After a brief respite after Sergio's celebration we went to work planting.
The first thing we had to do was "paint" the pool shed. We wanted it to look like the adobe stone. I assumed this meant going to the paint store and buying said colour. Roberto said that we could make our own. Jerry Kolidij and I spent several hours breaking up a couple of adobe bricks into the finest possible powder. This was then mixed with water and sealant to create a very thin paint. Jerry was a great help as we attacked the structure first with rollers then with brushes to get the mixture into all the plaster crevices. It took all day but the result was so much more pleasing than the white block you saw in previous posts.
Jerry continued to be a great help planting a mix of yellow and orange flowering vines along the face of the building and the start of the far stone wall. It was slow going, especially in the heat.
Sergio had selected a large palm tree to plant off the side of the house. We wanted to be able to see it inside the length of the house and it works really well. It now has more plants around the base. By this stage we'd run out of sod and opted just to put a layer of tezontle in the meantime.
Gabriel has been busy building stone steps to get from one terrace level to the next. This is slow work as each piece has to be chiseled flat and the progress is pain-staking. You can also see that the plants along the stone wall now go all the way up to the corner.
Pat and Marco arrived and they helped out as well with more planting.
We've finally been able to enjoy the pool. Marco was in it constantly and the adults used it to cool off.
There's still lots to do but we're back in the city for a few days and will return on Saturday to pay the guys and enjoy a quiet weekend just the two of us.
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