Wooden supports have been made to support the concrete that will be poured for the losa. Polystyrene molds have been made for the skylights, and there are casings for recessed lighting.

The front of the house, showing the window and door arches being formed.

A view over the central flat section of the roof. Trabes have been made, and the concrete will be reinforced with over a tonne of additional varilla.

An overview - it is looking more and more like a house.

Inside the house, showing the wood columns used to support the concrete that will be poured in a day or two.

The flat parts of the roof have now been poured. Rather than haul the concrete up using ropes, they built this staircase. Although the amount of concrete required for the flat roofs is considerable, it is significantly less than that required for the foundation. But again, it would not have been economic to use ready-mixed concrete.

A view on the top of the roof. The brick wall around the flat part of the roof is also being built.

Inside the house, looking down the corridor. It is pitch dark now without the skylights.

Another view on top of the roof. To the right are some of the molds used to make holes for the recessed lights.

There are also a number of cadenas to tie the boundary wall to the house foundation in order to stabilize it against movement due to earthquakes, or problems with the foundation (we noted serious problems with "maestro" X's work in this area). The problem with the pipe sticking out of the wall has now been fixed.

A view on the roof, looking toward what will be the staircase from the floor of the house.

From the roof, looking over the improvised staircase to the front. To the left are 5000 bricks for the bóveda ceilings; to the right of this are 1050 small bricks for the square columns at the front of the house. There are a few standard bricks to the front of these - we need 700 more to complete the house.

A view over the living room.

The bricks around the columns at the front are now being laid (they will later be filled with concrete). This is effectively the first of the finishing work; everything else to date is obra negra that will be covered over. Nonetheless, these bricks will later be cleaned to remove effluorescence.

An overview showing that firme has now been poured for the front terrace. This is made from mortar and the hormigón to the right of the tinaco.

A view of the roof, showing that firme is now being laid over the 20cm of reinforced concrete.

Construction of the sloping roofs is about to start. The beams and welding equipment have arrived, and the steel I-beams are being unloaded. Unlike those delivered to "El Refugio", they are bare steel, which will require application of a paint primer.

Also here are 3,500 pieces of baldosa for tiling the flat roofs.

There are more registros - here is one for the electrical cabling.

The next day some beams had been placed over the living room, and the baldosa has been moved onto the roof. To fit the beams, Rubén subcontracted a team of herreros (for obvious safety reasons, this work must be carried out by properly-qualified personnel).

Laying of the baldosa is underway (it is clear that one of the skylights is covered, but this is a trivial issue).

The beams being fitted over the living room.

This shows where the stairs to the roof will be - at the moment there is a wooden ramp over the house wall for access (the staircase would not be convenient to use, since it is inside the house wall). The tinaco, pressure system and water softener will go in the space to the left of the staircase.

Another overview, showing more of the beams in place.

Unfortunately, they have not been placed according to the plan, the 8x4 being placed too far towards the front, with corresponding discrepancies in all the beams behind it. After discussion with Rubén, we agreed modifications to work around this that will involve only a small relocation of the beam at the front, not all the beams that have been fitted over the living room. Nonetheless, this amounts to a significant deviation from what was specified in the plan.

There is only a little work remaining on the flat parts of the roof, and the work on the sloping roofs is about to be held up by welding of the beams (the bóveda cannot be done until these are in place). We therefore agreed that Rubén would continue with aplanado on the walls. This is as well, since the carpentry is likely to take some time, and measurements cannot be made until this has been done.

The herreros made a stupid mistake with the beams at the front of the living room; instead of all beams radiating outwards from the end of the 8x4, they stuck beams at various points along it (this looked so ridiculous, I couldn't bring myself to take photos of it). Nonetheless, work on the bóveda has already started here at the back of the living room.

They have also started aplanado on the exterior walls. I did a thorough check of electrical fittings today to make sure we are ready for this on the interior.

Work on the bóveda is continuing over the living room. The beams at the front now radiate outwards as per plan, but as can be seen here the spaces between them in which the bóveda will be fitted are nowhere near even. They will have to be adjusted to at least make reasonably even spacing, but I fear that the design has been seriously compromised by the misplacement of the front beam.

A view showing the bóveda from above. This will later be covered with reinforced concrete, then tiled.

The bóveda is also continuing over the kitchen and terrace. The round columns support not only the double-sloped roof over it, but also the beams for the inclined roofs to the sides; these are embedded in the columns lower down.

A view showing the two roofs over the living room and kitchen/terrace. The problem with the front of the living room has now been rectified (to the extent that it can be, given the original misplacement).

More bóveda over the living room, showing conduits that have been installed for the hanging lights that will be placed here. The gaps between the beams and the arches will be filled in with cement, as was done in "El Refugio".

Work in progress on the rather complicated system of sloping roofs. It has given our maestro Rubén a bit of a headache, but all seems to be coming out fine. The overhanging edges of the double-sloped roofs are terminated with a steel sill.

The bóveda over the terrace. This will need a considerable amount more work to clean and polish the brickwork and mortarwork, as well as seal and paint the beams.

Fitting of beams is now complete, except over the entrance hall and porch. The roof over the kitchen has had a layer of concrete.

Concrete being laid over the living room. This is reinforced with varilla and malla, which is welded onto the beams.

A closer view of beams being fitted over the entrance.

Bóveda is also being fitted over the sitting room.

Bóveda has now been completed over the sitting room; this is a view from inside, showing it is well-shaded (we hope not too much...).

A view over the sloping roof of the sitting room, with the double-sloped roof of the entrance to the right. Also shown is one of the molds used to form the bóveda.

As can be seen, some work still remains over the entrance.

A view inside the living room, showing that bóveda has been completed internally, although a few details remain outside. All this must later be finished off; this includes cleaning the bricks, painting the beams, and refining the mortarwork.

The intersection of the living room and kitchen roofs; we hope that this together with the front of the living room can be nicely finished.

A view down the terrace, showing the bóveda and the brick columns.

The roof over the porch/entrance hall is now nearly finished; although we had expected the structural work on the roofs to be completed by now.

A view from the bar area toward the kitchen. They have started the aplanado on the kitchen wall.

An overview, showing that obra negra on the roofs is now essentially finished. I am still not happy about the discontinuity ("droop snoot") in the living room roof introduced by the error in positioning the front beam, but hope that it will look acceptable once the roof tiles are fitted. I must console myself with the thought that this new "design" does give rather better shading to the sides than that specified in the plan. Another cosmetic issue is that the tinaco is clearly visible; we hope to find some way to hide it.

Another view down the terrace, this time from by the sitting room. This area is intentionally well-shaded, since it faces south-south-west into the strongest sun. We hope that making the terrace a pleasant place to sit will not result in the kitchen and sitting room being too dark.

The submersible pump is now installed in the aljibe. Unlike at "El Refugio" where a separate pump on the roof supplies the pressure to the pneumatic tank, here this will be done by the submersible pump. Jaime appears to have already tested the water piping under high pressure.