fixing a hole where the rain gets in...

A wise man once said the time to repair a roof is when the sun is shining, and we certainly have an abundance of that right now.  Max is already musing that we should have let just one more hurricane season pass before we took on a new palapa roof, but we're all pretty ecstatic to have the job 99.8% done to enjoy in the spring.  The crew did an amazing job + used beautiful materials, which we sincerely appreciate.  Bear with me as I post an even bigger abundance of photos than usual - I'm really fascinated by this process.

  

The first bundles of fronds delivered!

Okay, I did not take photos of every single load to be delivered over the course of the job, but it was pretty exciting - and they really were beautiful.  

Max checking the top viga before the final palo de arco went on and the new fronds started going on.

Here is some of the gorgeous rope Conrado found for us.  It is hand twisted from palm fronds and as strong as it is beautiful.  Fair warning, some of the material is a little intense.  I will fill in first with the plants they use to tie the fronds on in case any vegans want to then leave the blog for a couple of shots.  (The cow hide is super clean and there is nothing more gory than one would see a Harley rider sporting on the highway ;) )

 

Each frond gets tied on in at least 2 places with strips cut from the leaves of this yucca plant.  (Max calls it dátil, and I thought it was datilillo.  He'd know better since he chats more with the workers, so I am going to call it a yucca and just show you what I mean.)  Oh, and they char it a bit over a fire first, too.  

The timing of our vigas getting their final cinch had to match the timing of a slaughter/cleaning of a cow at a rancho nearby.  Luca and I don't even eat meat so it seems bizarre to include this traditional material but I figure the hide probably goes to waste more often than not and, honestly, it really adds to the integrity of the structure.  Thank you, dear cows. 

Tying one on.  (Har de har har.)  

 

Junctions of vigas held tight.

Finally, the fronds are soaked in water to make them pliable for shaping to the roof.  Unfortunately for us, we had massive winds and while I am grateful no one blew clear off the roof, our palapa looks a bit deranged - like it got a wild haircut from a blind salon keeper.  

Calaveras took a swan dive from her perch soon after this photo was taken.  No, the sight of falling and the sound of a body, albeit a plastic skeleton of a body, flumping against the ground did not make me feel safer.

This guy, however, was all beautiful smiles and someone was singing as they worked.  I did see one man with a makeshift harness on.  Basically, it was hard to watch while chanting, "be safe, be safe, please be safe" nonchalantly and partly in Spanish (in case that made it stick better).

They made pretty speedy work of it, considering.

And then our roof was on.  And is like music for my eyeballs.

View of south side of beach bedroom ceiling.  It makes me so happy.

Basically, the roof fronds will probably star in a few more photos to come.  We are still waiting on an extremely large fishing net that Conrado will install over the entire structure to hold everything together.  

Calaveras wanted to tell me her about her epic fall, but it was freaking me out.  

In the meantime, Luca and Max were sharing a camp chair and getting super silly after the sun went down.

Our other news is that we've had enormous flocks of seagulls + pelicans on the beach.  I don't know if they go out and get food from the shrimp boats that have been anchored off the coast for the past week, but one gull was startled into a challenging part of the ocean when we were on a walk with the 3 pups.  The surf was churning pretty hard and at one point all we could see were the gull's little legs pointed up and flailing out of the white water before it crashed over some rocks.  Needless to say, it was getting worn out in the washing machine action and we cheered when Lu was able to run in and grab it.  We sat vigil with it on the sand for about half an hour while it stayed perfectly still and a vulture moved closer and closer.  

Finally, we decided to bring it up to our place to give it a safe place to recuperate and to find out if there was anything broken on it.  At first it couldn't walk without falling over and couldn't fly at all.  But eventually it seemed to get its scene together and waddled back to the beach and hopefully rejoined its flock.

And finally, your moment of zen with Toby was clearly our moment too.  This gato turned 12 a few days ago and we are still celebrating what a wonderful presence he is in each of our lives.