Our internet wasn't performing very well last night so Hana didn't have the chance to upload many photos of construction or the finished house...here are some below from the beginning of the project to the end!

 Joel and Marcos are cousins that live on the property where the house was being built...they loved helping us!

 This was the area that had been laid out for the floor. We first had to dig holes for 18 pieces of concrete that served as the base and outline. John and Pablo were certainly more efficient than we were.

 We were obsessed with the animals that lived on the property. One of their six dogs had just given birth to 6 puppies!

Hana really loved the kittens...we named this one Jade (pronounced "ha-day" in Spanish)

We loaded a dangerous amount of building materials onto a pickup truck. We were very skeptical, but Pablo and Felix tied everything down so it seemed to work fine...Pictured here are building supplies for the walls and roof.

 The reason this house took so long (about a week) was because it was pretty large. Usually Common Hope makes one-room houses, but this one was two rooms. This is the view from the roof into one of the rooms of the house.

 

 Me and Lindsay being really helpful...

The view of the mountains from the roof.

 Hana and Pablo hammering in the panels along the side of the house. For every four nails that Pablo hammered in, Hana, Linds and I were able to hammer in one each.

 Pablo and Felix nailing down the steel roof. It sticks out and slopes towards the front so that rain water doesn't collect on top.

Almost done...

 Tyler got a photo of us in the window once the house was finished.















 Part of the family we built the house for...The girl in the red shirt is 17 years old and the woman pictured next to her is her grandmother, who is holding her daughter.

 The finished house with the team that worked on the final day!

 Yesterday we began the steps to build another house! We got really dirty...

Last night we had another girls night and went to this incredible restaurant named Hector's. It was unbelievably good. Hana ordered the mahi-mahi (pictured below) and Lindsay and I both ordered open-faced beef tenderloin sandwiches. We ordered ice cream and chocolate mousse for dinner...we would have taken a picture but we devoured it in about 2 minutes.

 

So the girls opted to take a mental (and physical) health day from work today. We were scheduled for construction, but since Jenner's boss is out of town at As Green As it Gets, he decided to take our place at Common Hope...we figured we could use a day to wander around Antigua. Also, we rationalized that we really aren't that helpful in beginning of construction projects since we're not very strong. 

It was chillier than usual today so we wanted to wandered around Antigua and went into some markets. We found this incredible pressed paper area within the market that we call "The Maze Market." The market is literally laid out like a maze with curtains and corners everywhere. Lindsay and I both bought hanging lighted stars (pictured below). We fell in love with them after visiting the crepe restaurant, Luna de Miel. 

We stopped at a place called Casa de Jade next. It was unbelievable...they had a ton of old Mayan artifacts as well as jewelry for sale in the back. Apparently, the Mayans believed that jade held magnetic energy power that could protect a person from spirits. The wealthier a person was, the more jade he wore all over his body. 

The Mayans wore masks on their faces as well. They sell imitation masks everywhere, but this one is an artifact.

We were able to watch the men as they polished and cleaned the jade. They also may have been cutting it here, but it was hard to see.












 I think the salesman liked us because he allowed each of us to try on the $13,500 bracelet (in US dollars). The bracelet is made from gold, diamonds, and Esmeralda Jade (which is the rarest form of jade).








Me sitting on an enormous chair at a furniture store...we had to sneak a picture in because I don't think they wanted people sitting on it!

















Tomorrow we are going to do some construction in the morning and at noon we leave for the coast! We are spending the night in a house on the Pacific Ocean in Monterrico! Pictures and updates to come!

--Care