Work has begun on the main house

After a month doing all the prep work, installing the cistern, pool and retaining walls, the work on the main house has now officially begun. The forms for the structural beams were set up on Monday, the cement pour was on Tuesday.

The tearing down of the wood forms was today. The crew has had a few busy days and the temperatures have been on the warm side, but they just continue to work to get the job done. There are between 15 and 18 guys on the work site everyday, so things do get done rather quickly. Tomorrow they start to fill in the voids between the beams and the areas surrounding the cistern and pool. The estimate is for around 40 truck loads of fill, with each truck load of around 20 cubic yards. That's a lot of fill dirt and will take at least a couple of days to finish filling in all the areas between the structural beams and tamping it down.

The view from the patio door with the unfinished cistern and pool.


The view from the front door

I had a wonderful dinner with Donna and her mom, Jeanne, last night. Filet mignon, bar-b-que chicken, garlic and buttered shrimp. Who says you can't live the high life in Belize. They are good people and I'm sorry to see them go, but I am looking forward to having them as friends and neighbors in the future. It's their last night here in Belize and I'm sure after 3+ weeks here in Corozal, they are ready to go home to start making plans for their new home on Four Mile lagoon. I think Donna is happy with the progress they achieved while she was here and with all the people and contacts that she met. And I think her mom has adjusted well down here and will fit right in to the Belize culture. Good luck to them in the future. And if you haven't seen Donna's blog, Our Belize Planning, just follow the link on my blog. Between the both of us, you should get a good feel of what it takes to build in Belize.