‘Family Affair’ in Ambergris Caye, Belize.

Since starting this blog I have quite frequently mentioned what a great bunch of guys we have working on our build in Ambergris Caye, Belize. How hard they work. How multi-skilled they all appear to be. How they help each other out. No prima donnas. How happy they always appear to be no matter what the job they have been assigned or how bad the weather and/or working conditions are. What I haven’t mentioned is how much pride they have in the project – our home – they are working on.

I mention it now because when Rose and I went on Sunday to our build in Ambergris Caye, Belize (we wanted to take measurements of the First Floor areas – we prefer this to calculating from the plans) we heard sounds coming from the build as we approached it. When we climbed the stairs we did so with a degree of apprehension. Had we got squatters?

When we got to the First Floor all was revealed. It was Martin (one of the team working on our house) with his wife Rosa and his young daughter and son. Oh, and two year old Jonathan who Rosa babysits. He had brought his family to have a look at the house he was working on. We felt that he was proud of it and wanted to share it with them. A real family affair.

Anyway, back to today. After spending like what seemed most of the morning/early afternoon defragging my pc (OK I didn’t do it but I assisted Rose) I was really pleased when it was time to head north to look at how things were going at our build in Ambergris Caye, Belize.

There have been lots of comment on the Ambergris Caye Forum about the recent grading of the road north of the bridge and there is little doubt that this,allied to the dry, hot weather of late, has improved the journey to our site but the road is already beginning to become quite rutted. This is an observation though and not a complaint because it is a vast improvement on how it was. One thing is for sure – it is a lot quicker journey than it was a week ago.

So, getting there more quickly than we have been, we got to our land just before 3 pm to see that the guys had started work on putting the forms in place for the columns and lintels.

Forms for the columns in place on the southern side of the house.

When we got to the First Floor we could see that work was underway pouring concrete to create the column in the south-west corner of the house.

Martin on pouring duty.

With a leisurely walk around the floor we could see that since yesterday afternoon when we were there the guys had laid more courses of ‘blocks and, as a consequence, most of the walls were nearly at their finished height of eleven feet.

Hallway and wall of Rose’s handicraft room nearly there.

Hall/kitchen wall also nearly finished.

Living room area/ bathroom wall almost there.

Forms for lintel for kitchen window in place.

Living room area (southern) wall finished.

Form for dining room area (north-west corner) completed.

Work on the form for the lintel for Rose’s handicraft room underway.

The work that the guys are now carrying out is really time consuming and we do not see the evidence of their efforts so quickly (as say a concrete pour for a floor) but we know that it is essential work for our build in Ambergris Caye, Belize.

The headline is based on the 1971 song by Sly and the Family Stone which reached number one in the US Billboard Hot 100 and number fifteen in the UK Singles Chart.