Casa 1.18.14

Posted on January 19, 2014July 21, 2017 by patrice

: After a week off for the Holidays….Their baaaaccckkkk!!!!!

: The Dome over the tower is being finished now.

: This is what the dome over the breakfast room looks like from the inside. It is hard to see in the picture, but there are electrical boxes all the way around that lip, so there will indirect lighting all around the Dome.

: Sky Lights are being finished with the covers on them. Notice the exposed beam in the middle of the light

: That orange square with the line to it is where the light switch will go.

: Looking out of a kitchen window you can see they have the entrance to the Bodega finished.

: View from the street. They are finishing the dome up at the end of the day.

: What a difference a week makes! You take a few days off and go to the Coast and when you come back – my have they been doing good things. Roof is sealed and tiles are being put on. The tower and dome are getting some nice details and you can see some of the external features coming to life too.

: Closer look at the start of the roof tiles on the Master bedroom

: My office / guest bedroom, nice exposed beams.

: Another look inside my office at some of the beams

: There are all the roof tiles stacked by the Bodega

: Nice details on the roof near the outdoor kitchen too – we didn’t know it was going to have those.

Minga – Husay Cumbay 12.20.13

Posted on December 20, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

A great day for a Minga.

Our Invitation to the Minga Huasy Cumbay!!!

When: December 20, 2013 ~ 9:30am

Where: San Miguel Lot #12, Cotacachi, Ecuador

What: If you thought the Mudapalooza (Minga ~ Alpa Raymi) was the event of the year…You haven’t seen this year’s gala event, , the Huasy Cumbay!!! It is the traditional way to test the roof of a new house. What is going to happen is, there will be swings attached to the roof on the inside of the house with a fire under the swing. If it is a strong roof you won’t get burned by the fire as you swing over it.

There will be some music, dancing, wine, pizza, and a lot of laughs; so come on down!! Rumor has it, on good authority though, is that the wine bottles will be used to make one of the windows in this new house. You can be part of history once more, how is that possible you might be thinking. Well, glad you asked…You will be able to say that you drank the wine out of the bottles that made the window. It is something you can tell the grandkids about, now how many people can say that. The answer is only those that attend can, so see this is a very exclusive club you will be in.

But wait there is more… If you have any interesting or unusual colored bottles you want to donate…Please bring them with you.

RSVP

: swings are ready

: working the line 🙂

: You can tell some were so amazed at how good this brigade worked they just had to take pictures of it to prove it.

: Dang as soon as you stop the buckets and wait for more to finish mixing…dancing breaks out – can you believe it!

: The last Minga, you may recall we saw Hobbit feet, well here are the hobbit hands to go with.

: here come the buckets again…

: Moving with such machine like precision.

: Another pause in the buckets

: Never give up, stay determined!!

: And the beat goes on…

: and on…

: Oh yuck! what a dirty hand —

: Careful children, behave with those dirty hands

: This guy gets to toss each bucket all the way to the top of the roof.

: Whew, finally a break for some pizza, well ok, wine and beer too.

: Kerry trying to prove to everyone that you can open a bottle of wine by banging it in his shoe on a post…luckily, I had a corkscrew or we would have been there all afternoon. Kerry kept saying…But is is moving. Yeah right it moved really good once I put my corkscrew in it

: Oh no, the Architect and Maestro are really arsonists!!! They are lighting a fire in my house – could there work have really been that bad that they have to burn the house down?

: just about ready to let go

: tradition – swing over the fire

: The Maestro, Roberto on the left and Romero, the Architect on the right swing over the fire.

: Oh no the Electrician on the left is swinging over the fire too. Wait, Kerry, on the right is swinging too. Kerry is the guy designing the kitchen, bathrooms, and closets.

: Julia hasn’t had this much fun since she was a kid

: No! don’t make me stop – I won’t do it – this is way to much fun

: Dad, can we put a swing over a fire in our house? This is so cool!!!

: Am I really doing this?

Casa – 12.14.13

Posted on December 14, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: Roof beams all up and now preparing to put the roof on the house

: From the street the porch roof is covering some of the roof lines but you can see most of them.

: This is looking from the front door and that hole you see up high in the middle of the picture is where a round window will be. It is going to be made of wine bottles. Next week when we have the Huasy Cumbay, or roof party, where we get to swing over a fire in the house to prove the roof is strong, we will use the bottles from that event for the window.

: The purpose of this picture is to explain the wire. Many have asked what that is for and we have the answers, naturally. If they just used the nail, the bamboo could split and not hold. So what they do is take the wire and wrap it around each nail head and go to the next nail, then they pound the nail in the rest of the way. This way if is does split it will be held firmly in place.

: More of the roof line and the curved inside wall (we will have a fireplace in the corner on the left.

: This is taken from where the stove will set in the kitchen. You can see the ceiling work over the beam from the kitchen and to the round wall where the fireplace will be. That niche you see to the right is where “Mr Bojangles” will be all lit up, for those that have already seen him. For those that haven’t, you will have to wait till he moves in. Oh, Mr Butts will be there over the fireplace.

Casa – 12.12.13

Posted on December 12, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: What is this? Based on the size of the end of the place where they soak the poles and beams that is a little larger than a meter… I would guess this is about 40×40 feet or somewhere around that size. But what is it good for?

: The next evening I came back and there were two of these. The top one was still in progress. But what is it good for? Well I found out what it is for… They are making it for the roof and they will cut it for the sizes they need. Way cool! This is truly a hand crafted house. There isn’t anything that is not made on site.

: Look how labor intensive this is. This is a close up of the bamboo lattice work. Notice that every intersection is hand wired.

: Here is a shot of the wire they are using to fasten all this together with the bamboo lattice in the background.

Casa – 12.8.13

Posted on December 7, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: The tower just inside the front door only needs a roof to be complete.

: This is looking through the front door, you can see all the way to the Master Bedroom hallway.

: Wow, the bodega almost has walls, they are really adding this fast

: Gives you an idea how the work the beams to fit in place

: Just a little more over the Master bedroom and the structure for the roof will be complete.

Casa – 12.6.13

Posted on December 6, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: You can see the Cupola just inside the front door. It will have a dome on top.

: From the outdoor kitchen; front door is the opening on the left; indoor patio center; through the kitchen and into the breakfast room on the right. Ceiling details are appearing.

: My, in just a few days the foundation and floor are done to our outside bodega.