Tinker Toys

Most people have memories of playing with Tinker Toys as children. Many enjoyed this type of play...Maurice was one of these children. He enjoyed the act of building, creating, and figuring out what block fits where and how many can you stack on top of each other before they fall.

The last 4 months on Arriba de la Roca have been the ultimate in Tinker Toy play. This Wednesday, the 23rd of June, will mark the 16 week anniversary since our workers began building, creating and figuring out which blocks fit where. Maurice has been there every step of the way. He has maintained a record of what they have done, what we have done, and how this whole process has gotten to where it is today. As of now they are done with our construction, or as they refer to it in the Baja, The Obra Negra.

To accomplish this, the workers have used 15 metric tons of re-bar, along with 3.8 metric tons of steel. We watched them cut, drag, twist, turn and manipulate this material into unshakable forms used to create the basic structure of our dream.

We have had 9000 concrete blocks delivered, off loaded, then re-loaded and driven to the top by Senor Backhoe Retro, which were used in the construction of our walls.

The workers dragged 700 4x4x10 wooden beams up the cliff so they could support the wood panels on which to pour our cement ceilings. (The wood beams and panels are all removed when the cement dries) 500 cubic meters of sand, 123 cubic meters of stone, 88 tons or 1760 bags of cement, along with 220,000 liters or 220 tons of water were used in the creation of the cement needed to hold it all together.

To add the stone finishing and pathways we used another 70 square meters of piedra, which is stone facing.

On the list, meticulously kept by Maurice, we also purchased one broom.

All this took 13,800 man hours.

12 more weeks is the amount of time it will take to complete our dream. We will do all the finishing work, including the pool, terrace all the grounds, as well as landscape them. We still need to pick out, or have made:

Doors, windows, lights, an entire kitchen for inside the house, a kitchen for the outside of the house, appliances, bathroom fixtures for 6 different styled bathrooms, paint colors, wood finishes, a dining room set, as well as a sofa set for the main room, closets, flooring and tiles, sinks, toilets, faucets, mirrors, beds for each casita, linens for everyplace...high quality linens and towels which you can not find here...ceiling fans, sky lights, art work, patio furniture for 4 patios and furniture that will hold up in the sun and salt air for around the pool, cushions for 5 cement sofas scattered around the property, hammocks (pronounced HAM AUK) Mexican accent pieces and garden gnomes (O.K. not really, but wanted to see if you were paying attention. No garden gnomes) a web site with photographs and flash and Paypal...I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

Maurice says he does not really care what I choose to add all the final elements. I have learned though this is true only until I bring an idea or paint color home...then he REALLY cares. It would be so much easier if he just said, “yes dear”.....and that would be ohhhhh so boring!!! I do now have one pillow in which we will do the entire Casita Pacifica around. That is a start. Now I am relieved………

Luckily I was the one who liked to set up my Barbie Dream Home when I was little. Actually it was a homemade Barbie Dream Home, made of glued together shoes boxes, paint and lots of glitter. It was prefect!!! Tinker Toys for Maurice, and a Barbie Dream Home for me...No wonder Maurice and I make a great pair.