In the fall of 2004 the project set up shop in Mexico. It seemed ironic to some of the volunteers that we traveled from all over the United States to build homes in the birthplace of so many people who work hard every day building homes for us.
The 2004 JCWP consisted of two worksites in Mexico: Puebla and Veracruz. Puebla is situated in a mountainous region between Mexico City and the Gulf coast. Veracruz, located on the Gulf coast of Mexico, has an active port and serves as a vacation destination for the Mexican people. Plans called for the construction of 75 simple homes on each site, some freestanding, but most in clusters of three or four. According to Carter, who addressed the Latin American press and Mexican people in Spanish, the key differences in the two worksites were the terrain and the roofs. The roads were steep and the air was thin in Puebla, while the entire development in Veracruz was flat. And it was hot. The roofs and walls in Veracruz had much stronger ties due to their coastal location and susceptibility to hurricanes.