blocks. . . check!

Just a quick update on what's going on, before I fall into bed.

We spent the last two days figuring out blocks. Yesterday, Hermolindo, Jackie, CB and I went to at least 5 different bloquerias looking for 450 blocks and a truck big enough to hall all of them to the communities. It was the first time we had all walked to Yabteclum, which took us about 1.5 hours. After the initial uphill, it was kind of a pleasant walk. I chatted with Hermolindo, and he pointed out what kind of house he wants (totally concrete), and how much it costs (about 100,000 pesos). At around 1, we managed to secure the blocks and trucks, and walked back to Chenalo to get a ride home, at which point we randomly ran into Eri who was in Chenalo trying to figure out his grades, found a phone, called Rodolfo and the truck driver to sort everything out for stove pickup on Wednesday, and ate some lunch. We went back to Q thinking everything was sorted out, and planned for the blocks to first be dropped in Q at 8:30am, then Chuchtik, then Puebla.

Fast-forward to this morning at 11:30. No block yet in Q. Two families had already come by around 9 to see if the block had arrived. Roselia and I were chillin' in front of the botequin, chatting about life (when people get married, who gets married to whom, why some men have two wives, why men don't want to marry women who work outside the home, and other similar girl-talk). At around noon, we saw a nissan approaching from Linda Vista (up the hill), so we walked down to meet it. Jackie, CB, Hermolindo, Eri, and 50 blocks were in the nissan. Apparently, the truck we had hired for the block needed diesel gasoline, and there isn't any deisel in Chenalo. So, off to plan B: buy the blocks in Yabteclum and ferry them to each of the communities in groups of 75 in Nissans.

In the end, I think this plan was actually a little better. . . there is a very shoddy bridge on the way to Puebla that the big rig couldn't pass anyway. And loading and unloading block from the trucks was faster than I thought. Jackie and I stayed ni the back and arranged, while the guys passed the block to us.

Arriving in Puebla with the block was one of my favorite moments of the trip so far (though I have lots of favorite moments). When we got there, Tomas (the health promoter) and a few other guys started helping us unload, but they also sent out an announcement over a loudspeaker in all directions of the community. Within 5 min, we had 20 guys helping to unload block. Tomas told me twice to stop unloading, and said they would do it (I didn't understand him the first time). While they finished unloading, I said hi to some of the women who did spirometry. There were lots of them around watching the block be unloaded.

After unloading the 2 nissans, we got back in a nissan with Eri, Hermolindo, and at least 15 guys from Puebla, and went back to Yabteclum. At that point, Jackie, CB and I got in a taxi to San Cristobal, and left the block in the capable hands of Hermolindo, Eri, and the Puebla crew, who made plans to get 3 nissans to avoid the rain (after eating tacos).

So, now we are in San Cristobal. Exhausted, a little sick, and about to go to bed. We have to wake up at 4 am tomorrow in order to start our six hour journey to Ciudad Hidalgo on the border at 5am. Fernando is going with us, and we are meeting Rodolfo in Cd Hidalgo. We hope to be back in Yabteclum on Thursday at midday to distribute stoves. Hopefully we will get to sleep somewhere (maybe San Cristobal) tomorrow night.