It’s been a productive week here at Cara Creek Eco Lodge, with lots of help from both WorkAway volunteers and our dear friend Rusty.
With the improved sunny weather, we finished off building the river front yoga deck. Rory even saved the final screw for me to finish it off… he's such a gent😍😄😉!
Max headed back to Germany after his 10 day showery stay. During the sunny spells (and even during the showers) he helped lots in the final stages of building the yoga deck, and also built some steps to better access the rammed earth spiral shaped shower that is currently being built.
Before Max left, we also experimented with various mixtures of sand and clay, varying from 17% to 35% clay, for the rammed earth process which the shower will be built from. Max was wonderful to have, and super helpful. We’re looking forward to him coming back for his next work holiday, which he is already planning.
Within just the last week our awesome WorkAwayers, Aurelie and Jerome have made incredible strides at building the spiral shower. First, designing it, then digging the shape, and lastly laying large rocks from the river and binding the foundations with “limecrete” — lime mixed with sand and water. Next we'll be getting started on the "rammed earth" walls. It's going to have a window at head height with that amazing view for showers down the Rio Seia. We feel really fortunate to have such driven, smart, and most of all pleasant to have volunteers!
Rusty helped by throwing rocks around, and being shotgun on digger — or just right in the front bucket of the digger😂.
Rusty has been so fun to have around. Not to mention he’s an amazing chef so he has been sharing some of his cooking secrets. We’ve also been discussing our re-design for the future kitchen/dining area and he has shared his expertise, since he runs the successful beach front hostel/restaurant in Guatemala — The Driftwood Surfer. We’re going to miss him so much when he continues on his Eurotrip.
We are working on some alternative designs from what we had, because we received some exciting news from our architect...... Because we will be classified in the council with “rural tourism”, the planning permitted buildings can now be within 10 meters from the boundary and 30 meters from the river. Before she found this clause, we were excluded to a small area that was 50 meters from the boundary. This opens up lots of options for alternate designs, which is really exciting. Stay tuned 😉....
Our friend Robin, who lives in the village, is a really talented graphic designer. We're lucky to have him developing our logo, and are really happy with it so far. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback. We love having the involvement of our friends and family in building our dream.
Speaking of family... We have Rafa here for the week with us, and Rory’s mom, sister and nephew all joining for a couple of days this week. It’ll be great to show them the progress, hear their feedback, and do small projects to keep things moving. In just one day, Rafa’s already taken a ride in the digger, gone of lots of adventure walks, and has been "building some walls"😆. He loves all the things Cara Creek has to offer, and Hank loves having him here as an adventure pal!
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