Habitat for Humanity/ Thrivent Builds Worldwide trip to Potrero Grande, Costa Rica

Before the building started for the week, the volunteer team took a swing by Manuel Antonio National Park and saw two- and three-toed sloths. A race must have been on between them; one sloth moved over two inches while we watched.

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The build site was the last Habitat house in a community of ten, all sponsored by Thrivent Financial. These Costa Rican houses were constructed differently from other Latin American countries. Unlike most Habitat houses made out of concrete masonry blocks, the houses in this community used prefabricated concrete pillars with embedded grooves. Precast concrete planks, rough 4-5 cm thick were then lifted overhead and slid down between pillars for a sandwiched fit.

​Because this last site was filled with the excavation debris of the previous houses, digging out the buried boulders from each post hole was cause for a mini-celebration. The team also dug a muddy septic field and a street trench for the storm sewer piping.