Phase 3 of 3rd Year Service

Working on the biodigester exit ports

The last cycle of my 3^rd year as a Peace Corps  volunteer has begun. The first cycle was training and writing field guides for renewable energy technologies and climate change education. The second was assisting with applications for ECPA grants to implement the technologies and education in the rural volunteer sites. And now comes the really fun part for me : providing on-site expertise and assistance to the many renewable energy projects all over Peru.

The sparse Piura desert

My work travels took me to the delightful alpine village of Canchaque, in the state of Piura, far to the north of Peru, 5 degrees below the equator. Due to an accident enroute to the airport, I was forced to endure a 17 hour bus ride, made tolerable by the 1^st class seat. Piura City is the oldest citiy in Peru, founded by Pizzaro in 1532, just before he and his 150 soldiers captured the entire Inca civilization. It is by no means the prettiest place on the planet, being in the middle of a desert, with a vestigial at its center, now choked with garbage and sewage. The pre-dawn bus to Canchaque passed more coastal desert plain, before climbing into the Andes. The northern desert is quite a bit different from the southern desert, with which I am intimately acquainted. In the south, the desert is totally barren, while the north has widely scattered scrub and hardy trees – I’m guessing due to a subterranean water source.

One of many bamboo forests in the Piura mountains

As we zig-zagged into the mountains, the scene changed quickly. River valleys and bamboo and crops appeared and green, jungle-like mountains covered the horizon. Canchaque itself is a lovely little town of 2,500, nestled among the peaks, with scenic vistas in all directions. Glenn Harrington, a water/sanitation PCV, greeted me at the bus stop. He was one of my “shadows” during his training and attended one of the renewable energy workshops at Yachaywasi. We headed directly to the slaughterhouse, perused and took measure of the biodigester site and then went back to a nearby hardware store to buy all the job fixins.

Squeezing air into the biodigester tube to inflate it

Glenn and the Muni workers had done a great job of preparing the ditch for the digester tube and a nice enclosure for the gas storage bag. Both had to be lined with concrete, since the “soil” was more like solid rock. Their construction was all first rate and we got the gas bladder and biodigester inflated, set in place and plumbed the gas line in record time, breaking only for a 4 sole ($1.42) lunch overlooking the town plaza. Our only misstep was filling the gas bladder with exhaust from a motorcycle – a small bit of hot carbon, expelled from the exhaust pipe burned a little hole in the plastic, which was easily patched. It was another fantasy work site – sunny and located next to a small stream and waterfall, which made the job all the more pleasant.We retired to showers and a tasty dinner with Glenn’s host family, perched on a hillside high above the town.

Julio's wife roasted, ground and brewed coffee from their trees

Having completed the project in a single day, we visited the estate of one of his community partners, Julio, who also attended one of my renewable energy workshops. Julio grows coffee, bananas and oranges on a hillside with a serpentine irrigation canal that crisscrosses the entire property. He also has a house and guest cottage that look like something from the Swiss Alps. In an area with no natural fish, he raises Tilapia in ponds and sells to the local market. The fish poop enriched pond drainage feeds his crops, along with compost and worm castings, which he also produces. While we were there, his wife roasted some of their coffee beans, ground them and served us what is probably the freshest cup of coffee I’ll ever enjoy. She also make sand sells her own banana marmalade, which I’d never even heard of, and which was absolutely scrumptious. Julio also steeps the local cane alcohol in ground coffee to produce a coffee liquor – also yummy, if a bit strong. It was my great pleasure to visit this amazing and innovative man.

The "Drunk Tree" stands solitary and strong

The 3 hour bus ride back to Piura in full daylight was more revealing. I was particularly taken by a large Seuss-like tree, known locally as the “drunk tree”. And by the huge amounts of trash on the sides of the highway. The 1 and ½ flight back to Lima was certainly more pleasant than the 17 hr bus. Surprisingly, it only cost about $8 more than the bus ($53 vs $61).











More photos at : : https://plus.google.com/photos/114324927553623472875/albums/6049649109828392609