Gringos de Marimán

Feliz We-Tripantu!! The Mapuches celebrate the start of a new year with the summer (somewhere, but not here) solstice. We definitely seemed to be heading into winter as the temperatures dropped and the dog bowls iced over at night. I'm not sure the events were related, but we lost our bomba (see last week) and my camera's compact flash card died around the same time. I hoped we would be able to finish up the roof or at least the main part of it before the weather turned worse. As I drove in, I saw the crew up on top working away. My fingers were freezing even though I was sitting in a heated car.

By the time I climbed up, the sun had begun to shine and I started beaming because the crew had moved on to the pasillo area. They were rolling out the aluminum filter paper before fastening down the cubierta.

Everything looked straight forward, but as usual the process required numerous steps.

First, Valdovino had to cut the planchas to size. Turns out the zinc press couldn't match the size of the pasillo section.

Upstairs, the plancha pieces were laid out and measurements taken.

The stakes in the foreground were nailed over the papel aluminizado and the plancha attached to the stakes.

Claudio bent back the tabs on the downhill side of each plancha to drain into the agua canale.

And so they continued on, while I went on my walk to try and warm up a bit. At least the views were crisp too. Sorry, I never get tired of this view.

The next morning we had an almost techo completo.

The remaining steps involved the hojalateros who had to cap off the plancha ends at the edge of the structure.

Actually, there will be caps on top of caps on top of caps, but I'll spare you a bit.

The Hojalateros also put together yet another agua canale.

To be placed on the garaje techo, although not exactly in this position.

Did I mention more fierro? Over the baño and lavadero.

At this point, all hell broke loose as winter started just prior to We-Tripantu. We had a day and a half of drenching rains and howling winds that blew off the plastic covering in front of the pasillo. A day later we enjoyed the winter wonderland. Fortunately, our main roof had been finished just in time. Other than the plastic we suffered no damages and the crew moved inside to finish up some viga work (as shown here in the living/dining/guest room).

Plastic was remounted on the pillars and scaffolding covered the rooms.

At least the interior ceiling should go up pretty quickly since they finished up the kitchen area as well. Hopefully the weather will clear a bit so the crew can finish the lower techo in the coming week. That also means that we have to celebrate a bit, but more on that next week. Hasta la proxima!!