Observations

Fernando & I built a new entry for the biodigester

Another completed Cocina

Completed installation of biodigester and greenhouse hoops

Inflating the biodigester bag

                                                                    Completed two more of the improve cook stoves this week. Turns out that I’m a pretty fair brick/adobe mason. I’ve watched some good ones at work and the osmosis thing took over. There is an art to getting the adobe mud just right – like a big tub of chocolate pudding. The worst is when I get rocks in the barro. Unlike most Volunteers, who use hands, I prefer to sling and smooth mud with a trowel. While I do marvel at the brilliance of the human hand (and there are times when nothing else will do), my Grandfather taught me well that the right tool makes the job easier and better. I don’t get the “Peace Corps Rustic” look, but the locals like my smooth.

 Also, got the new entrance to the bio-digester set up. Chevo can now mix the pig shit soup in the 55 gal drum and dump it in, instead of dealing with the 5 gal buckets. The thing is slowly filling up – he only does 50 gallons a day and the tube holds well over 1,000 gals. Hoping the thing gets going and produces some good fertilizer (and methane) to use with compost from the eco-banos, compost from the Town’s compost pile, for good starter soil for the tree planting projects – Synergy in action.

More about eating in Peru : Most Peruvians don’t eat much breakfast. Usually just a couple of bread rolls with a sweet sugar spread or a nasty black sausage (that I don’t even want to remember the name of). My morning habit, on the way to the field/beach, is to stop for a big glass of fresh squeezed OJ and a bread roll with tortilla and onion slices for filling. Or sometimes fresh cheese and avocado. BTW, tortilla here is a fried  egg / potato / mixed veggie batter, which gets nice and crispy on the edges and tastes just fine. Another morning favorite is the baked potato, stuffed with bits of chicken and veggies – for 18 cents, it can’t be beat. An extra “pancito” and a plastic tube of home-roasted peanut for snacks, my trusty water bottle and I’m good for a day’s work.

Lunch is the big meal of the day, usually eaten about 1 or 2pm. There are some order-from-menu restaurants, but the most popular is the “Menu” (pronounced Men –oooo). Here, they serve soup, a main course and a drink for about $1.75 US. Soup comes to the table instantly, at which point the second is selected – there are usually just one or two choices. It is served well before soup is finished and beverage – usually fruit juice with water and sugar added – comes at the end. Everything is home cooked and so far, I’ve yet to find a meal I didn’t like. Today’s soup was “Minestrone”, but not the Italian version. This was a creamy, cheesy broth, with noodles and mixed vegetables. The second (there was no choice) was a beet/pea/lima bean and onion salad, with rice and a nice piece of fried fish. These folks got McDonald’s beat – faster service, better food and cheaper prices.

The “eating club” (no, nothing like Cottage or Ivy at Princeton) is another lunchtime option. There are usually a few in each town. The members pay 90 US cents per day. It is BYO plate, bowl and flatware. The places are a little shabby and frequented mostly by single, older, poorer men. There is just one item on the menu, but you do get a good meal for very cheap.

Dinner is usually just leftover lunch and eaten around 8pm. My program is to bring my Tupper, eat just half of lunch – the portions are huge – and have the rest (with an avocado, mango or figs) around 6pm. This has cured my bedtime acid-tummy and may have contributed to my recent 6 kg weight loss. Though, I credit manual labor at the beach for most of that. I’ve had the made a new hole in my belts, as well.

Mail service in Peru is provided by Serpost, which is by no means the equivalent of the good old US Postal Service. There is no home delivery, except “Special Delivery”, which costs about $9 and is rarely used. They are only in larger towns – some PC volunteers have to go hours just to get mail. Even in those towns, few people have P.O. boxes (Carilla Postal), though there is a Peace Corps box in San Vicente, where I get mail, to wit:

RGP, C.P. # 43, Serpost San Vicente de Canete, Lima, PERU

(any and all care packages greatfully accepted)

BTW, my cell is : 01-51-979-584-896 (incoming calls free to me)

Serpost service is slow and expensive. A letter to Lima took 3 days (80 miles away) and cost about $1.50. Post cards to the States are almost $2. Many folks send letters and packages via the various bus lines. Again expensive and only terminal to terminal, but MUCH faster. Never, EVER take the USPS for granted again. They do an amazing job for CHEAP.

This morning was last hard work for a while. Holiday parties have started and as a PC Vol, I’m expected to make the rounds. We are semi-celebrities and get lots of invites. I went the party at the Health Post today. Most parties here serve a full meal and cake and goodies. Pantone – a very light fruitcake, which I love – is the traditional Christmas treat. And, of course, HUGE quantities of Inca Kola, the Peruvian national soft drink, which tastes like the Bazooka bubble gum I used to get at the Barber Shop as a kid. Everyone sits on chairs around the outside of the room. Jason was there to say his Good-Byes – he officially retired from the Corps yesterday. I got introduced and made a speech, which surprisingly came out quite well and easily – unaccustomed as I am to speaking in public….. After the meal and speeches, there was some mingling. My hosts took great care to introduce me to every single lady in the room – and repeat several times that each was single. I did manage to get some business done, discussing plans to do classes on HIV/sexuality in the schools and tuberculosis education/mitigation in the community. One of the San Luis annexes, Laura Caller, has a particularly high incidence of the disease.

Strikes are quite common here. The air traffic controllers are out, which has virtually shut down ALL airline service in and out of Peru. Unlike US strikes, which go on until resolved, they tend to fix a time limit in advance. Though the Canete strike went on for 2 days after schedule. The ATC’s are out for two days. There is also a strike going on just south of here in Chincha by the taxi drivers. Neither one affects me like the Canete strike did. And these are more like the normal US strike – over wages and benefits.

Just noticed the motto on the local elementary school – “Discipline and Punctuality” – so much for scholarship. From what I hear, schools here are similar to schools in the US decades ago. Lessons are read from books and repeated back. Everything is rote memorization. Art classes consist of tracing and coloring. Freehand art is not a priority. Attendance and punctuality are. Volunteers who hand out blank pages are met with equally blank stares. Most schools are still sex segregated. On the other hand, I did see  a Montessori school in Canete.

Finally, the calendar says it’s two days before Christmas. But it’s hard to tell here in Peru. There are no trees up and very few lights. No one has mentioned the number of shopping days left. But, there have been parties and good cheer and a quiet peace. Feliz Navidad to ALL.

Crazy for Cocinas - improved cook stoves

Mama Teya is happy with her new stove

Katy & Will joined me to learn about Cocinas and ease my pain

My first stove. Note stains on wall from old stove - left

Construction is sometimes slowed by playing with kids

Another week of hard, but satisfying labor in the beach farming community called Don Oscar. Monday, we set the brick fire-boxes for the two new improved cook-stoves. The mortar was an eclectic mix of ½ adobe mud, ¼ ash and ¼ cow manure. The organics in the manure will burn off, giving more insulation and the ash makes the mix more adhesive, according to the manual. The home owners at one place are jovial, talkative sorts from the mountains. They taught me a few words of Quechua, the Inca language and grilled me about how I could have grandchildren, but no wife. They insisted she must be dead, since divorce is not even in their vocabulary. I sang to one of their little kids (in Spanish) to get him to stop crying, which they found most impressive. I also note that, despite the full sun and heat, the kid was wearing a sweater and full winter cap with ear flaps. These folks must have a different thermostat setting than Gringos. After work, the Peace Corps motto that this is a 24/7 job proved true, as I got drafted by my host buddy Fernando to help him with a job at the cemetery across the street. We were trying to survey a site for a new mausoleum, but either the existing one or the markers on site were wrong, as the measurements just did not align. The new one will just have to be 5cm (2inches) shorter.

Tuesday, we were joined by fellow 18ers Katy and Will and the team completed the adobe structures for two cocinas mejoradas (improved cook stoves), built the chimneys and installed the cook tops we cast last week. One highlight of the day for me was fetching water from the nearby well. Will and I discovered that there is actually quite an art to getting the cast bucket to fill with water. Best practice is to drop the bucket open end down. Otherwise, it just sits on the surface and doesn’t fill. Whodathunk? Katy tried milking a cow with some small success. Only footnote was that there was no water when I got home. Still not sure why. It just happens from time to time. Same with electricity. We take for granted these basic services in the US, but keeping everything running takes work, money and good maintenance – not always available here in Peru or elsewhere in the world.

There is an interesting cleaning tradition here that I should mention. Every morning, first order of business for Fernando, the elder (54) at my host home, is to connect the hose in front of the house and water and sweep BOTH sides of the street in front of the house. The house itself, on the other hand, rarely gets cleaned. The bathroom went for three weeks without cleaning until I did it my self. I’ve never seen him clean his own room and laundry and dishes seem to pile up until something is needed. But, that street in front of the house and both sidewalks always look great. From what I’ve seen in other parts of town, he’s not alone. Go Figger.

I had my first clash with Peruvian culture last Saturday. There was a party next door and wedding reception just down the street. The wedding affair was quite pleasant and tame, but the teenagers next door had some sort of super-woofer bass that literally rattled the windows in my room. About 2am, I got tired of the constant booming and went next door to (very politely) ask if the bass could turned down just a bit. Let’s just say that the response was less than cordial. I was informed that Saturday night is traditionally a night when you can do what you like, for as long as you like and as loud as you like and NO ONE, not the police and certainly not a Gringo can ask you to stop. Everyone I spoke to the next day about it just laughed and confirmed my intuited rule. And the party “only” lasted until 4am, so I guess I should count myself lucky.

The sun screen tarp I installed over my room has attracted some interest. One of the neighbors (not the party family) stopped me and asked what it was for. I explained about the solar gain and how it had lowered the temperature of my room about 10F. They asked about costs and then wanted to know how much I would charge to install it. As a PC volunteer, I’m prohibited from taking money for such services, which earned me a seriously incredulous look. We decided that a nice cake (torta) would be my reward. The lady is a baker and chocolate with fig filling sounded really interesting.   

Most Peace Corps volunteers enjoy a bit of “celebrity” status, as Gringos are uncommon in the smaller, non-touristy towns. I am no exception. After just a couple of weeks here, lots of folks seem to know my name – even some who I could swear I’ve never met. Word travels fast around here. I really appreciate the training that we got and the emphasis on realizing that WHATEVER we do will be scrutinized by the locals. And that they are not only judging me, but my Corps and my country at the same time. An honor and a responsibility I’m proud to bear.

Concrete mixers and ready-mix trucks are rare here. Small batches can be made in a wheelbarrow, but larger mixes are done on the ground. Measurements are all eyeballed, with amazing accuracy. Fernando did two mixes today, both were so close, we had only handfuls of extra concrete. Procedure is to dump gravel on the ground and cement on top. This is turned and formed into a doughnut or collapsed volcano shape. Water is added to the center pit, again with astonishing accuracy, and left to “rest” for about 5 minutes. The sides are then folded into the center and you got damn fine concrete. Quick and easy. Well, not as easy as a ready mix truck. We made slabs for the entrance and exit to the bio-digester which will allow the farmer to mix the “pig shit soup” in a 55 gal drum, rather than the 5 gal buckets. Looks good, so far.

Attended another local water committee (JASS) meeting tonight. This one totally different from the last one, as most everyone pays for their water in the service area. And they get GREAT quality water 7 days a week, though for only 10-12 hours a day. Never again take for granted the OUTSTANDING, 24/7, sanitary water service we get in the States. You can piss and moan about minutia, but it amazingly good service. Though we pay considerably more than the US$ 1.50 a month they pay here.

Thursday was a most excellent day. Jason and I made the final touches to two of the beach cocinas (improved cook stoves) and burned them in. Fire was lit with paper scraps, dry corn stalk for tinder and dried yucca root for fuel. The firebox glowed and we boiled some water. These things do indeed perform as advertised. The small firebox and chimney give a great air-flow – no flame fanning or blowing required. Most importantly, the new proud owners (and some onlooking neighbors) were trained in use and maintenance of the stove. It was a fine feeling for me to see the cocina go from concept and theory in training to actual construction and use. One more family will now be saving wood, breathing less smoke and enjoying the convenience and ergonomics of the improved cook stove. The long walk back to Santa Barbara and combi ride to San Luis was a lot easier and sweeter than usual this day.

Friday, Fernando and I built the fertilizer holding tank and loading port (insert area for “pig shit soup”) for the bio-digester. This will allow the farmer to mix the soup in a 55 gallon drum and dump it, rather than pouring in the 5 gallon buckets as he (and we) have been doing. And will allow him to store the fertilizer for a few days, once the digester is up and running. As usual, the concrete was ALL mixed by hand and the forms were cobbled together from random bits of wood. Boards are like gold around here and the boards vary in thickness and width. What I wouldn’t give for some cheap Home Depot 1x8’s ?  Form boards are all braced with adobe scraps. Looks like crap, but the end result is always surprisingly good. Adobe is the plentiful and VERY cheap building material here. They are manufactured by many one-man operations all along the drainage canals, since their raw material (clay/mud) is dredged out annually to maintain the canal depth. A 40cm x 20cm x 6cm (16x8x2 1/2 ”) brick is about 0.7 cents US. Used abode are lying around all over the beach, thanks to the seismic activity in the area. Problem is that the salty ground and soil moisture will turn the first few layers of adobe back to sand in just a few years, unless they are built on a plastic barrier or 2 ft concrete foundation wall. This accounts for the many skewed walls I see.

I wrote my first official letter (in Spanish, of course) to the municipality, requesting a meeting to go over the current and future projects that we might cooperate on. We’ll see if my Spanish actually passes the test. The good news is that my flowery and sometimes effusive style is just what the jeffes like.

Out to Don Oscar again to remove the form boards and return said precious cargo to Fernando. The daily commute is in a moto-taxi – kind of a rickshaw converted from a motorcycle – since no combis or taxis will brave the rocky road to the beach. I pass fields of corn, yucca, artichoke, camote (sweet potato), grapes and rice. One corn field was just harvested a few days ago. The ears were left in the sun to dry for a couple of days (and guarded at night), then packed into HUGE sacks and hauled to the local grain exchange. The field has already been replanted in corn (crop rotation is not practiced – yet another possible project for me). Green sprouts are visible in the rich and well irrigated soil. Fertilizer is applied by hand ( as are pesticides). A large irrigation canal runs alongside the narrow road and there are many times that a passing truck comes close to forcing the moto-taxi into the ditch, which would pretty well mess up my day. There are also passing donkey carts, which are much more courteous. We pass under the new Pan Am Hwy, which is just like any US Interstate, except for all the people walking along the sides. After that the road gets REALLY rough – teeth chattering rough. I can almost feel every bolt on the moto loosening as we go. The route home is a long walk – usually down the beach to Santa Barbara, the closest place with combi service to San Luis. A large and once magnificent church lies crumbling and tumbling down with each successive earthquake. Many of the beach folk have moved inland to San Luis. Only the poorest live next to the ocean – the exact reverse of the US and most anywhere else.

So, that’s all the news from a VERY productive and TIRING week in San Luis Opisbo de Tolosa de Canete, Peru, my new home town. Where all the men work hard, all the women are short, and all the children watch TV and play games on the internet.

Diving In the Deep End

Finished  ditch for the biodigester - and tired arms

These sweet piggys provide fuel for the biodigester

First complete "losa" top for a Cocina Mejorada

Body of an improved cook stove complete and ready for top

Typical open fire - inside the house

After a security hold in Lima last week due to the strike in Canete, it was jumping back into the deep end of the work pool. Monday, we finished forming and pouring concrete on the biodigestor tank Forming is with odds and ends of scrap wood, wedged and supported or tied in ingenious ways; screening gravel and mixing is all done by hand in the wheelbarrow. When you see the size of the digestor tank, you’ll know how much my arms and back enjoyed the experience. . Cut and installed plastic tubing on the rebar hoops. We also moved materials by wheelbarrow over some extreme rocky roads (so rough, the delivery truck wouldn’t go there) to the two cocinas (improved cook-stoves) sites on micro dairy farms along the beach. Everything is so much harder than it would be in the US, with well stocked hardware stores and good roads and easy transportation.

Tuesday, we set forms and concrete cast two stove tops. Just finding a level area to cast on was a challenge. One was done on leveled ground and the other on a scrap of plywood. Each top is custom made, sized using the family’s two favorite pots, which sit in the molds overnight and cause quite an inconvenience to them. In the future, I plan to use a sheet metal strip which should avoid that. The design and construction of these stoves has undergone many changes and refinements over time, and I plan to add a few twists of my own. It really is one of the great joys for a McGuyver engineer like me. Gravel had to be hand sifted and the nearest good water source was about ¼ mile away, meaning the mix had to be transported twice. The saving grace was the excitement of the families and being about 200 feet from the shore. Wave breaks and salt air just make work seem easier to me.

That night, I went to my first meeting of a town water committee, in the annex of La Quebrada – the town famous for its annual Cat Festival where they eat cat all weekend. The main topic of discussion was that no one wants to pay their water bill  – a whopping US$1.50/month – until Canete installs the promised and highly anticipated new water and sewer lines. This lack of funds has caused the water committee to shorten hours of water service drastically and there was considerable shouting about the poor service. The beleaguered president just kept repeating that if people would pay, he could run the pump longer (DUH). Nothing got resolved , except that the president agreed to check (again) with the town to see when the new system is coming, since construction was supposed to start in October. There are currently no meters or connection valves, so the only way to stop service to the non-payers is to dig up their water line and literally cut it, which is not likely to happen. Any body got any good ideas ??

Wednesday, did two more tops and transported more building block materials to sites and cut plastic and styrofoam insulation for the digestor, so group installation would go smoothly (which it did).
The living condition on these farms is tough. Houses are mostly adobe block, with wood and mud flat roofs, with very few (if any) windows. Most floors are dirt and very lumpy, as the beach rocks seem to work to the surface. Doors are usually just a piece of cloth. There is no running water or sewer. Most houses do have pirated electricity, which is generally used to run a TV ( gotta have priorities). Beds are often just blankets on a raised platform, incredibly dirty and flies are everywhere, as farm animals often get into the house. Cooking is done inside over an open fire, so the walls and ceiling are sooty. This is the reason the improved cook stoves are so needed – they vent the smoke to the outside, as well as reduce the amount of fuel needed. They also eliminate back problems from cooking at ground level to cooking on a waist high surface. Young kids play all around the farmyard, putting whatever in their mouths , drinking saline water that is totally untreated and breathing the equivalent of 12 packs of cigarettes a day. This is in an area 2 miles from where I live in relative luxury – with water (albeit only cold) 24/7, electricity (my family has two flat screen TV’s, a computer, but no fridge) and sewer (even if I have to sit to pee).

Thursday was showtime for the biodigestor. My fellow Peru 18ers Katy, Meredith and Will showed up in force, joined by Dan and the three tech people from the seller’s firm. We got the trench lined with two layers of plastic and 1” Styrofoam insulation and then rolled out the big plastic sausage (5.5 ft diameter x 30 ft long) on a tarp and proceeded to inflate it. This involved plugging the output, drainage and gas taps and attaching another big plastic sleeve to the input tube. Then we caught the sea-breeze to fill the sleeve, quickly closed it and squeezed the air into the sausage. Process was repeated several times until the monster was inflated. After coaxing it into the ditch, the real fun began. We made about 250 gallons of “pig shit soup”, wherein pig pen droppings are broken up into bite-size bits in a slurry and salted to taste. The elixir is then poured into the input tube to begin the anaerobic digestion process that will produce a liquid fertilizer (pig shit is NOT usable as fertilizer) and methane gas for cooking. The final touch was the installation of our custom made hoops to support a greenhouse type cover, which will add heat and protect the bio-digester. Many of the other local farmers stopped by to see the project, and if this pilot unit works as advertised, there may be many more in the area, lowering pollution from pig shit, providing “free” fertilizer and cooking gas. I also gave my compatriots a tour of the eco-bano situation and showed off my custom cook stove tops. The family treated us all to a really fine lunch, the van back to town actually showed up on time, so Will had time to catch a few waves. All in all, an outstanding day.

Maybe I should explain the eco-banos a bit. They are also known as composting toilets. The liquid urine is separated from the solids in a two part toilet bowl. In the Peace Corps design, the pee is stored in a plastic drum until it is diluted with water and used as fertilizer. The British NGO who built the 240 beach units chose to just drain the pee into the ground, which is probably just as well, given the awkward logistics and maintenance of the pee storage. After each use, a handful of ash is thrown in to the accumulating poo pile below. After a few months, the access door below is opened and the pile turns into a beautiful, fluffy, nutrient rich soil amendment. We removed a load from one of the banos and can confirm this.

Problem is that the Brits used cheap metal hinges on the doors and bolts to hold the access door, which quickly rusted solid in the salt air. In addition, urine seems to combine with the ash to form a crystalline plug in the urine tube, which they neatly cast into the concrete slab (why does no one ever consider the poor maintenance man?). My project plan for this is to survey all 240 units, determine why each is not being used, devise fixes, train locals to do the fixes and re-educate about how to use the things. The banos are extremely well built and it seems an absolute shame to waste them. I figure every one rehabbed is like building a new one. (see photos on my FB page)

Another interesting note from the beach area, is the profusion of 20x20ft USAID shelters, which were built as “temporary” housing after the big quake in 2007. These are just frames with woven plastic coverings, but they have held up REALLY well, even in the roasting sun. So well, that few folks have bothered to rebuild adobe houses. Kind of nice to see that USAID logo all around. They give folks here a constant reminder that Americans don’t always show up with guns and drones.

The improved cook stoves are a popular Peace Corps project. Most folks outside of town cook on an open fire trench inside the house. Not only does this provide the equivalent of 12 packs a day of smoke particulates to every family member, it coats the ceiling with soot and grease. If a flame ever makes it to that ceiling, it would combust instantly. In addition, huge amounts of heat are wasted, as the fire burns outside of the pot bottom and the cook has to work bent over.
The German design that we are using (see photos on my FB page) uses a small, closed burn chamber with grate to burn wood (or corn stalks or yucca stalks) very efficiently. The heat then flows past two pots, which are set into custom sized holes in the chamber top (thus the custom nature of each unit) and out a sheet metal chimney stack. The result is that the family can use less than ½ the fuel, with virtually no smoke or soot, at a comfortable working level. After learning the craft, my project plan is to train local masons, who will be able to build the units for about US$40 each.


You may notice that, while I will be doing some of the work, my main goal is to set up a system that will continue to operate after I’m gone. Peace Corps policy (with which I completely agree) is SUSTAINABILTY. It’s the old “Feed a man a fish or teach him to fish” paradigm.

Friday was a “light” day, hauling wheel-barrows full of building supplies to the various construction sites along the beach and suspending a tarp over my room to give some shade to relieve the afternoon (totally un-insulated) ceiling heat in my room. Another fine example of McGuyver field engineering, if I do say so.


Saturday, I made the 3 hour bus trip to attend the monthly regional PC meeting. It was great to see  my homies from Peru 18 training and enjoy some outstanding chicharones (roast pork) and say Adios to the departing volunteers.

There is a speech in the remake of Fame that goes something like : “Success is not about power or money or fame. It’s about waking up every morning so excited about the day that you fly out the door. And going to bed every night, knowing you did the best you could and that you maybe helped some people and made the world a better place.” Just about how I feel. Every day.

Hiccup in First Week

My work station is up and running

The bed is small and simple - 3" foam mattress

A hanging closet

This metal panel reflects the WiFi signal for computer

File this last week under “interesting”. It started out well, settling in on Monday and doing some final form, grading and concrete work on the biodigestor at the beach on Tuesday. It’s nice using the eco-toilet on site after doing repairs on it a few weeks ago. In fact, that’s something I’ve always enjoyed about maintenance/repair work – I get a little victory dance when the job is done and again (and again) every time I pass by a repair. It looks like an outhouse, but there is no funky/pissy odor, just the faint fragrance of kerosene.

Wednesday, I went in to Lima for a dental appointment, which took all of 15 minutes, but when I got back to the bus terminal, I discovered that all service south had been suspended, being as the Pan American had been blocked by protestors. So, I returned to Peace Corps offices to wait. And wait. And wait some more. Finally Security said to stay in Lima for the night. So, I enjoyed a night of hot water in the very nice area of Lima called Monterico. This area is a little like the other area where the rich folk live in Miraflores, except it is more like suburbia, with a car or two in every garage – lots of SUV’s, BMWs, Mercedes and Volvos. I also visited the huge shopping mall called Jockey Plaza. The place was like a time/space warp back to the states, with Ace hardware, Izod, Gucci, etc well represented, along with Subway, Pizza Hut, Longhorn steakhouse and (gasp) TGIFriday.

I spent the next day back at the Center, enjoying HIV presentations (it was World AIDS Day) and watching the Peru 16 Environmental crew present on their accomplishments over the last year. I was also able to pick up my new Official PC vest, water test kit and some mail. The 16ers led me to a sweet “menu” spot for lunch and I had a wonderful afternoon chat with Kathleen Hickey, our training leader and one of the kindest, caring and thoughtful ladies on this planet. She grew up in Peru, so her insights are precious.

But the strike “wore on”, as Elwood Dowd would say. In fact, it got worse. The protestors had originally just blocked the road with big rocks and old cars. But at some point, they started throwing rocks at the parked busses and the police, which neither appreciated. One man was wounded, which only escalated the violence. Many were clubbed and pepper-sprayed. Tires on some of parked cars were set on fire, which in turned caused gas tanks to explode, creating a scene of considerable chaos.

The next day , I visited the Callao area of Lima, near the port. Always a high for me to smell salt air and see boats. I toured the Naval Museum and walked through a WWII style diesel submarine. Unlike the nuclear ships, which can remain submerged virtually indefinitely, these subs basically were surface ships, which could submerge for only a few hours. While I was having such a pleasant afternoon, two protestors were killed by the police and a power transformer was destroyed, which left most of San Luis in the dark. Just as well I wasn’t there.

The main point of the protest was to stop the construction of a new prison in the Canete area. The folks around here are simply not interested in the construction and guard jobs it would create, nor in housing or feeding the prison visitors. They do not want “outsiders” coming in and want to keep their little town just the way it is. Secondarily, they wanted the national government to end a boundary dispute with the adjacent district of Chincha. Over 250 years ago, Chincha ceded a strip of land to Canete, on which now sits a new natural gas depot/plant. Chincha wants the land – or more accurately the taxes on the plant – back. Lastly, the good folk of Canete wanted the provincial capital moved from some smaller town at the north end of the province to the larger Canete.

They called the action a “strike”, but it was not really a work stoppage, but a traffic stoppage. This seems to be the preferred form of protest here. It is most always done on the Pan American, which is the ONLY north-south route along the coast. When the Pan Am was blocked in Canete, ALL transportation to the ENTIRE south half of Peru, Chile and Bolivia was halted, inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of folks and hurting the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. It seems an illogical form of protest to me, but it works for Peruvians. In fact, on Saturday, the government cancelled the prison project and said it would “investigate” the boundary issue. This satisfied the protestors (many of whom were said to be outside agitators) and everyone went home and the policia and highway authorities cleaned up the mess. There was a mountain of backlogged freight packages and boxes to clear, not to mentioned the crowd of waiting passengers, so I came home Sunday AM, in total tranquility.

A New Beginning - Waking Up Excited

The Municipal building in San Luis - my new home

The last two weeks of Peace Corps training have flown by – a combination of anticipating the marvelous adventure ahead and enjoying last few days together with all of Peru 18. Graduation was yesterday. The Ambassador came with full security entourage and we all promised to defend the Constitution, etc. We are fielding a strong team here in Peru. The staff have done an extraordinary job of preparing us for the challenges ahead and given us the tools to serve the people of Peru. Lost 2 vols in training, but the rest are fit and very much ready for duty. We are ready for them, but are they ready for us ?

Thanksgiving : I was sad to miss the annual Fete Extraordinaire at sister Robin’s, but there was MUCH joy and gratitude to be found right here in Santa Eulalia. I am truly grateful to be so alive and able to enjoy this adventure of service. Grateful to my beautiful host family – Jaime and Deri are a model of a beautiful marriage/friendship/team. They have housed me, fed me, coached my Spanish, made me comfortable. But most of all, have been dear and special friends. I will miss them, but take comfort that they are only 4 hours away.

WATSAN 18   Swearing In

The Master of Ceremony in me has yet to fade, as I presided over our presentation of Thanks to all of the wonderful Peace Corps staff who have nurtured Peru 18 through training – the language facilitators, who were more than teachers and guided us on various field expeditions and showed us Peruvian culture and tradition with dances and songs and food. They are real angles, every one. Our Tech Trainers, Mira and Vero gave us the tools we’ll use in the field to improve many aspects of water treatment and sanitation solutions. The directors of training, Luis and dear Katalina, who protected and guided us and were ALWAYS there for us. The gate guards also got our thanks, as did Don Filipe the groundskeeper whose heart and spirit are so clearly evident in our beautiful gardens. They all gave so much to us and in turn to their fellow Peruvians who we will be assisting.

I’ve just completed the move to San Luis. Will Jensen (surfer form Hawaii) and I taxied in to Lima and caught the Soyuz Bus down to Canete. I’m always amazed how much I learn every time I come down the Pan-Am. A huge oil refinery is under construction – said to be one of the largest in S America. This will allow Peru to refine all it’s own oil, instead of sending it out and supposedly will bring down the price of gas here – currently about US$5/gal. A quick trip to San Vicente scored electrical wire, fittings and new pillows. Some splicing, serious cleaning and electrical tape later, my room was pretty livable. More improvements must await next month’s meager PC allowance. I’m doing my best to live within the allowance, but grateful that I have US reserves to call upon, if needed.

Lots of minor repairs around the house. Again, maintenance and repair are not very popular around here – just use it until it falls apart and get a new one. Very glad I brought some of my tools, they’ve really come in handy. New house has a washer right out of pioneer days. You pull and push a handle which agitates the wash and then use a hand crank wringer – a big step up from the straight scrub and hand-wring process I’ve been using.

The hardest part of my living situation is the three small kids. They are home all the time on weekends and their parents give them zero attention or supervision. So, they want to hang on me and explore all my stuff all the time. I’m happy to give them some attention, but did not sign up for babysitting service. Thankfully, the week is coming and I’ll get some quiet time. On the other hand, I’m really dreading “summer vacation” (3 months) which starts at Christmas.

Other than that, I feel quite at home in San Luis de Tolosa de Canete, my new home town. I’ve walked most of the streets and met some good folk. They are very willing to converse and suffer through my less-than-perfect Spanish (called Castellano here). While I didn’t see many blacks in San Vicente during our earlier site visit, they are very much in evidence in San Luis. As in the US, they were brought over from Africa as slaves to work the cotton and sugar cane plantations. African dance and rhythm has become very much a part of the culture here and there is a huge annual festival in San Vicente to celebrate it.

I had a nice combi ride with the dentist at the local health post, who was on his way to play in a band. Combis are mini-vans that shuttle up and down the Pan-Am. They usually wait until they have a near full load before heading out. You can carry just about anything (within reason) on a combi and they often fill to standing room. They are an extraordinarily efficient form of transport and in some ways, much more convenient than a personal car (go ahead and GASP, Americans), in that you never have to find a parking spot or wash your car. The other alternative here is the moto-taxi ( motorcycle converted into a rickshaw like vehicle). They will haul ANYTHING from people to mattresses, 55 gallon drums, rebar, stoves to a huge stack of brick. Very very taxis around here compared to Santa Eulalia. And then, people walk A LOT. I don’t see many bikes, but hope to get one very soon from the Corps, as some of my work sites are not accessible from combi routes.

We had a power outage last night, only the second I’ve seen here (earthquakes seem more common). With all the lights out, the stars were amazingly bright. The main source of auxiliary light seems to be the ubiquitous cell phone. Everyone on the street used them for light whenever there were no headlights available. I’m truly amazed that they don’t have more power problems, given the haphazard (hazard being the operative part) wiring system. Sometimes service wires from the street will cross over another house.  Wire nuts are unheard of and the electrical tape is more like black Scotch tape. Most homes have a “fuse box” with just one 30 amp (or even 60 amp) circuit breaker for the whole house. There is usually only one outlet per room, from which extends an endless cascade of extension cords. Only saving grace from rampant fire is the all adobe/brick construction. 

Jason, the current volunteer in site, will be back from Lima tomorrow, so I can start in on some of the following projects: finish 1^st bio-digester and find site for 2^nd and install and train local talent, re-plant trees with something that doesn’t need much water, like all the fichus that died per the mayor’s request – planning to work with high school kids on that, complete my mandatory community diagnostic, get that new water system working out in the campo and train local water committee in maintenance, survey all 240 eco-latrine users on the beach and find out why, after only 11 months, most are not in use, establish a tsunami warning program for low lying beach areas, continue working with high schoolers on the tree/plant nursery, compost and worm farm, do some HIV/sex education with the health post – just for starters. One of the questions asked at graduation was “How do you know that Peace Corps service in Peru is right for you at this time?”. My response : “Because I wake up every morning excited to begin the day.”

El Condor Pasa

Living in Peru, I hear this tune often.  But most Peruvians don’t know the lyric. So, I decided to do a little research, as is my way. Americans know the tune from Simon & Garfunkel “If I could, I surely would”. But the original version is in the Quechua (ancient Inca) language and is basically a prayer for freedom from the cruel treatment of the Spanish mine owners. The Spanish lyrics are a little different, according to my translation. All appear below, as well as YouTube links to the Spanish and S&G versions. As you can see, Quechua is NOT an easy language and uses LONG compound words. But, in any language, the tune – especially when played on pipe flute – is hauntingly beautiful and captivating.
 (Quechua)
Yau kuntur llaqtay orgopy tiyaq
Maymantam gawamuhuakchianqui, kuntur kuntur
Apayllahuay llaqtanchikman, wasinchikman chay chiri orgupy,
Kutiytam munany kuntur kuntur.

fuga:
Kuzco llaqtapyn plazachallampyn suyaykamullaway,
Machupicchupy Huaynapicchupy purikunanchiqpaq.


English translation of Quechua – not mine

Oh mighty Condor owner of the skies, take me home, up into the Andes
Oh mighty Condor.
I want go back to my native place to be with my Inca brothers,
that is what I miss the most, Oh mighty Condor.

fuga:
Wait for me in Cusco, in the main plaza,
so we can take a walk in Machupicchu and Huayna-picchu.

 Modern Spanish version 
El condor de los andes despertocon la luz de un feliz amaneser 
sus alas lentamente despegoy bajo al rio azul para beber.
 tras el la tierra se cubriode verdos, de amor, y paztras el el prado floresio y el sol broto en el trigal 

el condor al pasar me dijo a misigeme mas aya y tu veras
 en la espalda del condor me sentey a volar cada vez mas el cielo 
alcansar 

mirar mirar hacia la tierratan distinto 
de lo que vifronteras no se pueden vertodo el mundo desde hayes lo que vi 

el condor de los andes desendioal llegar un feliz amaneser el condor al igual 
se despertorepitio su sobre l rebañotodos iguales

 tras el la tierra se cubriode verdor, de amor y paztras el el prado floresio y el sol broto en el trigal  


English translation of modern Spanish – with my apologies

The  condor of the Andes awoke
with the light of a joyous sunrise

The condor slowly took off his wings
and dove in the river to drink blue water

after the land was covered
in truth, love and peace
the meadow flowered and the sun broke out in the cornfield

The passing condor said to me
Fly with me  and you will see more

I rode on the back of the condor and we flew in
 the sky ever higher

look look to the land
so different from what I had seen before

borders can not be seen
around the world
that  is what I saw

The condor of the Andes descended
to reach a happy sunset

the condor as he awoke
repeated his flight
all was the same

after the land was covered in
greenery, peace and love
 the meadow flowered
and the sun broke out in the cornfield

Legend of Santa Goyo

We studied Peruvian legends in class today. I couldn't resist writing my own legend. The English translation follows:

A long time ago, a strange dog came to Peru. He stood tall on two legs and had hair of silver. He was known in other lands as Santo Goyo, friend and liberator of all dogs. He saw the dogs of Peru were held prisoner on the roof. He proclaimed in a single mighty bark, that they should all be free to run and roll in the grass and chase small animals. The dogs all came down from the roofs. The moment their feet touched the earth, Santa Yessica appeared in the sky and caused a great rain of bones of gold. There was much barking, butt sniffing and other dog celebrations in the streets of Peru.

After a time, Santo Goyo moved on to other countries and another dog appeared. His name was “Butch”, the devil dog, with hair black as the night and long, sharp teeth. He ordered that the dogs return to the roofs, where they remain to this day. But, the dogs all know in their hearts that one day Santo Goyo will return and set them free once again. As you walk the streets of Peru, the dogs will come to the edge of the roof and bark. If you listen carefully, you will hear them say “ Viva Freedom. Viva Bones”Viva El Goyo".


This is how I wrote it for Spanish class:

La Leyenda de "Santo Goyo"

Hace mucho tiempo, un perro extraño llegó al Perú. Él era alto en dos piernas y tenía el pelo de plata. Él era conocido en otros países como Santo Goyo, amigo y liberador de todos los perros. Él vio a los perros del Perú fueron hechos prisioneros en el techo. Proclamó en un ladrido único y poderoso, que todos ellos deben ser libres para correr y rodar en el pasto y caza de pequeños animales. Los perros todos descendió del los tejados. En el momento en sus pies tocaron la tierra, Santa Yessica apareció en el cielo y causó una gran lluvia de huesos de oro. Había mucho ladrar, oliendo a culo y otras celebraciones de perros en las calles de Perú.

Después de un tiempo, Santo Goyo pasó a otros países y apareció otro perro. Su nombre era "Butch", el perro del diablo, con el pelo negro como la noche y los dientes largos y afilados. Ordenó que los perros regresar a los tejados, donde permanecen hasta nuestros días. Sin embargo, todos los perros saben en sus corazones que un día Santo Goyo volverá y liberarlos una vez más. Mientras caminas por las calles de Perú, los perros llegan al borde del techo y la corteza. Si usted escucha con cuidado, se les oye decir: "¡ Viva la Libertad. Viva los huesos. Viva El Goyo”

++++++++++++++++

Tippy Taps

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – exclusive to Cuerpo de Paz Peru Santa Eulalia – 03 October 2011

by Greg Plimpton on Monday, October 3, 2011 at 8:00pm ·

ANNOUNCING : The New and Improved “Tippy-Tap”

The WATSAN tribe of Peru 18 is pleased to announce two improvements to the brilliant and innovative “Tippy-Tap” hand-washing device, pioneered by our WATSAN predecessors. The improvements eliminate the possible loss of the convenient soap holder and allow for height adjustment to accommodate users of various heights. Best of all, the 18er modifications add value without ANY additional cost or materials, providing more “bang for the Sol”.

The first TTM (PC for Tippy-Tap Modification) comes from David Witte and involves simply making a hole in the soap holder and passing the string hanger through it. Thus, eliminating the possibility of misplacing the holder while filling the reservoir. Credit for the second TTM goes to Teddy Shriver (yes, that Shriver). It involves tying two (or more) simple overhand knots in the hanging string, allowing the Tippy-Tap to be adjusted to various heights from a single hanging point.

No longer will Tippy Tap aficionados suffer the shameful embarrassment of soap-holder loss. The vertically challenged can now enjoy a hand-washing without soap and water running down their arms. Tall users will appreciate the relief from back stress due to a low down Tippy Tap.

A WATSAN 18 spokesperson commented,  “Clearly, we stand on the shoulders of previous WATSAN giants. They were and are pioneers, who have blazed a trail for us to follow. They set the bar pretty high, and we aim to set it even higher.”

Hello, San Luis. Glad to meet you

San Luis de Canete - My new home town for 2 years. It was love at first sight !!

Working on my first project with Jason - a biodigester

WATSAN 18 practices cleaning a water system

The last two weeks have been intense to say the very least. We’ve been away from the training center for about two weeks. The first week was field based training near Ica. We saw eco-toilet (composting toilet) construction. The eco-bano separates solids (poo) from liquids (pee) and allows both to be used for fertilizer. I got to unload compost from a toilet at my site on the beach near Canete and can attest to it being a beautiful dry fluffy texture with no foul odor at all. Next we visited a pour flush toilet south of Ica. This is basically a primitive septic tank system, but serves very well, especially since that area will likely get a sewer system in the next few years. We saw a municipal well system that is drying up, due to huge grape vineyards in the area, which are sucking all the water out of the local aquifer. There are government regulations against this, but (as elsewhere) big business gets its way over the people of the town. The locals have started to protest – there was a huge and angry demonstration at the town hall – but hopefully it is not too late already. We did some talks in schools on the various methods of water purification – boiling, chlorinating and solar (aka SODIS). The later uses UV from the sun to purify water in a minimum of 6 hours. So many people get diarrhea from bacteria and parasites, it is amazing that more systems don’t chlorinate. But many of the older folks seem to build an immunity to the bugs and don’t feel the need to purify. And they say the kids will get used to it. A little education is certainly in order here.

Had my second rip-roaring bout of “bicycleta” (aka diarrhea and vomit) at the hotel in Ica. My fellows were quite sure that I would not survive the night. But, I seem to get through it quickly (4-6 hours of Hell)– better than the drawn-out milder 2 day version that most seem to suffer. The next day we met our “socios” or community partners. Mine are a nice nurse from the Health Post and the Town Manager, Jimmy. It’s great that they have already worked with my predecessor, Jason and have lots ideas and projects in the works.

We all returned to San Luis de Canete, where I met the mayor, town engineer and others at the health post. I also got to weigh myself for the first time since leaving the states and found I’m down 10lbs to 192. I met my new host family (though I may have to change). The grandfather Fernando is 56 and a mason, who works from 6am to 8pm. His daughter, son-in-law and 3 kids live with him, in the nicer upstairs part of the house. There is a full bath upstairs, but downstairs is a toilet in a VERY small area under the stairs – so small that I have to sit down to pee and even then, hit my head on the stairs. The shower is in another room by the back yard. The usual cold water only is fine, but the dirt floor is not. I can’t complain much, as some of the Peru 18ers in the mountains don’t even have inside plumbing.

No one in the house is a competent cook, but there are a dozen great little restaurants on our street. There are two “pollo cilindros” or smoked chicken places, which are outstanding. Also, lots of fish in the area (2 km from the beach). There is also a lady who makes fried egg sandwiches and FRESH SQUEEZED orange juice (2 eggers + juice = US$ 1.15). Another place near the market makes only ceviche, which is world class stuff. Tons of fresh veggies in the market and much better bread than we get here in Santa Eulalia. Also the cilantro is zesty – like in Mexico and plenty of local cows make for fresh cheese and yogurt. Surprisingly, very few potatoes – they use yucca instead, which when fried beats any French fry on the planet. I had a filete de dorado (mahi-mahi) that is memorable, with a huge serving of Peruvian coleslaw.

I spent two days with Jason, digging out a pit for a new bio-digester about 100 yards from the beach on a pig/cow/sheep/goat farm. The digestor will take all the manure and produce a nitrogen-rich liquid fertilizer (for their vegetable farm) and enough gas for the family to cook and boil water with. We also repaired the eco-bano at the farm, which had its urine tube plugged with urine crystals and ash and unloaded the composted side of the toilet, which also yielded some great fertilizer/soil conditioner. We also visited a nearby “improved cook stove” (cocina mejorar), which replaced an open fire on the ground, inside the house – less smoke, fewer back problems and less fuel needed. They don’t have any trees nearby, so they use dried corn stalks and stalks from the yucca plants as fuel. I’ll likely build a few more of these and train the local brick masons in construction methods. I also hope to do a study of the 240 (built by an NGO) eco-banos in the areas to see why so few are in use after only one year in service and train locals to diagnose the common problems, as well as re-educate folks on the use of eco-banos. I will also install at least one more bio-digester – assuming the first one proves workable. I have another project to replant trees along the town streets near the plaza, as the fichus trees they planted did not survive. And then there is the big new water system that I have to get started with the town engineer. Jason has started a tree nursery and worm farm/compost project that I’ll need to continue.

I’ll definitely be getting a bike for transportation, as all my projects are within a 10km radius, the area is pretty flat and there is no public transportation in some directions. Luckily, San Luis is on the Pan American Hwy, so access to Canete, Ica and Lima is easy. There is something quite empowering about flagging down a huge bus and having it stop just for me. All in all, I love my site and have TONS of projects and ideas already in hand. We’ll see how the living situation plays out.

The last day of my trip was spent in the seaside resort of Cerro Azul, about 10 miles north of my site. All the 36 PC volunteers from the Lima/Ica/Nazca region met for their monthly gathering to share info and visit/party. My friend Will – a surfer from Hawaii, who lives about 10 miles from me – wasted no time in finding a board and catching some sweet waves in the bay. I settled for some body surfing, which was just fine. We all stuffed ourselves that night on ceviche and fried sole. As the only early riser the next morning, I was treated to some fresh-off-the-rocks oysters (small, but tasty) and watched the local fishermen unload their nets on the beach.

I’m REALLY excited about my service post and upcoming 2 years in San Luis (the full town name is San Luis de Tolusa de Canete). I hope to make some lasting positive changes on the area – and vice-versa.

Training Rolls On

Measuring garbage in Imperial

Well, it has been another (NOT) quiet week here in Santa Eulalia, my hometown (until Nov 26^th). The Watsan (water & sanitation) crew practiced all sorts of construction techniques, from concrete slabs to adobe walls to chlorination drip systems. We travelled back to Niveria, scene of our earlier handwashing demonstrations, to clean and disinfect a water storage tank high on a hill above the town. The views of the town were spectacular – the whole area is covered with brick-making facilities. In places, they have excavated down hundreds of feet to harvest the clay. I shudder to think what will happen when the next El Nino dumps rain on this usually arid zone. The smell of chlorine and goodwill filled the air.

Our instructor happened to be Jason, the current volunteer in Canete. It was a wonderful opportunity for me and Will Jensen to learn all about Jason’s work over the last two years and get a good idea of the living conditions and challenges ahead. One future project will be to get a brand new water treatment plant up and running, which will serve over 100 families. An NGO came in and built the facility, but failed to train anyone in its operation. There are also unfinished projects involving compost, worm farms, septic solutions, trash management and tsunami warnings.

We got a good idea of the need for a tsunami warning system on Friday, when a 6.8 quake rocked the Canete area for about 45 seconds. We felt it all the way up here in Santa Eulalia, about 90 miles away – more of a sway than a shake. The center was just offshore Canete, but there was no tsunami wave and only minimal damage. However, it brought back bad memories for many of the huge 8.1 quake back in 2007. That shake caused serious damage and loss of life. The South American and Pacific plates interface all along the Peruvian coast and there are frequent quakes. Better that we have many small slips than another big one like ’07.

Another highlight of the week was a trip to the Peace Corps Peru HQ in Lima, located about 7 blocks from the HUGE US Embassy. The “Palace” is a magnificent walled fortress, with lots of security in force. I hoped to visit John Cardenas (Princeton ’89) with USAID there, but the schedule did not permit. The PCHQ is a pleasant campus style facility, with full medical and research resources. We met many of the staff, but most importantly, learned our 2 year mission posts. Will Jensen and I will be headed to Canete, just north of where we had our Field Based Trainings the week before. (see prior Blog). We stayed in San Vincente de Canete, but we will be posted to San Luis de Canete and Quilmana, about 9 miles away. Will is from Hawaii and is especially pleased to be posted near the waves. I’m even more excited about the post, now that I know more about the lifestyle and current potential service projects there. Six Watsaners “The Half  Dirty Dozen” will be returning to Canete and Ica next week for more field trainings and visits to our future sites. I’m finding it a little hard to keep my head in the game here, when my mind is already half way to Canete and its verdant fields, orchards and people.

Next week will also see a special and highly-anticipated hamburger lunch as well as creation of our own unique line of PC clothing, which will be produced at a local shop right here in Santa Eulalia. For the rest of the weekend – lots of reading, writing and, of course, hand-washing of my clothes, which I’m surprised to find is LESS time-consuming and MORE satisfying than using a machine and dryer.

See FB album “Peru” for more photos:  

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2311898848958.121881.1593993286&type=1&l=11b63b7701