Yes, a house raising

Today Michael and I attended a house raising down the mountain in the nearby village of San Luis. A family from our school is building a home there and asked for folks to come and help lift the timber frames that will provide the main structure for the house. It will be built in the traditional style with interlocking timber beams. The frames were lifted using only man power and ropes (and one mule). The frame was lifted by a row of people and pulled using ropes connected to pullies strung over nearby trees. Here is a picture of all the men standing around waiting for the first count down to lift. There's Michael in the bright blue shirt. Watch for him in the next pictures!
Some women, myself including, jumped in to help pull the ropes at certain points. The men definatly dominated the house lifting, particularly since one needed to be of a certain height to lift. Michael was placed near the center among the tall men.