oladulce
Super Nomad
Posts: 1625
Registered: 5-30-2005
Location: bcs
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El Dedo de Pancho
Power tools are a fairly new phenomenon in San Juanico. Full-time electricity has only been around for a couple of years and fishing has been the main
occupation since the 1960’s when the town grew out of a seasonal fish camp that was originally used by ranch dweller’s from the nearby mountains. The
exposure to power tools has come with the influx of gringos who’ve provided new construction opportunities. But in the beginning there were very few
guys with construction experience for others to observe the tools in action and there weren’t any formal tool- safety classes, so a lot of scary
habits developed.
I’m pretty sure Pancho was once a pangero like almost all of the men, but as long as we’ve known him he’s owned the Tecate store in town. More
recently, he’s been doing various construction jobs for his gringo son-in-law who is also our builder.
Pancho and his son were elected to build the sombra (shade structure) off our garage few months ago. I told them my idea for rows of tallos (palm leaf
stems) in an alternating chevron pattern that would provide parking shade over the large area. Our builder brought them a nail gun and circular saw
and my husband powered up our generator and off we went to paint our new casita, leaving them with hundreds of tallos to cut and nail.
My husband went back out a few hours later to check on their progress. From across the yard he saw Pancho holding the nail gun upside down, obviously
trying to troubleshoot a problem. He could tell that Pancho was getting ready to pull the trigger with the gun aimed right at his face, so BigWooo
yelled “Pancho” loud enough to make him almost fall off the ladder, which stopped him from firing the thing. He then gestured “think about what you’re
doing” and a look of “holy ****” came across Pancho’s face as the lightbulb came on.
A few days, and hundreds of tallos later, they were doing a beautiful job and the sombra was looking even better than I expected. We went out to the
garage to get more paint one day and Pancho’s son was alone. He calmly reported that “there had been as accident” and Pancho was on his was to
Constitucion. He said it “wasn’t too bad” but there had been a lot of blood. We asked what had happened and he demonstrated how Pancho had been
cutting each tallo by hold it out in front of him and then slicing through the air with the circular saw. Something slipped and Pancho sliced through
his finger instead, and cut off his fingertip. The doctor in town couldn’t do anything, so he was going in to Constitucion.
Later in the afternoon, I went to clean up the area and got a glimpse of something that looked out of place lying in the gravel. Sure enough, there
was Pancho’s soft white fingertip pad. I picked it up and showed BigWooo and we tried to decide whether to tell Pancho we’d found it, wondering if it
would symbolize bad Mexican juju for him or something.
Pancho stopped by when he got back from town and had large bulky bandages on his hand. I told him I’d found his fingertip and his eyes lit up. “Did
you save it? Can I have it?” I gladly relinquished his digit and he put it in his pocket. I later heard that he carried it around for days and showed
everybody and then put it in a jar in his house.
Aqui es Pancho a few days later, working on our palapa.
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Russ
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6742
Registered: 7-4-2004
Location: Punta Chivato
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oladulce , I'm glad to see Pancho back at work. I'll bet he now explains the hazards of gringo tools. I was using one of those 4" grinders on my boat
and almost cut my finger off. After a surgery and some rehab I have about 70% use in it now and don't notice it.
Where did you get the materials, poles, for your building? I'd love to use them instead of milled lumber. More pictures...
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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Yikes,
I often cringe watching some of them work and worry about their safety.
Then again, it may have a lot to do with my age. We have been doing our own painting, furniture staining and other jobs and we both are far more
careful than in the past. No more standing with a few toes of one foot on the counter, and the other foot barely on the ladder. And then, it is
about getting back up from the floor.
I am glad Pancho seems to have healed and is back able to work.
Good Luck
Diane
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oladulce
Super Nomad
Posts: 1625
Registered: 5-30-2005
Location: bcs
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Pancho is a great guy and we were very relieved that his injuries weren't more severe.
Russ, the palm posts are from Comondú.
There is RED palm, and WHITE palm in Comondú. You want the RED. It's much more dense (hard) and more resistant to palillos- boring beetles.
Both types of Palm require routine insecticide spraying with some pretty toxic stuff to keep the beetles under control. I wouldn't use it as a
structural building material on an interior for that reason, but it makes beautiful palapas and pergola posts.
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