"Rockin" it!

Our first and last work days during Shack Week were rock picking. Sitting on the beach, watching the waves, and picking rock, after rock, after rock. And not just any rock. Only the perfect rocks. They had to be the perfect colour, perfect texture, perfect size, and have absolutely no flaws. If that sounds crazy, try doing it for a whole day!

Now let me give a little bit of background about rock picking. Here in the Baja of Mexico, the tide washes up billions upon billions of rocks on the beaches. These rocks are collected and sold to the United States where they are then used for landscaping. The rock picking industry employs a lot of Mexicans, both men and women. Sometimes you will even see whole families picking rocks together on the beach. The workers are usually self-employed and pick the rocks on their own time and then wait on the shore for the various companies to come around and purchase them. They are paid $1 per bag of rocks, and it takes one and a half 5-gallon buckets to fill one bag.

Every time we have gone to the beach here in Mexico, we have seen people bent over picking rocks, but until this past week, we've always thought that it must be an easy job to do. Our first reaction about rock picking was "Sweet, we get to spend the whole day on the beach!". However, by the end of the day, our minds felt numb from the amount of rocks we had seen. It's amazing how everything started to blend together. After a while it was hard to even remember what colour of rocks we were searching for. All I can say, is that making a living off of this type of work would not be an easy thing to do, never-mind to provide for an entire family! As a family of six, each work day we only got paid three people's wages in order to make it more realistic. By the end of our rock picking days, we made approximately 330 pesos per day (around $30) and after rent, water, and transportation costs, we were usually left with around 200 pesos per day (or about $17). As mind-numbing and boring as this job was, it was something that we were able to set personal goals for. We would set a goal of having 50 buckets picked by lunch, and we would push through until we got it done. Some may have said we "rocked" it.... ;)

Stay tuned for another shack week blog coming soon!