The Week of the 5.4 -- Roofs and the Great Wall

These steel puppies weight almost a thousand pounds, they went up the day of the 5.4 earthquake.
These bars of rebar weigh thousands of pounds and were dropped off this week. They will be used for the single biggest part of this project, construction of the 18 foot tall retaining wall to be located behind the bars in this picture.




Earlier in the week trenches for the retaining wall's footings were dug.

This is the same angle later in the week when half the wood forms for the concrete retaining wall were placed.

By Saturday workers had put much of the rebar into the wall and the footings below. Mateo explained the intricate pattern and sizes of the rebar utilized based upon the structural engineer's plans.

All this steel to be encased by concrete is what makes this a great wall.A roof starts to grow.

Mateo and I ended up the week in a business meeting that started at the site at 6:15 pm but went on till 2am, ending at Los Burritos. Jose and Enrique had joined us. This month's National Geographic says "there is an old Russian tradition that you can't trust or do business with someone unless you have been drunk together." And in this case, until Security asks you to chill out (and put Jose back on the ground).