Cocinas in Yauyos

My dear friend and fellow PCV Matt, with "helper"

Will Jensen & Matt during first construction

My PVC site-mate, Will Jensen and I made our way up to Matt’s site in the mountains at Yauyos, an isolated village at 9,000ft. As we traveled up the Canete River valley, the mountains close in and the road narrows to a single lane, precariously hung on the side of the mountains, with NO guard rails. Horns are required at very blind curve – every 5 minutes. Car-sickness bags were well-used. We helped build the first two of 9 Cocinas Mejoradas in town. With great help from Jorge and interest from Erazmo and a flock of local kids, we managed to get to 90% completion. El suerte de Goyo brought 3 days of clear skies in the middle of the rainy season. I thought I was well-known in my town, but EVEYONE in Yauyos calls “Mister Matteo” by name. I was reminded of how tiring work is at altitude – and how spectacular the vistas.

"a river runs through it" - That's Yauyos

The Cerro de Oro protection and development project is shaping up nicely. Francesca, the young archeologist from Stanford, is wonderfully cooperative and is the lynch-pin in this adventure. My buddy Angel is excited and on-board. The plan is to make this a win-win for everybody, including the illegal families living on the Cerro, next to the burial grounds. My friend John (Princeton ’81) at USAID is greasing the wheels to get funding.

We’ll start by moving the “cajon player” bronze statue into a place of honor in town and replacing it with a pre-fab museum building, which will serve as field lab for the archeologists, until enough artifacts are recovered for the museum. Sturdy steel gates will block truck access to the Cerro and hopefully stop the armed gangs of looters. In addition, we’ll give several of the Cerro residents small solar systems that will charge big flashlights and cell phones. They will serve as “Guardians”, increasing security for the Cerro and themselves. Eco-banos at the dig site and museum will provide sanitary relief for the workers and visitors. Informative paths will guide visitors to all sites of interest on the Cerro. Local guides will be trained in history, courtesy and safety. Local billboards and a web presence will promote tourism, which will be supported by the famous nearby “El Piloto” restaurant, which serves the tourist trade. Visitors will be able to see not only artifact displays, but see an active archeology excavation. Volunteers from all over the world will participate in the digs – the first of which will be in July to August 2013. See notes on a similar musem in Huancaya below.

Another “back-burner” project has also jumped to the fore. I’ve felt the need for a local distributor of solar products , if the technology is to be implemented and used on a larger scale in this sun-rich area. I think I’ve found one. GianCarlos is handsome, bright and charming. He has a civil engineering degree that he's been "wasting", since he doesn't want to go work at the mines, which is the logical move. He loves this area and his family (Fernando is his great-uncle). He's been working "temp' job for the Agricultural Census last 2 years and has saved some money, plus one of the distributors will give him credit on my say-so. We went out in the campo to see the big solar pump projects and talk to a few farmers and see if there is interest. To our delight, we sold 2 small “pico” units out of 8 that we pitched. He only made about $15 profit yesterday, but a nice start.

The playground project, already slowed by holidays and Anniversary celebrations, took another hit when the town jack-hammer blew up – literally. Despite the shooting sparks, the operator just kept using it and it caught fire, sending him to the clinic. This is SOP here, to just ignore warnings and push equipment past the point of damage and reason. Lack of maintenance and cleaning are other issues that perplex me. This being a rather rare piece of equipment, we now wait to see if it can be repaired or a new one must be obtained. Another reminder that things are just plain harder to do here in Peru.

Lots of visitors lately – PCVs and Lima staff. Fortunately, Avelino and Godo at the goat farm are generous hosts. I’m also enjoying work with Ingrid, one of the new PCV in Canete. She is jumping right in – trying to revive a town’s water system and some local playgrounds. And doing lots of consulting with PCVs all over Peru on biodigesters, solar projects and Cocinas – amazing how fast one can become “the expert”. This also led to a lovely road trip and tech-exchenge” up into the nearby mountains to help my friend Matt build his first Cocinas.