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