The Monterrey Experience: To build with your hands, you must first use your feet

Edited on April 18. Pictures added at the bottom that illustrate the adobe block making process.

Wednesday, April 9 was the latest visit to San Felipe, the small village in the desert where I am documenting traditional and non-traditional building methods as well as participating in the construction of a prototype house that makes use of traditional materials and methods.

The current progress of the prototype house

This visit included members of a class I am in with Pedro entitled Materiales y sistemas alternativos en construccion.

We arrived and we took a tour of most of the village with some of the residents, which was a good review for me as each time I hear things presented in the village, I understand more as I am able to comprehend a little more Spanish each time I go. Somehow I even saw a building I have somehow never noticed before. It turns out it is the church, but it is not Catholic, therefore it is not used much, from what I understood. Many of the houses have Catholic paraphernalia (is that the right word?) in several forms including portraits, beads, and even a poster of the former pope. One brand new thing in the village that we came across is a new resident. A U.S. American woman is moving into San Felipe as she has married a man from the village. Currently the woman is living in a tent and has her supplies set up around the tent.

The homestead of the newest resident

I did not get a chance to talk with her this time, but I will on the next visit. I can't wait to hear what she has to say about leaving her old life to live here and what their future building plans will be.

After the tour we headed to the prototype house. I have not had a chance to do any work with the prototype house as work just recently resumed, so I was anxious to do something, as Pedro had told me we would be doing some work. It turns out that the plan was to make some adobe blocks. I became very excited.

First I must explain the preconceptions I had about the adobe block making process. From discussions I had overheard, I knew that to make one row of the prototype house that six wheelbarrow fulls of soil were needed. I also knew that there was a master mason being paid to make the blocks and he hired some additional helpers. I had also witnessed all the modern technology that is being introduced into specific projects in the village, such as water collection tanks, a solar panel to power a water pump, and advanced agricultural methods. I envisioned some sort of a mixing bin to combine the soil and water and then some sort of a press to make the blocks. I was wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Damasio, one of the head men of the ejido, was the local expert to show us the adobe making process. He is also the man constructing the "competing" prototype house that will use concrete for the main structure and roof because he believes it is the correct method for future construction. Damasio filled and his son, Salvador (who graciously gave me his bed the last time I stayed the night in San Felipe) filled up a wheelbarrow of the topsoil and indicated we would be making about 4 or 5 blocks. After he filled up the wheelbarrow, he proceeded to dump the dirt onto the ground. Suddenly a bucket of manure appeared and was dumped onto the dirt pile. I immediately identified the poo as coming from a horse since I grew up in a part of the country where some people use horses and buggies to get around and leave the evidence on the road and in parking lots. At this point Pedro said we would take over the work. Pedro looked at us, the students, and said that we were no different than the residents that live here and that we are going to make the blocks the real way, and started taking off his shoes and socks. It was apparent we were going to be using our bare feet to mix the dirt, water, and horse manure. At this point I chimed in and asked Pedro, "is this really how they make all these blocks, with their feet?" To which Pedro gave an emphatic "of course." Now, I'm not opposed to troucing around in dirt, I recall going to my cousin's farm many times as a kid and walking barefoot in cow manure (quite warm when it's fresh). However, I was caught off-guard by how labor intensive this process was. It immediatly became clear why so many people in the rural areas are using concrete block to build their houses. Just as I often talk myself into paying using my car to get around instead of riding my bike for free or even order Jimmy John's after a stressful day instead of cooking my already-purchased food I can see why people would pay more to haul in concrete blocks instead of stomping dirt and water to make their walls. (Horrible comparisons for examples, but it's all I could think of at the moment. I hope the point is made.)

So after this initial mild shock of reality, I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pant legs, and joined the mud mashing party. All but one of the students joined in the work--earlier she had a cactus spike go through her shoe and puncture her foot, so it was excusable. While we were stepping here and there, trying not to slip and fall, Pedro would say "make sure you smash in all the brown clumps so they get mixed up." The brown clumps were the horse manure, so he was really saying "make sure you step on every single piece of horse shit you can find."

Soon the mixture was good and the time arrived to place the mud mixture into the wooden frames. The wooden frame was a simple 40cm x 20 cm x 10 cm rectangle made from 2x4 (inches this time) pieces. The frame was placed on the ground, the inside edges primed with water, and the mixture placed inside. Soon our hands and feet were covered with the mixture, which was cool until it started drying and the flies started swarming and you remembered what the mixture was made of and why the flies liked it so much.

In all, we constructed 5 blocks.

The five blocks we made

We then rinsed off our feet and hands with the water. The water comes from a pond near the village. The pond water is not suitable for human drinking or cooking, so it is ok to use for this instance. The pond is used for animal water and has some contaminants that make humans sick. Before rainwater was harvested, the residents would drink some of their water from this. This water is very dirty, so in addition to the contaminants, health was not good during this time period. While we were rinsing off a chameleon came to watch us. Either he wasn't very good at chameleoning or he just wanted to make his presence known. Either way, it was cool.

It was good to briefly see the process behind adobe blocks. It added a new level to understanding the tradition within the community I have visited several times. I am returning in just over a week to spend the whole day working, which may involve more adobe making or the actual placing of the blocks, or something I don't even know of yet.

The spot where we stomp-mixed the mud with the other students and Pedro in the background

The water barrels

And if you're wandering, the fibers used in adobe blocks are not added in. They come from the horse manure. That was another big surprise to me. I felt like a dumb city kid several times on this visit.