Laboring on the Clay Courts

claycourts

There are times when you are living in Buenos Aires that you are reminded of the fact that labor is cheap…well, at least compared to the US. We experienced one such happening today at the tennis club where the girls take lessons.

It seems that they are refurbishing the surface of the courts, one by one, and in order to do it, they have to break up the clay, which they accomplish by hand with the work of 2 or 3 men pounding away with the tools pictured above.

There is a strange sort of beauty to the pattern that emerges in the clay; the newer wounds bleed a darker red. (Click on the photo to really see the richness.)

This process takes several days, and since I’m not the one out in the baking sun beating on the ground, I find the pace appealing in a contemplative sort of way. I know in the States there is probably a machine that can accomplish this task in a mere whisper of time, but not so handsomely, and not so I appreciate the labors of those doing it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 7:02 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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2 Responses to “Laboring on the Clay Courts”

  1. meg September 17th, 2009 at 6:14 am

    greetings! very interesting about the courts…my girls love to play tennis and have taken lessons before. can’t wait to hear more about the lessons.

    but the big news is: we are here in BA! just getting adjusted (slowly, if one can even call it!)

    off to find a bank and laundry this morning.

    hoping we can meet up at some point.
    megan

  2. Michele September 19th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

    Meg! You made it, so delighted that you are here and in one piece. Sorry it took me so long to answer back — crazy crazy day on Friday, which we’ve been prepping for all week, and recovering from today. I’ll send you an email a bit later today and we’ll figure out a time to meet. Welcome.

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