Exploring

The ruins near San Pedro

Metropolitan Downtown San Pedro

The week began with a 6 hour ride on my new and beloved bike, exploring the less traveled roadways and cart paths of San Luis. First stop was an annex called San Pedro, an isolated village of about 15 families, about ¼ mile off the nearest (dirt) road.  I ran into a kid (son of the lady who sells me WiFi signal) from my street in town, who was out playing with some of his friends. After several minutes of ogling my ride, I got a tour of “town”, which was surprising clean and well ordered. “CARE” built eco-banos there. Unfortunately, they built them backing up to an irrigation canal. Rather than use them as composting toilets, several folks just pulled of the access doors and let the excrement fall directly into the canal. Not much hope of rehabbing these units, as the back sides can only be accessed from the canal, which is about 10 ft below. I might be able to do something with their water system, which is a common well with pump.

Then, out to the beach at Santa Barbara and down through Las Palmas, Santa Cruz and Villa Hermosa. In Palmas, I came across a group who were roofing a small house and stopped to talk and observe. 6” diameter bamboo is used as structural beams, set unto notches in the adobe walls. These are covered by split-bamboo, which flattens into very nice 12-18” wide strips. From the inside, the result is beautiful, especially when varnished. Usually, I’ve seen rice sacks or paper sacks laid on top of the split-bamboo, but these guys were using a 1” thick fiber mat, which they say will act as insulation. The mat was wire-tied at intervals to the beams and split-bamboo. The edges and top are then covered in 2-3 inches of adobe mud, creating a finished roof, which serves well in this area of ZERO rainfall (Actually, the official weather stats report 3mm (0.1”) rainfall annually for the area).

A rode a short stretch on the beach, which was only ride-able right at the ocean’s edge, unlike the beloved hard-pack at Daytona, FL. I had the shore to myself – nothing in sight but sand, waves, birds and some brilliant red sand crabs. And trash. Tons of debris collects at the high water mark – some organics, but mostly plastic, Styrofoam and flip-flop bottoms. I still can’t get over the enormous volume of the footwear flotsam. I read somewhere about a group that cut them into strips and made touristy somethings out of them. Gotta check out that possibility – PLENTY of raw material. Or maybe grind them up and mix with adobe roofs for insulation (maybe even use the friggin’ Styrofoam, too) – good research project for a “rainy” day.

Veering back inland, past fields of the beautiful asparagus,  which thrives in the salty environment, and groves of mango, I came upon a most unexpected find – a completed, but never used, sewage treatment facility.

The nearby ancient ruins provided a diversion in a completely different direction. The old ones obviously liked the high ground, as all the structures are atop small hills – not sure if the hills were natural or man-made. Some 5ft doorways entered into collapsed rooms, but the structural adobe is made of huge blocks of much higher quality than current adobe. What did these folks know that has been forgotten ?

The final leg back to town took me through a beautiful “fondo” or large plantation, of citrus, mango and asparagus. The HQ was well built and perfectly maintained. It was also well protected, with high adobe walls, spiny huarango and armed guards. The roads were lined with tall, old pine, which cast a carpet of needles, softening the road and quieting the bicycle wheels – as if in reverence for the antiquity and grace of the place. I’m guessing this was one of the original large land owners, who has continued a long and proud tradition of excellence.

Monday was “flammability testing day” at the biodigester. Jason, who is now officially retired from Peace Corps, but is kindly still helping out, rode with me out to Don Oscar. We inflated plastic bags with gas from the beast and lit them off. The product is not explosive, but burns well, with a nice blue-ish flame. The remainder of the gas line plumbing was completed and the large (2m x 1m diam) gas storage bladder started to fill. The family fed us a huge lunch and, as usual, I disappointed them by not finishing. I did, however, delight two little puppies.  The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting with the families who will be recipients of the final 6 “cocinas mejoradas” (improved cook stoves) in Don Oscar and Vista Alegre.

Monday night saw the start of the celebrations for the anniversary of San Luis – officially founded on 12 January 1871. But why not start the celebration 3 days early and carry it on through to the weekend? The plaza is set up like a carnival, with kiddie rides and Foosball parlors (now we know what happened to all those foosball tables when the US fad was over), street venders of all sorts and a bandstand, featuring some OK bands and some awful bands. I went and wandered for awhile, but turned in around 10pm, only to discover that things only get started at MIDNIGHT. Why folks would think that midnight is a great time to have a parade escapes me. But, they do. And did. A very LOUD parade, I might add. And did I mention the fireworks? Well, not really fireworks, just the horrific home-made bombs that go BANG. These things make M-80’s sound tame. They take a section of bamboo, fill it with black powder and light the fuse. The strength of the bamboo creates quite a bang. After Bang, after bang, after….you get the idea.

Tuesday was off early on bike to San Pedro, where I interviewed 7 homes (about half the families) and inspected the eco-banos there. It used to be a workers camp for the “fondo” of Don Augustine, who grew marigolds, which are fed to chickens to improve meat and egg yolk color. The processing plant suffered major damage in the 2007 earthquake and the Don (or his descendants) switched to growing tangerines and mangos. Relics of the old plant, like two huge ventilation turbines and a derelict generator , dot the town like surreal modern art. Most older folks still work for Augustine, but the youngsters are moving out. As I suspected earlier, the eco-banos that are still in use have been converted to flush-into-the-canal banos. There is hope for the 7 (of 15) not built on the canal. 5 went out of service when they got full and the other 2 just abandoned.

After another great $1 haircut (this one actually cost 93 cents), I went to the La Quebrada JASS (local water committee) meeting to present options I had found for a chlorine injection pump and finalize plans for the annual disinfection and cleaning of the system later this week. I’m excited that they are going ahead with the pump which will mean a consistent flow of chlorine and safe water for the more than 1,800 folks who drink and wash from this system. The happy ride home was even more so, since it is a long shallow grade and I could run in highest gear and/or coast the whole trip. This was my first long ride at night and my night light served well. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my bike ?

I arrived back in San Luis to find the “anniversary” celebration in full swing. As I got near the stage, the winner of the “Miss San Luis” contest was just being crowned. As she was walking off the stage, someone handed me a bouquet of flowers and said I should present them to her, which sounded fine to me. So, I presented the flowers and congratulated the young lady, whereupon I was informed that I now needed to pay for them. All in all, this was fine and the $1.85 tab was a small price to pay for a smooch from this lovely young lady.

Another good bike day, first out to San Pedro to finish interviews, map and inspect last banos. I also tested their water, which looks just fine. The private water company (Emapa) does a really good job, providing safe water to over 10,000 in the service area. Their monthly fee is a mere $4.60 a month, plus an overage fee, which few have to pay. Still, there are many areas which shun the private service, preferring to have contaminated water, but pay nothing or less than a dollar a month – truly a false economy. A better plan for these areas is to establish a water committee (JASS) to run the system, maintain and chlorinate the water. It is feasible to provide safe water for less than a dollar a month, if private citizens will work together. This is what I’ll be facilitating in the areas of San Luis without Emapa service. But, I digress again.

Next came a rousing 5 mile jaunt up the Pan Am almost to Cerro Azul. Riding next to 60MPH bus traffic can be a rush, but only occasionally. I was searching for, and found, a brick factory to make ceramic water filters. Most everyone out on the beach uses well water, which is not of the best quality. An NGO handed out some ceramic water filters, which is a good solution to provide safe drinking water for these folks. The filter, which looks like a flower pot, is placed in the top of a 5 gal bucket and filters about 1 liter per hour. However, the filters wear out after a year or so, and no one was told how or where to get replacements – typical of NGO hit and run tactics. Anyway, the replacements are available in Lima, but I have this crazy idea to make them locally, which would lower the cost dramatically AND maybe make a local business. (a photo of the filter is in “Peru” FB album. So, I’ve got the clay, the rice husks and now the kiln; just need the form mold, a small hydraulic jack and some colloidal silver and the time to execute the project.

Thurday AM to Don Oscar: The biodigester continues to gas it up. The storage bladder inside the house is about half full and growing. Also did some chlorine tests of the water, which showed zero residual, even though the water source in town looks fine. Must be something rotten in the line between town and beach. I cut some plastic sheets (needed to stop soil salt/moisture from “eating” the adobe) and gave them out to the next cocina mejorada recipients, along with detailed instruction sheets, with diagrams and photos, of the base they must build for me. Those who complete the base first get first cocinas. Just a subtle little prod……..

Then bicycled in the other direction to La Quebrada (Have I mentioned how easy my new bike makes all this travel? – It does.) to disinfect their well and water system. The well is an ancient looking thing, which they say was built by the old Don in the area over 200 years ago, and has been reliably turning out some beautiful water ever since. It is 2 M wide and I climbed down about 20 feet to get to the water level and dose it with chlorine. Then we pumped water up to the tank and will let it sit overnight for good contact killing time.

Set a new personal best time on the return, which is a slight downhill grade. 4km in 6 minutes works out to about 25mph, with seemingly no effort. I swear that bike is magical. I got back to San Luis at the start of YET ANOTHER night of party. I’ve really tried to embrace this week long party concept, but it just doesn’t work for me. It was 1am last night when I tried the “if you can’t beat ‘em (or sleep), join ‘em” plan. Mostly there were a bunch of men drinking beer and ogling the

younger female dancers, while the band played the same riff over and over again. I couldn’t understand a word they were saying (then again, I have a hard time understanding drunken English), but the lewd gestures were plain enough. Peruvian men also seem to get quite “huggy” when drunk. I’m a touchy kind of guy myself, but sweaty, beer stenched men are not my preference.  I soon grew weary of the whole scene, retiring once more to a (yet another) night of lost sleep..

Next day was back in La Quebrada at 7:30 am to work with the JASS in cleaning the big water storage tank. We were warned MANY times during training to expect Peruvians to be late “La Hora Peruana”. This has definitely NOT been my experience so far. These folks were on time and with all the requested cleaning and painting supplies on hand. Even better, they came with a crew of five really good workers, which left me with just supervision and technical duties. We quickly got to work washing and scrubbing the tank walls, sanding and painting the rusted tube and ladder areas, flushing out the dirty water, scrubbing the walls with chlorine solution and finally dosing the filled tank with chlorine. The town loudspeaker system periodically broadcast messages advising the residents that the water was off for cleaning and that when it came back on it would have “alta cloro” and to use it for washing and cleaning, but not drink it until that night. We even had some paint left over, so decided to paint some of the exterior plumbing for good measure. When in doubt “paint it blue”. Everything went like clockwork and the good Peace Corps training and field experience we got really paid off here. We retired to a sweet little lunch of chicken sandwiches, home-made french fries and, of course Inca Kola (which I really don’t care for). In the joy of the moment, it didn’t taste so bad.

This community water committee (JASS) is a great bunch. They work hard for their community and really care. Next step will be to buy a little chlorine injection pump and start regular chlorination of their system. They have been dosing the tank in the summer time, but this requires someone to climb up to the tank and pour the chlorine in, which causes the chlorine level to spike and fluctuate wildly. Some of you loyal readers have pointed out that the use of chlorine itself raises some health safety issues. But, in my opinion, if the level is kept just low enough to kill all the nasties, it far outweighs the disease damage of bacteria and parasites. Other disinfection systems, live UV or ozone would be nice, but chlorine is vastly cheaper. And I do appreciate all comments and questions raised in these blogs.

Some random observations: Most condiments, like mayonnaise, jam, etc, are sold in foil pouches. I really like these, as they allow a long shelf life in an area where lots of folks (me included) don’t have refrigeration. ++ Every combi – the minivan which is the most common mode of transport here - has a driver and a “conductor”. The conductor is usually a younger person, who must be agile, energetic and quick. In adding to constantly hawking the combis destination to attract riders, they help folks and packages on and off the van, collect fares, direct people to seats, alert the driver to stops and serve as safety officer as rear view mirror when the van is full. ++ I’m amazed at the amount of ice cream treats (think Good Humor) consumed here, given their relative high price. Nestle has a pretty good lock on the market, with small locked freezers at the entrance to most small tiendas. In addition, loads of street vendors ride bicycles with mounted coolers, plying the streets and doing a brisk business here in the tropic.