High wire palaperos

Mid week and my builder has now fully finished and plastered the varilla supporting columns and deck walls. The wiring and plumbing is all installed so with that finished we are finally ready to move on to the pool.

I am very happy with the progress and working standards of my builder.


Thursday brings a third load of zacate … the guys arrive early and tell me its waiting outside for my approval. I toy with them a bit ,asking if it is safe to look – will I like it? Everyone here seems to love a bit of fun while they are working.

The new batch doesn’t have the yellow glow I had hoped for but it does look clean and smell fresh, there are even green bits indicating that it has been freshly gathered and is not even dried out completely yet. Can't get much fresher than that. I hum and haw a bit for effect then ok it. They all smile and its up on the deck before you can blink.


The muchachos de palapero (palapero's lads/workers) are a nice bunch, always pleasant and cheerful. They seem refreshingly happy and contented in their jobs. They work hard during their work hours, mostly on the roof without shade, and chill out in the piles of zacate during siesta (lunch break). Watching them at work is like watching a high wire circus act, like in the scary old days, without the safety wires and the nets.

They wander around the roof skeleton like it’s a walk in the park.

While I am working in the kitchen I hear an unnerving yell and then whoop of laughter. I go out and it seems that one of them nearly had a mishap. The incident is greeted with much frivolity by the group and the victim.

Eight to twelve of them spend three days perched on the roof in full sunlight, tying each section in place individually. By Saturday its almost finished. The roof top section and a bit of varnish – and we will be done. Since they have made a good job of the balcony woodwork, I ask if they might be interested in putting together a bit of furniture in the same style and they say they will give it a try. I give them a rough drawing and they will give me a price estimate later.