May 20, 2009
It has only been a few days since I’ve blogged last, but a lot has happened work-wise. On Sunday Nathan and I went to Esteli for the day, which is a larger, more tourist-y town halfway between here and the capital of Managua, about 2 hours south. There we saw the really nice, Spanish chapel (we even observed a mass going on at that time!) and toured around the central park. There we bought bracelets, something I have been keeping my eye out for for awhile now. That afternoon we went to one of the nicer restaurants for something different (which still only ended up being about $7.80 in the end). The meal was excellent, though simple. We each tried some Nicaraguan beer and got toasted sandwiches, and it was one of the best sandwiches I had in a long time.
Monday I got right back into testing. However, the first real rainstorm of the season occurred over the night, and the rest of the day was very cloudy and overcast, on the verge of raining, through the day. While one test was performed, it was less than desirable. Instead, I spent the morning repairing the DaqPRO that has been broken for awhile. In the end I got most of the thermocouples working (which are used to measure temperatures in a very specific area), which is good news because I can then use them in future testing, whereas previously I had only been using one. With this I can gain more temperature readings, which will help me to see if the autoclave is reaching the temperatures we need.
I spent Monday afternoon talking with David Smith, the new Grupo Fenix Volunteer Coordinator (aka the new Amanda). He is in charge of keeping track of all the volunteers and making them aware of what needs to be done. I roped him into a meeting with Nathan to find out what it is that we could do in our down time, such as on overcast days where testing is useless or even during testing whereby I can leave the system running while I go do something else productive. In the end, after about 2 hours of discussion, the three of us came up with a working list of things that need to be done, and what it is that Nathan and I could each do. I even made a short list of ideas of what Erin and Maria could do when they come.
With this in mind, we went home that night to digest what we learned and to come up with a plan of attack for the next month. That evening I also beat my niece, Skarleth in Scottish Speed three times (a card game; a Scottish-version of Speed that we learned from Roberto last summer). Then she taught me a game that was like Rummy but that I did not understand, and she beat me three times. What goes around comes around, eh?
Tuesday I ran some tests on the autoclave, but it was proving difficult because the daq needed to be charged. This was unfortunate because it was a good, sunny day. However, this allowed me to share my plan of attack with Nathan, then get started. Actually, Tuesday was a productive day: I built/repaired fan blades for a windmill that had broken a few weeks ago. Apparently one of the blades flew off, and so we took it down and I rebuilt the fan portion. Repairing it was somewhat easy, but balancing it was very difficult and time-consuming. Balancing helps to prevent that the blades spin evenly, reducing vibration and thus reducing wear by bounds. In the end, I did this by using squares to situate a screwdriver in a vice straight up, then try to balance the fan-blade system on the tip of the screwdriver. Whenever necessary, I would make adjustments to the blades to redistribute weight. Several hours later, I attached the blades to the generator and windmill stand, then we stood it up. I watched with pride as it was generating electricity as soon as we put it up!
That was before lunch. After lunch I charged the daq a bit more (it could not be charged during lunch because they shut the solar generator off to preserve power), and so I got to work on the hut meant to be a snack stand by the road. The idea of this hut is to propel the Solar Restaurant forward and help get things moving (while it is being built and money being generated for it) by having a place to sell solar-cooked food by the road and a place for customers to sit. When we arrived they had a small structure built out of large sticks (built by Mitch, another volunteer who has been here for several months that we saw for the first week; he now works with Suni Solar in Managua). Now they just need a new driving force to keep that project going. Well, that driving force is me. So, I ordered the palms necessary to build the roof and I am going to buy rope here in Ocotal. Other than that, all that really needs to be done is prep the area (such as cut the grass) and get the people motivated to start cooking. I asked Nathan to go up to the cooks and seriously plan out the agenda for the restaurant, such as who is going to cook what and when, as well as to help work out pricing for the foods. I hope to have this built by the end of next week, and so two weeks from now they could be selling!
Today, Wednesday the 20th, has been an excellent day for testing. It has been sunny and nearly cloudless all day. I worked on the daq and autoclave first thing this morning, and then have since just let the test run. I have meanwhile been making technical notes left and right, as well as excitedly watching the results of testing. I have also organized and reviewed the data from the last few days of testing.
Today marks one week until Tim and Jim arrive, who will be working with Suni Solar in Managua. We are excited for their arrival and plan to either go see them in Managua or have them come up here for next weekend. Meanwhile, this weekend we thing we may go up to Honduras! Honduras is only about half an hour from where we are now, and it is so easy to get there. So, I would like to take this opportunity to include Honduras on my list of place to have traveled. We think we may stay in Tegucigalpa for a night, but we are debating whether we want to travel further up north to the nicer, prettier areas instead. Somewhere up north, near Guatemala, is a city that is an incredibly ancient Mayan city and it is supposed to be gorgeous. Traveling through Guatemala, I would also be on the lookout for any Salud del Sol potentials, but I don’t necessarily consider this a business trip.
The idea of going up to Honduras for two days also makes me want to go down to Costa Rica for a few days as well, which is in the other direction but also very close and easy to get to. It is funny, traveling out-of-country is something that didn’t really occur to me last summer, but I have already seen much of the in-country stuff, so I think changing it up this year is a great idea. Once again, this would help me expand my list of countries that I know.
Anyway, that brings you up to speed on what I have been doing! Things are going great and we are having a lot of fun of course. Nevertheless, we are very excited for when other volunteers will be coming; Mary is a volunteer from New York who has been here before and supposedly comes to Sabana Grande on the 1st of June. Having people come in always keeps things happening and makes the trip fun and interesting.
So, if you want to come visit, you should!
Oh, and to sum up the title of the blog, it has finally started raining. However, in the traditional tropical sense: it rains really, really hard, every day, but only for a few hours at a time, if that. Truly, I like it. It is refreshing and fun, so long as you are not caught in it and ruin your camera (ahem, Matteo).
-Daniel
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Great job, hitting the ground running on testing! Your motivation is impressive!
Salud del Sol potential partners in Honduras?