‘Let’s Get It On’ in Ambergris Caye, Belize.

I set off to see the concrete pour for the Ground Floor of our build in Ambergris Caye, Belize this morning at 6.45 am full of enthusiasm. We have been looking forward to the day when the floor was laid since we first appointed Daniel Camal to build our home for us.

I arrived at the site around 7 am but the guys started at 6 am and I saw evidence of their early start as soon as I got there. They had already poured the concrete for the Ground Floor bedroom veranda and had started the pour for the bedroom and living room/kitchen area working from north to south.

Evidence of the early start.

Much the same routine as for previous pours .

Anhill hitting the ramp with real determination.

The vibrator in action.

The float at work levelling off and smoothing the concrete.

All the while I could hear the concrete mixer in the distance ( well around 125 feet away).

Filling the buckets with stones.

Alfredo loading the cement.

Nicholas applying the stones.

Don’t even need to look!

And then the pour.

With fourteen guys on the site plus Daniel Camal, our building contractor, the pour moved at a really good pace. Three of the guys plus Daniel supervised the pour/moved the boards/used the vibrator/floated the concrete after it had been poured. Four were on wheelbarrow duty and the remaining seven filled the buckets with sand, stones and water and ‘fed’ the mixer with cement.

With such a large area to cover progress wasn’t quick but with a 5 inch depth of concrete that wasn’t surprising. However, slowly but surely, the forms were filled with concrete.

Nearly reached the southern wall.

At this point ( which was around 9 am ) I returned home to collect Rose and by the time I had picked her up and we got to the site even more progress had been made.

Really taking shape.

We stayed there until around 10.45 am and then returned home to watch Arsenal’s trouncing of Newcastle but as soon as the game finished ( around 1.25 pm) we headed back to our build in Ambergris Caye, Belize.

Not surprisingly even more of the Ground Floor had been laid.

Nearly half way there.

We left again around 2.30 pm to do some errands but got back there to see the final wheelbarrow loads being poured. Amazingly Anhill and Eduardo were still on the wheelbarrows – amazing because they had started and finished the day on them . Whatever they are eating for breakfast I want!

Eduardo with the last ‘barrow load.

It just remained to apply the final float.

The time was 4.55 pm. Five minutes short of being 11 hours since the guys started the day. They all looked tired but none would admit to it. They are proud guys and so they should be.

Floor laid as the sun sets.

Those guys really got it on.

‘Let’s Get It On’ is a 1973 single from the album of the same name by Marvin Gaye which was reached number one in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.