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.