Greetings from Larry on Tuesday

Greetings from Larry,

After a scrambled egg and toast breakfast, we were off bright and early to the brick makers to watch them create the most important building material in Honduras. We watched a young man bending over a form that makes four bricks. He moved like a dancer, scooping a handful of mud and dropping it into the form. With perfect correography, he would scoop and drop a perfect amount into the form. Then he took his fists and pound the clay into the form. Next, he picked up handfuls and dropped them gracefully back into the form...making sure that all of the form was filled and no air pockets existed. Scoop, pound, lift, flop, smooth. In no time at all, he had four perfectly formed bricks, ready to dry out and put in the kiln.

Thinking this was easy, Jeannine and I volunteered to make a few bricks ourselves. Not so gracefully, we scooped up a handful of mud and toss it into the form. It took as as long to fill the form with mud as it did for our mentor to complete the whole process. My second handful fell on top of a few of his perfect bricks. How embarrassing!

Finally, after a few minutes of slow work, Jeannine and I were ready to lift the form and see our creations. The master brick maker walked over (made a few improvements) and lifted the form for us. Voila...four almost perfect bricks. Luckily for the country of Hondura, Jeannine and I have retired from the brick making business. I have a new found appreciation for the skill it takes and the hard work required to make a brick.

Larry