BajaNomad - Today is el Dia de Santa Cruz y Los Albañiles -More info?

Today is el Dia de Santa Cruz y Los Albañiles -More info?

oladulce - 5-3-2011 at 08:07 AM

The albañiles arrived this morning and erected a cross on our casa construction site. They jokingly said they were "sad about Bin Laden", but then informed us that today May 3rd is El dia de Santa Cruz y Los Albañiles. A day to celebrate los albañiles- masons.

BigWoo ran in to town for supplies to make lunch for them after a concrete pour today. At the store they were skinning a goat and Antonio said it was "es para los albañiles " who are building his hotel, and at the beer shop Pancho knew "ah, para los albañiles sí?".

Sounds like it's a big deal and we didn't get the memo. Anything else we should know about this tradition?

[Edited on 5-3-2011 by oladulce]

shari - 5-3-2011 at 08:24 AM

that is a great santa cruz photo!!!! I forgot about this holiday...thanks for reminding me...no wonder our albanil didnt show up today!! guess I'll have to eat the burro tacos myself.

longlegsinlapaz - 5-3-2011 at 08:26 AM

That pretty much covers it....providing the food & beverages for the day....you don't have to pass the collection plate in that temporary "church" with the big cross on top....oh yeah, & confirm with the workers that they understand they're building a casa, not a big cross-topped cathedral! :saint:

[Edited on 5-3-2011 by longlegsinlapaz]

longlegsinlapaz - 5-3-2011 at 08:48 AM

Oh yeah....don't forget the flour tortillas & the hot sauce!

oladulce - 5-3-2011 at 09:18 AM

OK, thanks- Carne asada and stuffed chilies are in progress.

We've got great guys working on our casa and would have felt terrible to learn about this later.

Someone should write a "Casa Construction Guide for Gringos" which includes this kind of thing. LonglegsinLP?? :lol:

tiotomasbcs - 5-3-2011 at 12:40 PM

Ain't that the Truth! After reading your article and asking them about the Tradion the Work Crew became revenous I kinda knew what their reaction would be?! :lol:

However , by the time I got up to Pescadero our new and one and only Carnitas Stand was sold out

In order to prevent an Insurgencia , they settled for hotdogs ala Americana! Jalapenos on the side. They're back pouring cement as we speak with new Gusto. Phew, that was close. Tio ps a new mini Cross has appeared mysteriously? Gracias

BajaBlanca - 5-3-2011 at 01:50 PM

good to know ....

longlegsinlapaz - 5-3-2011 at 01:57 PM

Eli - 5-3-2011 at 05:49 PM

Dios Lo Bendiga Los Albañiles; They have provided me with a wonderful life these last 21 years. Of course today was Carne Asada and beer under the Palapa here at home for a very small crew this year, only about 10 guys working for VOS right now. I can remember when we ran crews up to 160 workers, ah well, must admit that was a bit much.

oladulce - 5-3-2011 at 06:52 PM

Holy cow Eli, I didn't realize you had such a big operation going at one time

longlegsinlapaz - 5-3-2011 at 07:18 PM

Oladulce, it seems like we've all had this one blindside us! The workers just assume we all KNOW (by osmosis?) & never bring lunch that day. But most workers, jefes & builders are too polite to actually give foreigners a heads-up by telling us a few days in advance so we have time to plan & prepare.

The other biggie that's going to cost you is aguinaldo/Christmas bonus....do a search on BN for "aguinaldo". Also, Rolly's website has a couple important areas that it's good to read through at least once, to possibly lodge a little trigger in the back of your brain, hopefully to be triggered at a later date when you hear key words or when specific dates roll around:

Employee Pay Requirements:

http://www.rollybrook.com/employee-pay.htm

Federal Labor Law:

http://www.rollybrook.com/labor_law.htm

I'd ask your builder pointblank if he included aguinaldo in your construction presupuesto or not. I tend to think he didn't since it's payable by law, but I think it's considered rude to actually give us a heads-up about this type of legal requirement. It's 15 days pay for each full year worked; pro-rated for partial years & payable by law no later than December 20. That's pure bonus, in addition to pay for time worked that week....so it's like more than triple+ pay for the week before Christmas; over-generalized, but it does get the point across!

There are several other "soft" holidays which fall during the typical work week, for which workers are paid straight time if they opt to take the day off & double time if they work, Absolute holidays, like Christmas day it's triple time if they actually work that day. Rolly's site has holiday information also.

BajaGringo - 5-3-2011 at 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by longlegsinlapazThe other biggie that's going to cost you is aguinaldo/Christmas bonus....do a search on BN for "aguinaldo".

That is a good point and something that should be discussed up front. Our guys said that they expected nothing but would be very appreciative of anything we felt we wanted to give them. The guys have done a wonderful job for us and so it was a no brainer. Christmas bonuses for a job well done felt like buying presents for a favorite nephew.

Today we provided the crew with a nice BBQ of carne asada, pollo, chorizo español and ostiones along with a large ice chest of cold beer.

I always look forward to being able to have the guys working for us on this occasion so we can celebrate the day with them. It is small change to pay them the day and host the event as well as manning the grill. Somebody always brings a guitar and after awhile the whole group is singing. The guys are always very grateful and it pays off in big, big dividends in your construction project.

Along the way you might just discover that you have a lot of fun to boot...