The
Trucks are Rolling In
September 21 - After 75+ bulldozer hours of carving the road
out of the mountain, and greater than 1 month of bridge building,
we finally have moved onto the road surfacing part.
This
project - as expected - is proving to be another challenging job.
Whatever can and whatever might and whatever shouldn't - all have
gone wrong!! We have encountered all sorts of challenges to getting
that rock on the road.
In
total, there are 600 meters (1800 feet) of road to 'pave'. We
expect that we should need somewhere between 75 and 100 truck
loads. Each truck is 12 cubic meters of rock and gravel and weighs
- I believe > 20 tons each!!
The
first challenge of this job was actually getting the trucks to
come do the job. We had contracted with a reputible company (Vega)
from Limon who came down with 8 trucks, 12 employees and bought
10 days worth of hotel rooms - only to find out that they would
not be given a loading permit from the local river. The rock comes
from the Sixaoala river (border of Costa Rica and Panama) about
30 minutes away and must be dredged out by a crane and loaded
into the trucks. The locals (Villalobos) have a monopoly on the
river and do not permit the 'competition' to remove material out
of the river. So Vega had to pack up and turn around back to Limon.
It would not be worthwhile to dredge the material out of another
river - due to distance. We now had no choice but to work with
Villalobos - who is less reliable and much more expensive.
The
second challenge is the weather. Rain and dirt equals mud...and
big heavy trucks don't like mud very much - particularly when
they have to climb. Each
time it rains, we lose at least 4 days, waiting for the mud to
dry out. Luckily, we have had a very dry month of September, but
2 isolated rain storms delayed the project by another 10 days
- so far. October should continue to be dry, but all it takes
is a few isolated storms and the project could be delayed by a
very long time.
The
third challenge is / was the equipment. Every piece of equipment
between the trucks and the bulldozer have at some time broken
down. The bulldozer has broken the shovel, derailed from the tracks,
broken the tracks, lost the fuel filter - hence lost all diesel,
leaked oil - hence lost all oil, ignition switch broken, battery
exploded, overheated, clutch broken, winch broken and more. The
trucks have run out of gas on the incline (hard to believe but
true!!), lost air brakes, lost hydraulic power to lift the cargo
bed, punctured wheels, lost air filters, cargo bed stuck in the
up position and lost wheel guards (not important - but very common).
The dredging crane at the river has also broken down 2 -3 times.
Each time something goes wrong, we easily loose a few hours until
it can be fixed, resoldered, replaced, or whatever.
The
fourth challenge is the road itself. We have two fairly steep
and long hills to climb. There is the bridge which is pure fill
(therefore not compacted dirt) and a fair amount of road that
is in the woods (humid soil, thus soft). When the truck rolls
over the dirt for the first time, it sinks in about 1 to 2 feet,
discharges the gravel, and has to be pushed / pulled out by the
bulldozer. After 20-30 trucks rolling over dirt with gravel, it
finally becomes compacted to a point where it does not move more
than 1-2 inches as the trucks roll over. Depending on the dirt
conditions (humid. fill, solid, dry, etc.) we need to put between
4 inches to several feet of material until it becomes compacted.
The bridge for example, swallowed up 10 trucks loads of material
for less than 20 feet of road!!!! On the hills, the trucks have
to be helped by the bulldozer. The bulldozer either pulls with
a chain, or pushes with the shovel up the hills. The whole process
is really amazing and beyond my imagination as to what it would
be like!
In
theory, amongst the 4 trucks bringing in material, we should have
about 16 to 24 truck loads delivered per day. The most we ever
got was 11 and usually no more than 4 to 7. As of the end of September,
we had 54 trucks loads delivered and hope to complete the project
within the next few weeks.
OUI
OUI Update
Oui
Oui is still alive!!! Anyone who has seen Maya and Oui Oui play
together would certainly be pleased to hear this good news. I
cannot go into details as to what Maya does with her dog sometimes
(though she is becoming much better) but it is indeed a miracle
that he has survived thus far. Perhaps now, the tide is changing,
as Oui Oui has learned to bite, and does not hold back when he
is abused!
Numerous
times during the day does Maya cry in pain from her bites, and
each time we explain to her that perhaps - she deserved it!
Finally,
I think that they are both learning to respect each other a bit
more, and are becoming much better friends. They are now inseparable
and LOVE each other!!!
Where's
the water?
We
began looking for water by digging our well. A local indigenous
Indian came by with a wire wrapped around his waste to 'find'
water. Amazingly, each time he finds water, the wire contorts
itself into strange shapes. He has identified three locations
on the finca.
The
digging began several weeks ago by Luis and his many brothers
(a typical family of 9 siblings!). They dig by hand (shovel) about
4 feet wide. So far they have dug down 40 feet...and no water
yet!!! So we decided to try elsewhere....much lower....down by
the creek. We will let you know when we finally find water!
