If the driveway ever get cleared out.

I've been clearing the driveway to the house site 2 days a week for the past 3 weeks and it doesn't seem like it will ever be done.

Here is what I am up against.

I don't know what this stuff is called but it has a pretty good root system and big tubers right out of the ground out of which grows a wide bladed grass that will cut you to the bone. For this reason I call it razor grass. It grows taller than me and I am 6 feet.

The reason it takes so long to clear it out is because I have to cut it down with hedge clippers to about 12 inches high so I don't get cut to shreads when I dig it up with a mattock.

It looks pretty good when I get it done though.



The driveway is about 600 feet long and I've got about 150 feet left to clear, so another week maybe. In the mean time I'll layout the front gate and get the footers dug for the gate post, then start on securing the little brick building while the gate project unfolds.

I have scheduled 2 yards of sand, 3 yards of gravel and 200 - 6" blocks for delivery next tuesday. That should get me started. The price of materials in La Paz is a little higher than Cuenca but not enough to justify trucking it 45 miles.

          Sand (arena) $22 a cubic meter.

          Gravel (ripio) = 3/4 minus $24 cubic meter

          Blocks - 6" in quantity 43 cents a piece

          1/2" rebar $20 a stick (20')

          Portland $8 to $10 a cubic foot depending on quantity

          Calcium Carbonate (quick lime) $10 per hundred weight.

As you can see from the above mentioned prices a standard 5 bag mix for concrete will run about $75 a yard, so a little cheaper than the U.S. but you gotta mix it yourself. You know people pay good money to belong to a gym and they don't get nearly the workout these projects will require.