The playground is done & I slept in the Basilica

The playground is DONE! So relieved, stoked, enthused, and ready for it to be done. Since the wood contains arsenic, I decided on a mandatory painting, so that kids don´t become exposed to it. But don't freak out about the arsenic. I did my research. I contacted the EPA, read some studies on exposure, etc. After 2 years the levels diminish (which is how long I think the paint may last), and the problems come when kids touch the wood and lick their hands, they can´t touch the wood, but we are going to tell their caretakers it is important for them to wash their hands anyway. We bought bright paint. It looks like a party. It is a party.

There are a a few things I am really quite excited about. I love hammocks. So I put one in. Whoever is going to be supervising this needs a comfortable place to relax. This was stolen one night, so notice the chain at the end. The bench. I'd like to say I designed it, but really it was more like I had a rough idea, and improvised when I had all the parts. But the cool part is-this bench uses almost no new or usable materials. The tires were all bound for the dump. The wood slats are the extras when the wood is milled. So really it only uses 16 screws and a ten foot 3x3 taken from the lumber pile in the monastery yard (which is wood from their land). The crazy Italian director guy like the first one so much, he begged for another one yelling, ¨Bonito, que bonito.¨ I am a sucker for flattery. There are two.

All in all, 124 tires were used. In a place where often the tires are burned, that's good. It also cut down on cost of materials. But another thing I like is the sign. Phil wanted a sign. I said, let's find an acronym for BPR, (Brother Paul Richards)- sort of a facetious tribute. Who wouldn't want a park named after them? Eat your heart out, BPR.

I guess this thing kind of came about in a similar way as the bench. While talking with Molly in Antigua, her friend mentioned that he had a friend who built playgrounds with old tires. Enthralled, I got an email address and got a few pictures. I copied the design, but then had an extra half a used telephone pole- and your not going to not use a half an unused telephone pole, right? So I replicated the structure and threw an extra tire in the middle. BAM! Guatemalan climbing wall.


We went up to have an inauguration, break in the playground, day. The kids had a ball. The nuns gave us a special blessing with gusto, one got really into it putting a raspy growling into when she said, ¨They have such great big hearts.¨ It was nice, they sang us some national songs, and made us sing the national anthem.



I slept in the Basilica. Not by choice. Not because I lost a bet. Because it was a weekday.

When Liam came, he showed us we could go up to the bell tower at night and hang out. We came down at about 11:00. Ben (a fellow BVC Volunteer) and Jen (PC Volunteer in Hond.) came to visit and we wanted to do likewise. But, the Basilica closes at 9:00 on weekdays, and is locked from the inside. We talked to a guard through a window and no one has the keys except the people who come at 5:15 am. Smart system. So we slept inside, or rather slapped mosquitoes, played silly car games and wondered if this really was happening.

Ben and Jen are good people, and good free help too. Life is strange. Who would have thought a year ago that we (and Molly Roske too) would have been able to get together for a weekend in Guatemala. I love it.

In unrelated news- I heard on ¨Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me,¨that a small but fully alternative energy powered boat was sailing out in the Pacific and something went wrong and lost power. After several hours they were picked up...ironically by an oil tanker. Bummer.