25th May 2017

Today was a working day for the Tawasap community. That meant that work continued on the stage for August. This was much needed because August is coming soon and so far only the five support beams, which hold and encompass the stage, were ready. The beams and boards are also mostly prepared, I think.
Three beams for the floor boards were attached to the five cemented supports, which have been standing there for more than a week. This was done using threaded rods inserted into holes drilled with a too-short drill. The commune doesn't have much money and good tools are in short supply. The first drill, which was a bit longer, broke on the first hole.
The work here is different. While with us the most experienced construction specialist takes charge, distributes tasks and makes changes to the group distribution or task priorities, the opinions of everyone are important right from the task distribution. Tzama determines what needs to be done but others are also very skilled in various areas. The work is never carried out as swiftly as with us. Instead, there is always discussion. If someone leaves the construction site, they will come back. That's just how it is. Maybe the work could go faster with our system. But what they have is the ability to perform amazing feats of strength and technique. And they do it swiftly and joyfully because the young lads like to show how strong they are. Even the older ones know the technique of lifting, carrying, and placing tree trunks of considerable weight with precision. All I can do is marvel. What startled me about the work was that after the three beams, they had to install two more beams with 1.5-meter-high posts, three each. Well, it makes sense because otherwise it would probably lack load-bearing capacity. But oh boy, they added another row of three posts with beams in between.
This surprised me because I don't understand everything that's being done. Firstly, I don't understand all the Spanish and secondly, I don't understand Shuar, which they often speak. The atmosphere among them is similar to ours. They make jokes about measurement errors and other mistakes.
It got dark before we finished and we weren't done yet. So I had dinner at eight o'clock and then went up to Mura in the dark, accompanied by the old, faithful, and peaceful bulldog. To quickly take care of the necessary things and go to bed. Unfortunately, I had left my tablet with Tzama's mother and a few of her grandchildren during dinner. Apparently, some game apps were running on it without me noticing. The battery was dead the next morning and I couldn't write about yesterday right away.