute to the general good, bring any of the following:
A commercial grade extension cord (110 power is used here with US plugs)
A chalk line
Dill Bits—masonry
Welding Rod 6011
14” metal cutting disk
10” chop saw blade—metal and masonry
6” cutting discs—masonry and metal
4” cutting discs—masonry and metal
Welding Rod 6011
A contractors’ first aid kit
Printer cartridges for Epsom C-83 printer
Printer cartridges for Canon Pixma MX 300 printer


Mike asked for a new pair of Levis, but I told him that was a step too far.

I’ve gotten a couple more questions about the hotels and services. In answer, the power here is 110 so you won’t need converters. The pools look to me to be clean—I intend to make use of them. (As this comes from someone who rides riverboats in Africa and flies strangely named airlines in Asia its value may be suspect.) We’ll announce plans for day trips later—there are a couple of services that are handy and we’re checking out the details. As to evening entertainment, we’re pretty much used up planning the daytime events, so creativity on your part may be required. Please send any other questions or concerns to me at dsnell@fullercenter.org and I’ll try to get answers.

We’ll get back to Tacuba soon.