¡No Es Caña!

A common fencing material in Central and South America is cane stalks. They are cheap, abundant, and easy to work with.

However, these pictures are not of caña, or cane, although it looks like it from afar (and on close inspection, for that matter).

These stalks are actually 3-in. and 4-in. PVC pipe faux painted to look like cane. The growth rings, or knots are beads of caulking.

This pic, which clearly looks like PVC, is a section of fence in progress, only primed. Unlike real caña, which lasts about three-to-five years, these stocks will last forever.

— Fernando Pagés Ruiz is ProTradeCraft's Latin America Editor. He is currently building a business in Ecuador and a house in Mexico. Formerly, he was a builder in the Great Plains and mountain states. He is author of Building an Affordable House and Affordable Remodel (Taunton Press).