ChiChi’s the Name— Construction’s his Game
He’s Different
Some Costarican (CR) friends recommended him for home repair and remodeling work. Our old wooden house in the Escazu hills of CR regularly needs lots of that. In all fairness, the friends did mention, at the end of our talk, that we should not be put-off by his physical appearance; also, that his real name is Fernando.
He can only work weekends though. During the week he has a full-time, regular job as construction gang boss supervising six other workers. They build tiny little one-level houses for modest income families, mainly out of concrete blocks with tin roofs. But they have water and electricity.
We needed Fernando because the wooden foundation of our 20-year old deck finally gave out. He and a helper, Luis, started last weekend. Fernando ‘s around thirty, married, with two little girls; Luis is a little younger and single with strong bicepts. Only Luis and other close friends call Fernando, ChiChi.
What struck us when we first saw Fernando is that he only has one hand, the left; the right arm ends in a stump near the wrist. He’s had it since birth, apparently. Interesting, I thought. Well, anyway, their hourly rates are so reasonable (by US standards —— $2-4 per hour), we’ll go ahead and see what happens.
(Can you imagine an analog for an IT worker? Blind in one eye? Deaf in one ear? Partial brain damage in frontal cortex? IQ<100 or 90? Parkinson’s disease? None very good.)
We picked them up last Saturday in the center of town, at the Catholic Church, where the bus had left them off; they don’t have a car. Fernando does have mangos apparently, because he brought us a bag-full of delicious, ripe, red and yellow ones. Well, OK, now we have the ingredients for the afternoon refreshments.
Fernando had also given us a list of materials to buy — long 3x3 in. metal beams, welding supplies, and 400 screws to hold the wooden decking (very hard 2x4 almond beams) to the new metal foundation. Those had already been delivered to the house, wonder of wonders!
Fernando says he’s a lefty anyway, which is fortuitous, indeed for him. So, he handles the metal cutters, welding machine, drill all with no problem. Of course it’s a lie that Luis is his only helper. I did the materials purchasing and provided the missing tools as needed. I had also cut all the old nails from the underside of the decking (the old foundation had been of wood, as I mentioned.) Then, my wife applied some oily substance to it in order to conserve the decking a few years more.
On Sunday they appeared bright and early — bringing us more mangos. My wife served them lunch as well as the snack and mango juice. I had to pay for the taxi to bring the welding machine from his job site to our house. We went to buy metal cutting disks for his electric cutter and more drill bits — this decking is very hard, as I said; pine wouldn’t last long in our sun and rain!
Yesterday, they came to finish up. Nothing unusual happened except would you believe that Luis appeared with his left hand all bandaged up — only the thumb showing!! Seems a concrete block had fallen on it during the week. But they still had two hands between them, and finished with a flourish!
Ah, the joys of working with one-handed micro-contractors in Costa Rica—— house repair & maintenance the way it used to be done.
I think next time I use him, I can call him ChiChi.
