So back to my new house, Number 13 today. The mason and the family had finished the second layer of foundation after we left yesterday and today was about build the plinth - the next layer up. It will be about one foot high and made from (more !) huge rocks, with concrete and earth mixed in. So after meeting and greeting with the family, we set to work on moving some of the huge rock. We formed our usual chain gang which worked every effectively .. admittedly not quite as effective as our friend in the photo above. It's amazing how he can carry these massive rocks on his head !
The rocks were placed very carefully on top of the foundation layer and there is an amazing system of leveling to ensure that the line is plumb. The masons have a long narrow rubber tube, filled with water and some coloured dye. It's place against the first brick in the corner and the other end of it is placed against the ingle brick in the next corner. The dye line starts to moved and hold still when the 2 rocks are plumb .. amazing.
They then tie a line between these 2 bricks and all the rocks in the row between these 2 are placed inside and touching this line. I couldn't believe how straight the line was with noth
ing but a small rubber tube and a piece of string for guidance .. The result was perfect.There was a lot of shifting back and forth of morter to hold these rocks together and then as before when the rocks and the morter were in place, we needed to cover them with earth from the mounds around the edges. So we spent a lot of today in chain gangs passing something or other up and down the lines. We also shovelled earth into wheelbarrows and pushed these into place to cover the rocks when needed .. so quite a variety of work today. The best part about today was that everybody joined in. The family were involved working alongside us in the chain gangs and even the bus guy joined us as he had to wait about to bring us back since we're a sort of 'outpost' ! Another great day on the site.
Tonight we had a treat - a Bollywood night at the hotel. We had a very nice meal and then some music and dancing .. and henna hand painting available too. It was a great evening's entertainment and many of our team were involved both in the dancing and the
painting ..Here's Liz and Charley showing us
how it's done and Jennie and Cathy entering into the spirit !Bye for now .. more
tomorrow. 
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