In going to Buenas Aires, we traveled further south than ever before. All of the people we met were warm and friendly. Our job for this time involved finishing the walls of a newly constructed building for a seminary. The school trains hundreds of students during the week and then, hundreds of other students come to the school on the weekends for classes. The new building will provide much needed space for the increased numbers of students attending the seminary. Dorm space, a cafeteria, meeting rooms and more will be used in a big four story complex when the building is finished.
We were one of a long list of teams working on this big building project. At the start of the week, Sam told us he hoped we would finish the walls of the new cafeteria during our stay. We looked at the walls and thought, "No problem, this looks easy." What we didn't know at the time was the walls require a four step process. First, we applied an initial coat of thin cement to the wall so the next step would stick to the wall. Next, a thicker coat of cement was applied. Then, another coat of cement to build the wall to the proper thickness. A thin coat of the mixture was added next to provide a smooth wall finish. Finally, the wall was given a special texture in preparation for paint in the future.
We mixed countless batches of cement with three different types of mixtures. One of the mixtures was used in the courtyard to provide waterproof walls. People were busy mixing cement, hauling sand, hauling the cement to various locations and delivering buckets of cement to people who were busy spreading the coats on the walls. One lucky guy got to help with roof repair for a couple of days. All in all, we worked hard, had a great time and got a lot done.
Just in case you are wondering, Argentina is definitely the place to go if you want a great steak. We ate wonderful meals at the seminary but one night we ventured out for a special meal. The steak was cut with a spoon (yes, a spoon) tender and delicious.
