FIRE in the hole!

WE DID IT!

After an adventurous bus ride to Boca de Arenal then a pick-up truck ride down the windy dirt road into the land of Cutris, Jeff, AnaGrace, West and I made it back to San Marcos.

Bus adventures from Ciudad Quesada to Boca de Arenal

AnaGrace, Jeff and West in the back of the pick-up Truck

After a quick, refreshing snack of fresh papaya, we began our work.  AnaGrace jumped right in as mortar mixer, brick butter-er and general contractor.

Brick laying for chimney prep

We took a quick lunch break and continued with our chimney work.

Jeff and I place the chimney

Just after our afternoon coffee break, a friendly neighbor stopped by (Enrique).  It was time to cut a whole in the roof, but the Perez family had already returned all the borrowed electric tools.  We were at a stand still anticipating that we would have to wait until the next day.  Then, along came Enrique.  He offered to hop back on his horse, retrieve his saw, cut the hole in the roof and help in the final phases on sealing the chimney in place.

Jeff, Enrique and Alberto work to cut the chimney hole

Finally, COMPLETE!  There still is some brick cleaning that needs to be done, two corner bricks to lay, but we are technically done with the oven!  We transferred a few glowing embers onto the hearth, celebrated with pair of well traveled bottles of Lake Superior Kayak.

As you can imagine we are not TOTALLY done with our work here.  Today Jeff and I will spend the day sharing with the family our different bread recipes, testing the oven at low temperatures and teaching them the few techniques we learned during our 5 day course in Gran Marais just 3 months ago.

WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP!  We are $300 short of paying all of our bills, we had to tap into the $300 we originally hoped to leave with the family for a few months worth of baking supplies AND we have not yet able to consider cementing the floor of the gazebo.  At minimum we would like to raise $600 more to pay our bills and leave $300 for the Perez family to purchase flour and other baking supplies.  We would love to be able to leave enough money to help them complete the floor of the gazebo.  So, please help us spread the word.  Share our blog with your contacts!  Add it to your Facebook account!  AND consider a final contribution.  It's as easy as clicking on the donate icon of this page!

Lastly, just because we starting our first fire, this is not the end of our journey.  Please continue to watch for new posts.

Hasta la proxima!

Blessing to all!