June 22, 2009
About another week and a half have gone by, and, as always, there is a lot to tell. Like I mentioned last time, two new volunteers arrived: Cody and Maria. Then, on Sunday the 12th, the last two UD ETHOS students joined us in Sabana Grande: Erin and Maria.
Nathan and I were pretty excited for their arrival. I went to a soccer game in nearby Totogalpa to watch David and the Sabana Grande team play, and then immediately after we came back to pick up Erin and Maria off the bus at the Solar Center. We had arrived back just in time, because their bus was half an hour early… Nathan hadn’t even made it to the Solar Center yet to wait for them with David and I. But, nevertheless, we all enjoyed a quick reunion and walked them back to their homes (Maria stays with Mayra, the president of Las Mujeras Solares, and Erin stays with Adelina who lives right across the street from me and who is the mother of one of my good friends here, Heyling). Then, shortly after lunch, we all went for a long hike to see another volunteer here, Zach who lives in the somewhat far away, relatively secluded village of Mayzuta. The hike was so long and difficult that we actually lost a few hikers along the way, who decided to turn back. As usual, I was determined to make it, and was rewarded with pottery! Upon arrival to the beautiful, secluded Mayzuta, we visited Zach for some time (who had been craving English-interaction after being alone for so long), and then visited the local pottery-maker. He showed us into his little pottery shack which contained hundreds of gorgeous pottery things: candle boxes, pots, water jugs, and water hangings, some painted and some not. I found a neat little guy in the back corner that had a beam of light on it and music swelled up when I saw it. It is a water jug (I think) with a crude, gold-painted picture of Sandino on it, and it says “Viva Sandino! Mayzuta, Totogalpa”. I got it for 60 Cordobas (about $3).
So that was a long arrival day for Erin and Maria. The week that followed was generally an introduction week for them. David and I gave them an elaborate tour of the Solar Center, then sat down with them to give them a list of projects they could do (outside of autoclave testing, of course). In the end they decided that they will first make information plaques for all the many education, sustainable things here at the center. As a side note, the Solar Center is not only designed to be a means of community development and income generation, but also a base for advanced sustainable research (such as the autoclave!) and an education facility for visitors. Therefore, information plaques – you know, like at the zoo – was a great idea that David had that should be installed here near all the projects, such as near the solar cookers, the composting toilet and the wind turbine generator. Then, afterwards, I will be teaching them how I built/repaired the exisiting wind turbine, and they will either expand on this one or make a new one.
Meanwhile, I am working on improving the solar panels by using EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) instead of silicone to make the panels. Basically, this would greatly reduce the cost of manufacturing of the panels, and therefore we could reduce the price even further, making our panels that much more competitive. The process is difficult and unsure, though, and it’s my job to come up with a manufacturing technique for using EVA that has a good chance of working every time.
Anyway, Tuesday we spent the day in Ocotal, getting the girls and Greek Maria acquainted with the city. They needed to exchange money, get to the internet, and get snacks. Also, we moved Gringo Wednesday up to Tuesday and all had lunch together in Ocotal then. On Wednesday I woke up multiple times and my stomach was quite upset. This was the first time I had felt pretty bad since being here (which is a pretty long time, and I wasn’t even feeling terrible). I thought it was parasites, but a test at Profamilia in Ocotal showed that it was bacteria, so I immediately bought yogurt and started taking Cipro. Cipri is the nuclear bomb to the war going on in my stomach. By Thursday I was feeling fine.
Thursday and Friday we just worked in the Solar Center on our various projects. There are so many volunteers here now, it is pretty crazy. It is a good thing that we now have 16 solar panels to power the solar center – as opposed to the two last year – because everyone is always working on their own laptops, plugged into the walls of the workshop.
Friday Tim and Jim, the ETHOS students working in Managua, came to Sabana Grande to visit us for the weekend. It was nice for all of us to finally, for the first time this summer, be together. They stayed in the other two beds in my room in Dona Carmen’s house. Friday night everyone came over to my house after dinner for a late night of cards and rum and cokes. Tim and Jim regaled us all with their experiences thus far of working with Suni Solar in Managua and doing installations cross-country. Although they’ve recently been bored (and are jealous of us here in SG), they do some pretty cool things. They have an installation coming up where they will have to take a boat ride up to the Honduran border, ride by horseback inland, and then hike to the villages where they will be doing several solar panel installations. The European Union has ordered 42 installations in that area! Needless to say, they will be kept busy and will get some really unique experiences. Of course, Tim was also kind enough to share his wonderful experience of being chased in the dead of the night by three very loud dogs while pulling his pants up, darting from the bathroom to the truck where he and Jim were sleeping.
Saturday was a long day. We woke up and had breakfast at the usual 7am time, and then we all left to go to Somoto Canyon. This is the same river-canyon that Nathan and I went to on our third day here in Nicaragua this summer with the rest of the UD ETHOS Breakout students. We were looking forward to going back and doing the same thing with all the new volunteers.
It was, however, NOT the same thing. The rainy season had started in full about two weeks ago, meaning that everything was greener, more lush, and the water deeper and stronger. It was a COMPLETELY different experience. While many parts looked similar, many landmarks and bridges that we had previously climbed were missing (buried underwater). Also, it was not the calm tread through the river that it was last time… it was a rushing river that flowed very strong. In order to go up it we had to swim with all of our might to the next outcropping of rocks, or else you were washed downstream and everyone would yell “see you in a few hours on the way back!” as you went. Luckily, no one was swept away (and it wasn’t even particularly dangerous; there was nowhere to get sucked under and very few things to hit) as we all lent a helping hand to each other, traversing the rocks and river together. In short, it was a lot of fun, and I am disgusted that I will never be able to do anything like this in America (because it would be deemed “not safe enough,” in which case the entire country of Nicaragua would probably be deemed “not safe enough” as well).
Shortly after this long, energy-expunging journey, we all retreated to our homes in Sabana Grande and napped. That night we had dinner and then met by the bus stop to go to Ocotal for the night. There we went to a restaurant-bar and enjoyed each other’s company before going to Skydancing Discoteque. The disco was surprisingly crowded; we had apparently gone on a good night because they had closed off one of the streets and made it an outdoor party. We soon discovered that the reason why it was crowded was because there was set to be a Spanish-rap concert later in the night (it seemed to start about 11). They were a group from Panama and were apparently quite popular. It was lot of fun, but also a very late night. Thus, I did nothing but sit and sleep all day on Sunday. I also read more of my nerdy book that Maria brought for me, and I am sad to say that I am almost done with it… I am going through books at an alarming rate! I have read Viriconium (a classic English sci-fi), Catcher in The Rye, Halo: The Fall of Reach (a novel that takes place before the Xbox video game), Guns, Germs and Steel (a history of anything and everything in the world), and am almost done with Halo: The Flood (which actually takes place during the story of the video game). Next I may read either Man in the Holocene (another condensed history book), Water For Elephants, or The Tipping Point again (I read it here last summer and it is still here).
Well finally, it is now Monday and I am finally once again at the internet (these internet days are very satisfying). I will actually be spending a lot of time in Ocotal or Esteli this week to do shopping for autoclave materials. The current autoclave was made under the assumption that all the materials that we bought in Dayton could be purchased here in Nicaragua. I am going to either prove or disprove this assumption, and basically do what I can to make an autoclave here with what I can. We’ll see how that goes!
Oh, and this weekend: Granada! We all really look forward to it, and I will fill you in on how it went.
-Daniel
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Hi Daniel. I so appreciate reading your blogs as it brings to life your adventures and your personalities. I am so appreciative that each of you are so dedicated and willing to do this. I am lucky that Erin our daughter is able to know each of you.