Setting Poles!

We had to do a little extra work to build some of the high elements at the Maringa base.  There weren't  a lot of trees in the right places so we had to dig 5 BIG holes to put poles where we needed them.  

The guys digging a hole - notice the red clay.

The soil was really interesting to work in... it was this thick clay that would stick to everything!  The wet clay would stick to the bottom of your shoes and stack up until it was a couple of inches thick.  Made it really fun to walk around!

Eugenio enjoying the work!

Yana checking the depth of the hole and translating.  

It was really interesting to be building in Brazil... we had people who spoke only English and others who spoke only Portuguese.  This could have been a real big issue, but we had some wonderful people who could speak both languages.  It was really cool that some of the translators were kids... they may not have had the building skills, but they sure were helpful in keeping the communication going!!

How many guys does it take to dig a hole?

Transporting poles

 We were totally blessed to have a Christian construction company donate a truck and operator for the day to help us move and set the poles.  Moving and setting the poles could have been done by hand, but the use of a truck allowed us to get all the poles set in one day!  Thank you to the construction company and to God for providing the help that we needed for this BIG task!

Setting a pole in place.

With all the poles set we were ready to start drilling and hanging cable.... which meant more climbing!  YAY for more climbing!!