The rock wall you see in the photos is the former front, outside wall of the original 100 year old casa.  The former "front" door will now be the doorway to the bedroom from the living area.  The new front door to the porch will be to the left where the young man in the white TShirt is standing.   Because the ceiling blocks are hollow, they can run the wiring for lights and ceiling fans thru them.  Mexican houses do not have attic space to run electric wiring or ductwork.

 In Yucatan, the typical (and cheapest) way to dispose of waste is to just build a big hole in the ground and put concrete (or rock) sides and bottom to use as a septic tank.  The waste disintegrates eventually and the fluid soaks into the porous rocks.   Unfortunately, this is not good in the rainy season and most (literally the vast majority) of people have problems and never flush toilet paper down the toilet.   To me, that is gross.   So the more expensive way, and certainly more efficient and functional way, is to spend the money on a large tank they call a biodigester.  It has compartments in it for the waste solids and fluid.  The fluids drain away into a channel that is soil and rock similar to the way in the USA rural people might use a septic drain field.  I chose this path.   This is what the biodigester looks like.  It took the tractor and jack hammer a day to hammer out a hole big enough for it.  Then we hammered out the drain channel and not we will back fill it with dirt

 I've had an ambition since the beginning of this project to build my raised beds for planting of vegetables to eat, but also some sort of labor-intensive crop to raise and sell.  Unfortunately, the land where I am, and really most of Yucatan, is very rocky and had to grow crops on.  Hence my plans for making raised bed.  My plan was to use rocks to build the bed sides, and then buy dirt from Oxkutzkab (40 km away) and fill the beds in.    But to my very great, and delightful surprise, we found a piece of land on my 120 hectares that is almost 100% good, red, rich (and dirt free) dirt.  Hallelujah!   Who would have ever thought a former-Texas guy like me could be so happy to find dirt.  You'd have thought I found a field of diamonds.  Now I've got all the dirt I need, plus a lot more.  I can easily build 5 times the number of raised beds I'd planned and it 2 years, should be able to have a large daily crop of Asparagus, Canteloupes, and Watermelons to take to market and

We have finished the blockwork work for the new addtioon to the old building.  You can see the meeting of the old and new in this photo below.  So now it's time to make the entire structure ready for the new roof that will cover the old and the new. The new roof over all the house will be all concrete.  The old casa roof was metal supported by trees on the inside.  In the photos below you can see the supports.   So today we had to tear off the metal room to begin preparation for the new concrete roof. This is the inside of the new addition, so it is ready for the new roof without tearing anything off.  But both buildings now have to be brought to the same level in the middle where they join for the roof to have a smooth pitch.

There are just a few finishing touches to be done on the masonry work, but more or less, the new addition is ready for roof supports now.   And I love this time of afternoon about 5 o'clock when the sun is low and coming thru the trees.  The sky turns the most beautiful blue and little flecks of light from the sun hit the house.   I think it's a beautiful shade and I'm so eager to have a front porch right here to watch the sun setting over the tree line. It's about 3 km around the edge of the property.  And the perimeter has been neglected for many years as the former owner got older.   If you look at the photo, the brush on the right is what it looks like.   When I'm not there, and my workers don't know what else to do, they go and clear the perimeter. The first photo is what they blasted into with their machetes.   And the second photo is what it looked like 2 hours later.  These guys are like machines, and they don't stop moving once the get started.  I w

 

I'm actually a little embarrassed to post these photos of the beginning of the raised planting beds.  I've got 2 corrals at the front of the property that were rocks, rocks, and then a lot more rocks.  And, a lot of weeds.     But in my mind, I could see them beautiful and full of growing vegetables and I have a perfect vision for how it will be.  Sooooooooo?   Since someday I'll be posting photos of the "after", I guess I need to go ahead and humble myself and show the beginnings.   We spaced out the areas for the beds.  2 meters wide by about 15 meters long each.  Once corral runs E/W and one corral beds runs N/S.   After we laid out the lines, we put rocks up as the edges.  And then I put down a weed barrier for the future.   Later on, I'll kill the other weeds that are in between the beds, because those will be the rows where I'll plant my first 120 fruit trees for an orchard.   Meanwhile, what you see is the "beginnings".  Stay tuned for pro

Mayan people are very respectful of boundaries, and monuments are very important to them as a way of looking back at the beginning and staying oriented correctly for the future.  Often times on ranch, the boundary corners are just indicated by a big pile of rocks.   And they don't believe you clear them away.  They are a symbol by being there and if necessary, your build your road or house or corral around them.  I had 2 of these piles at the front of the ranch where the Ejido land meets my own.  Just 2 big piles of rocks but obviously someone stacked them.  One day I was gone to Merida and the men did not know what to do.  I came back and they had take the piles and shaped them into nice round planters.  This way, they explained, the monuments (markers) remained in place, but now were beautiful and could have flowers or something.  I will get some flowers and ivy for them later.

 

 

The old chicken house was about to fall down.  And the palm leaf roof was in terrible shape.  I want to keep the chicken house and like the idea of it being right beside the house.  I don't especially care about being to lazy to walk far to get some eggs, but if a critter is in the hen house, I want to be able to just step out the door and shoot it from the porch.   Anyway, I had the guys tear off the side material and the old palm leaves. Then we had to cut some new trees for posts because the old building was leaning a bit to starboard.  ja ja.   Now we've got it straight and firm and one day soon, I'll put a roof on it, and some mesh on the sides and then have eggs every day for me and my guys and their families.  Definately more eggs than I'll eat.   ja ja The Solar Bodega has risen up and is level with the house.  No higher.  And since it's battery storage room and freezer room, I just put down a rock floor in it rather than spending the money for tile and conc

We have a new neighbor who has been coming around.  I think he's curious about the activity.  In the US we'd call it a hawk.  The Mayans believe it to be a magical bird called a Chu uy.  Either way, I'm happy he's around.  Or maybe she's around.  They love to catch and eat iguanas, and I'd be happy if I had none for them to find, or if there is one, they would promptly dispose of it in their bellies. They also love snakes. There is an old palapala chicken house next to the casa. It was falling down to I had 2 of the guys strip it down and put in some new trees to brace it up and repair it.  They're fixing the roof bracing now.  Fabiola is on the right.  He's one of my favorite helpers.  He's 65ish and I have to continually get on to him to please put his flip-flops on, because he prefers to walk barefooted all the time while he works.  He must have feet made out of leather because dirt, rock, or wood, he just moves across it like he had thick soles o