August 31, 2009

July 11, 2009

Whew, once again a lot has happened since I wrote last. Below you’ll find details regarding our trips to Granada and Leon as well as stuff about the last week before leaving. I can’t believe I am almost home!

A couple weekends ago all the UD ETHOS volunteers and I were going to go to Granada, Nicaragua together, which is a gorgeous Spanish colonial town and the number one tourist destination in Nicaragua. We planned to leave early on a Friday morning; however, I woke up to hear that Erin had become very ill overnight and was in the hospital in Ocotal with her mother. I rounded up all the other volunteers and, after taking some time to figure out what we were going to do this weekend, we finally went to see Erin at the hospital. It turned out that she had an infection of the intestines and was vomiting frequently. Her stomach was “being torn apart” as she would say and she actually ended up staying Friday night in the hospital as well. I wanted to stay in Sabana Grande for the weekend, but it was one of the last chances that Nathan and I had to go to Granada with Tim and Jim before we left for home and before they left to go on more installations. Therefore, Maria stayed back in Sabana Grande for the weekend, in case Erin needed anything, and Nathan and I went to meet Tim and Jim in Managua to go to Granada.

So, we met them in time for lunch at The Galeria – a really, really nice mall on the edge of Managua. Here they have a great movie theater that puts Cinemark to shame, as well lots of very lavish stores and restaurants. The four of us chose to eat where else but Papa Johns. Oh. My. It was some of the best pizza I have ever had (although it’s still hard to beat Donato’s or Dewey’s Pizza in Dayton, Ohio). It was mostly just nice to have a classic American meal after eating so much Nicaraguan food for the past eight weeks. Nicaraguan food is excellent (and healthy!), but nothing will ever replace my Donato’s, Chipotle, Outback and Panera’s. Anyway, so we had a large, tasty meal in The Galeria in Managua and then soon made our way to Granada. As we neared Granada, the road became much nicer, the area cleaner and the scenery more lush and beautiful.

We arrived and went straight to our preferred hostel, Hostel Oasis, which is the same place that I stayed with the other volunteers when I was in Granada last summer. It is gorgeous and relaxing (highly recommended if you’re in the area!). For a great value, you also get free internet, a swimming pool, free coffee and tea all day and use of the many comfortable chairs and hammocks around the hostel.

That day we spent most of our time in the swimming pool, but then that night we met up with Maria (another volunteer from the Solar Center who happened to be in Granada that weekend as well) and all had a nice dinner and then went to a club for the evening. It was good that we did this on the first evening, because then people started getting ill

We all went for a short bike trip through Granada, checking out the nearby cemetery and visiting the Dona Elba cigar factory. At the factory we were all given a cigar to sample along with a glass of wine for free, as well as a free tour of the factory! However, as the afternoon went on, Tim and I started to get a fever (Tim had just recovered from a fever just a few days earlier) and eventually Tim went to a clinic in the evening to get checked out. I wasn’t feeling too terrible, so I just stayed back and slept. That night Tim found that he had a respiratory infection, so I was worried I might have the same thing as well. The next day my fever became stronger, so I, too, went to the clinic. I did not have the respiratory infection, and in fact I started feeling better shortly after my visit to the clinic. I just went back to the hostel and slept again and by morning I was fine again. Nevertheless, while it was very relaxing to be someplace as nice as Granada, and while we still enjoyed many of the sights and restaurants there, most of the vacation was shot due to illnesses.

Nathan and I eventually made it back to the Solar Center on Wednesday of that second-to-last week and got a few good days of work in. I had been working on a large sign for the Solar Center to post by the road and get traffic attention, because as of now you can only see the Solar Center if you’re right in front of it due to trees, and you can only read the current sign if you are close to it due to its small size. Therefore, this sign is made to be very large to announce the location of the Solar Center and advertise the new solar-cooked refreshments that are sold here. It will go up across the street directly in front of the Solar Center where it can be seen from long distances in both directions (the building is on a straight portion of the PanAm Highway). I got this all put together and mostly painted by the time the weekend rolled around.

For the weekend all of the volunteers decided to make a last-minute quick trip to Leon, Nicaragua, which is the second largest tourist destination of Nicaragua. While not as nice as Granada, it certainly is very nice and has lots of history around it. We were able to walk around, see some historic chapels and do some shopping. However, the best part was Saturday afternoon when we went to the beach on the Pacific coast, about 45 minutes outside of Leon. We followed some Peace Corps volunteers who knew where they were going, and we ended up at a hidden gem among the villages along the beach called Playa Roca, meaning Rock Beach. This is a hostel with an outdoor bar and restaurant on the beach as well as plenty of hammocks and chairs in the sand. We all went swimming for a good amount of time (I went in my shorts because I didn’t have my swim suit), trying our best to body surf the very large waves crashing down on us. For official record, the beaches on the Pacific coast here are rather dangerous, where the locals warned us of strong riptides. However, when we arrived plenty of people were already swimming. While the current certainly was strong and dangerous, that wasn’t enough to stop us from jumping in for a refreshing swim (the water was the perfect temperature!!).

That evening we all went out for dinner and then, once again, to another club in Leon. With a very large group it felt like we were taking over the club. In fact, there are so many volunteers in Sabana Grande now I think we are the majority.

This brings us to our last week in Sabana Grande. Basically, there was a lot to do and so little time to do it. I spent most of it preparing to pass on the autoclave data and report to Erin and Maria, who are here for another month. This means that I spent Wednesday and Thursday writing the start of the report to give them a starting point from which to continue. Monday I finished second-coating all the paint on the sign so that it is ready to go. I wanted to make a backing frame for it (since it is a large, unwieldy piece of zinc that will basically act like a sail), but ran out of time for this as well because of my work on the EVA project. Tuesday I made another 1-watt solar panel for EVA testing. In order to try making a solar panel without allowing any air to become trapped in the EVA, David The Volunteer Coordinator and I tried putting the solar panel inside a back and vacating the air using a pump. The vacating the air worked well but I was not able to test the process of melting the EVA in a solar box cooker (thereby seeing if any air was trapped or not) because it has not been sunny. So, unfortunately, this is a test that they will have to perform without me.

All in all, however, I managed to get a lot done! It has been a great 2-and-a-half months, but now I am ready to make it home! I will be leaving Managua early in the morning on Sunday, going to Houston, and then finally arriving home on Sunday evening. Of course, that’s not without a fun weekend in Managua with TimandJim first!

Sunday evening, Chipotle won’t know what hit it…

-Daniel J Hensel

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

June 10, 2009

So it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. I’ll have to see if I can remember everything!

Last weekend we stayed in Sabana Grande. I ended up going to mass three times. Mother’s Day was still being celebrated and I like going to their little fiestas. It was just mass and then coffee and snacks afterwards, but I know a lot of the people who go to mass there so it was fun. But I went once on Saturday and twice on Sunday, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Otherwise I just hung around, read a lot (as usual) and even watched a movie or two on my laptop. On Saturday for a few hours in the afternoon Nathan and I went for a long walk into Santo Domingo, which is the village just on the other side of the highway from us (the side of the highway that the Solar Center is actually located on). I was awed by going someplace new that I had never been before and seeing what it was like. It was definitely beautiful, and quite different from Sabana Grande – more lush and secluded. Very far into our walk, however, we still encountered Nathan’s sister-in-law at a church there… she must go a long, long ways for mass every week!

The week was a pretty productive week. On Monday I built my first tropical-style hut with the palm roof. This is a casita by the road in front of the Solar Center and is meant to be a stand for the women to make refreshments and sell to passers by. This will serve as an excellent marketing tool for the solar restaurant in the works, as well as even generate some funds towards it and/or pocket money for the women. On Tuesday I spent most of the day making a sign for the casita, as well as renovating (repainting and rewriting) the other signs for the Solar Center.

Wednesday was Gringo Wednesday, where I go into town and have lunch with some other American workers in Ocotal. I met Allison randomly in the internet café several weeks ago, and so of course we said hi, and then we made plans to have lunch on a Wednesday. After that, we said we would have lunch next Wednesday, and then after that, lunch the next Wednesday. Now Wednesdays are Gringo Wednesdays, and Nathan, David and Allison’s new roommate, Jessica, sometimes join us. We have since become close friends and we end up doing other things together as well. They have come to the Solar Center to visit and will likely come again very soon, and we are all making plans (including Tim and Jim in Managua, and Erin and Maria when they come) to go to Granada together. We are excited, it will be a blast!

So anyway, Wednesday is my Ocotal day of the week now, where I do my shopping and internet. It works out well because there is always something that I need from Ocotal for work, and emails to check and send for work also.

While I have been testing the autoclave every day (Wednesday it was administered by Nathan who did not go into Ocotal), Thursday and Friday were solely autoclave days in which I set up a new test, cleaned the box cookers, uploaded data, began the new testing, and so on. Several times now we have achieved very high temperatures, and on one cloudless day we easily achieved the temperature we needed for the amount of time that we needed. It just went to show that this is doable, so long as the weather cooperates. Here in the rainy season we will have some more trouble, but I am confident that this would work well in their summer (our winter). Among the new testing I am doing includes pressure testing, so I am essentially testing the entire system now. The results and progress have been exciting, although the weather forecast for the next few months is bleak.

Once again Nathan and I stayed around in Sabana Grande this past weekend. Saturday we had some time to kill, so we ended up going to Ocotal for the day, mostly because we had heard that there was a carnival going on. While there was a carnival, it turned out that it wasn’t operating until that evening, so we ended up just milling around and getting lunch. When we got back I relaxed and played some volleyball and cards with my family and neighbors. I have a new card-buddy that joins me when Skarleth is not around: Wendy, the 13-year old girl next door. Her mother is part of Las Mujeras Solares, and she is another cute, very smart girl in the area. She understands all the games that I teach her that most others here do not.

Sunday I went to mass again. I talked with my friend, Catherine (a native), after mass and she said that she is playing with her soccer team on Friday and that I should check it out. I had no idea that Sabana Grande had a women’s team too! I definitely plan to see that this weekend. She also told me there is a fiesta (another high school dance?) in Totogalpa this weekend, which I also plan to go with her to. In the afternoon, after lunch, I walked with Maricela (a 20-year-old-or-so who used to work at the Solar Center) to see the caves in the mountains. Once again, I had no idea there were caves here! She was telling me that people used to, and still do, come here to the springs to do laundry and bathe. In fact, as we were leaving to head back to the village, we passed by Nathan’s sister who had a bucket with a towel and soap in it, and she was on her way to the spring to bathe. Crazy!

Finally, this week has rolled around and I am continuing the autoclave testing. I have also found a new project that I will work on. This is a big one and may take me through my time here, alongside the testing. I will be working on using EVA instead of silicon to make the solar panels here, which could save Centro Solar a lot of money if I can make it work. This is a project started by Richard Komp (who basically invented solar energy) a little while ago, that one volunteer tried to pick up but couldn’t quite get it, and that I am going to pick up and give a shot.

Two new volunteers have arrived this Monday: Cody, who has been here 4 times previously, and Maria who is from Greece. They both will be working on the SEED grant that the Las Mujeras Solares were awarded last year, basically working with the women to get things moving and splitting the money, and so on. Nathan and I are excited for Erin and Maria, the other ETHOS students from University of Dayton, to come this weekend. It will be fun having them around. Then the weekend after, Tim and Jim are going to come visit from Managua, so we will finally all be together!

This morning I carried water on my head from the well to the house for the first time. I had to try to balance it, and I spilled about a 1/3 of it on the way, but I did it! Sometimes I don´t understand how the women do it, but then again they´ve been trained since they were little. I have lots of pics of me doing this (as well as everythign else I´ve talked about, I swear!), but I cannot upload them on this computer because it takes an unnaturally long time that I don´t know if it would ever finish.

Whew! That’s a lot in one blog. Well, it is Wednesday, and it is now about lunch time, so you know what that means… Gringo Wednesday. Hasta la proxima vez,

-Daniel!

May 29, 2009

Howdy All,

Like the title so cleverly suggests, Nathan and I made a nice weekend trip to Honduras.  Travling out-of-country wasn´t something that really occurred to me last summer, but since we are so close it was like why not?

So! First we went up to Ocotal - where we always use the internet – and then from there went to la frontera, or the border, which is called Las Manos. Nathan went over this part in pretty good detail in his blog, so the only thing I´ll say is that it was a hassle and somewhat confusing. I think the strangest part was simply that we were going into unfamiliar territory and just had no idea what to do.

From Las Manos we hopped on a direct bus to Tegucigalpa. Now, when I say ¨direct¨, I mean that the bus may stop for half-an-hour here or there somewhat on the way to it´s destination. This is pretty different from the ¨express¨ buses in Nicaragua, which are more or less actually express. On this route, I was planning to sleep (we had woken up quite early and traveled a good distance), but I was not able to because the scenery was so striking. It is a good deal different than Nicaragua. I can´t believe I´m saying this, but it actually reminded me of Switzerland (for those who don´t know, I did a cycling through the Alps trip several years ago). It was mountainous and green, but not exactly jungl-y. The south was a pine-tree region, whereas north of the capital city was a bit more lush.

Tegicugalpa. Definitely a large, central american city which encompasses everything that a central american city by definition encompasses. It was large, full of traffic, dirty and free-spirited. It was also a lot larger, cleaner and mour mountainous than Managua in Nicaragua though. I actually liked Tegucigalpa a good bit, it´s certainly very interesting. It is also more Americanized such that it had Pizza Hut, Burger King, Dunkin´ Donuts, and so on.

From there we took a bus to Comayagua, which is about 2 hours north of Tegucigalpa. Comayagua is an old Spanish Colonial town that used to be the capital of Honduras. The conservatives wanted Comayagua as the capital, while the liberals wanted Tegucigalpa, so they switched back and forth for a while. In the end they stuck with Teguc. However, Comayagua is gorgeous, and I was shocked that there were not more tourist. We couldn´t even find a hostel to stay in, so we stayed in a hotel (which was still relatively inexpensive, yet really nice. We had A/C!). We spent the days touring around, treating ourselves to some Honduran and American food, and then tried a few bars in the evenings. The atmosphere was definitely friendly and tropical, as all the bars were essentially open-aired.

There is a US military base close to Comayagua, so up to 500 US military personnel take to Comayagua in the weekends and evenings, so we crossed paths with a few. We also talked to a few other tourists in town, one of whom was biking down from Mexico to Panama. He expects to stop by the Solar Center in a few days time, so we shall see each other again! Small world.

Early Monday morning we made the trek back to Nicaragua. The bus ride from Comayagua was… fun. We had a driver who seemed like he had just taken 14 energy shots. He layed on the horn and yelled at passerbys at the top of his voice, in a genial way. It was like experiencing the game Crazy Taxi in real life.

On the way back we met yet another adventurer, Katherine from Canada. She had just graduated and was backpacking by herself. She was grateful she had us to get her through the complexity and strangeness of the border. The Solar Center is on a main road, so we get a lot of travelers there as well. David always gets emails from people asking if they can stay at his place. Just the other week we met a Swiss man who biked up from Buenos Aires, Argentian, South America. It took him two-and-a-half years to get here, and he casually explained that he was working his way up to Alaska, and ¨then I might go into Asia and down into Oceania.¨ Wow! My first thought is: where do you get the time and money to do this?? It was inspiring because I want to do bike trips, althought they probably would not be nearly that long haha.

This past week has been a successful work week at the Solar Center. I have achieved the temperatures I need for the autoclave on more than one occassion, which is great news. I am now testing the complete system, with water and pressure.

Wednesday was the mother´s day fiesta, which I remembered from last year as being a lot of fun. All the children prepared dances, skits and games to put on for their mothers in the solar center. Afterwards there was food and dancing, which was a lot of fun.

Now it is Friday and we are in Ocotal for a work fair. Basically, the Solar Center workers are here marketing their products, such as the panels and solar box cookers. Maybe next year we will be ready to market the solar autoclave here as well!

That being said, I am off to the fair. I have no idea what is going on this weekend, but I´m sure it will be something great. Until next time!

-Daniel

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 20^th, 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 1^st 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

May 17, 2009

Testing is underway with the autoclave. There have been only intermittent periods of strong sun, but what else is new here? I have done only preliminary testing on the autoclave so far, meaning that I am only temperature testing at the moment. First I tested the autoclave just by using the thermocouple already installed by the team at UD and placing it into the modified solar box cooker. Then I painted the autoclave black and performed the same test again.

This week has been crazy, busy and a lot of fun. The ETHOS Breakout students have been enjoying their week in Sabana Grande, and most of their schedule has occupied me as well. As I shared last time, I went to Somoto Canyon and Ocotal with them, and this week I have attending a history class and several solar panel workshops with them. We also played a large soccer game after work on Monday with the locals, and Tuesday we played Ultimate Frisbee with them. Early Wednesday morning we woke up at 5am to hike up a mountain before breakfast because our schedule was so packed. I spent a good part of Wednesday aiding them in the installation of new solar panels and in two houses, taking them off the grid and hooking their lights up to the solar power. In the evenings we have been just talking together, listening to good tunes and playing cards. Thursday afternoon was their despedida, or good-bye fiesta, which was a lot of fun of course. They did a “cultural exchange”, where the Nicaraguans made them dance and be all awkward, and the Dayton students made them play a game and do a butts and guts exercise class and be all awkward. Unfortunately, the students left Friday morning, and so things are compartively lonely now, but this also means that I can finally get a breather!

Friday May 15th was my birthday!

I think that, despite how much I love to travel, this is the first time I have ever been in another country for my birthday. I’m not quite sure what is going to happen today, other than the fact that it is quince de Mayo, and so it is a big day in terms of celebrating some patron saints day. There are masses in the morning and fiestas in the evening. We´re just going to pretend that the fiesta is actually for me.

So now it is Nathan and I left until the other volunteers come. Today, Sunday, we are in Esteli, a town 2 hours south of us, just to sight-see for a day. Saturday I spent reading my books (I just finished a great English science fiction classic, Viriconium) studying Spanish and relaxing. Nathan and I also went for a very long walk, further down the path through Sabana Grande than I´ve ever gone before. I really liked the area that we saw; it was more lush, but it was also much more remote.

This week I plan to get a lot done with Autoclave testing. In my downtime, during testing, I will be repairing a wind generator that broke. It was a gift from a previous volunteer, and apparently it broke just a few days before we arrived. I will be keeping my eye out for other projects too, but I also hope to teach some basic testing and researching classes to the young´uns here.

I think that is a lot said in a few words, and now it is time for lunch! Nathan and I are going to check out some of the nice churches and scenic areas of Esteli afterwards, then probably head home. We are anxious for other volunteers to arrive, and I simply cannot wait to go back to Leon and Granada. Those were some gorgeous, fun places.

Hasta la proxima vez,

-Daniel

May 11, 2009

Hi All!

So,  like the title so suggestively and cleverly implies, I am alive and well in Nicaragua! I write this from internet cafe called Xiam Internet in the town of Ocotal, 20 minutes north of Sabana Grande, the village where we are working and residing. It is now about 85 degrees out and sunny and has been ever since we got here, and the shops are kicking with locals and visitors.

The past few days have been no less than a whirlwind of adventure. Nathan and I arrived at the international airport in Managua Friday morning at about 11:15am Managua time (two hours behind New York), and, unlike last year, there was no one there to meet us. There are two new volunteer coordinators, Bruno from France and David from Canada who both live here in Nicaragua, and they were busy with the other University of Dayton ETHOS breakout students already here. So, they forgot about us. But, it´s like I tell everyone who comes to Nicaragua, you HAVE to be mentally prepared for this sort of thing. Nathan and I waited around for a bit, then decided to exchange some money at the airport (which takes an unnecessarily long amount of time) and then buy a cell phone with which to call Susan, the person in charge of… everything. Susan grew up in Cincinnati and has lived here in Nicaragua for the past 13 or so years (I cannot remember), and she started Grupo Fenix who UD works with. Anyway, by the time I got currency – Cordobas – the phone shop had closed. Ugh! Nathan bravely asked someone else to use their phone, and she was generous to let us use it to call Susan. After talking with her, we found that there was no place for us to stay in Managua as planned, so we decided to go straight to Sabana Grande. After visiting the Grupo Fenix office for a bit (and seeing some familiar faces =]), we left for SG at 3:30 and got there after dark, around 7. It would have been much later if I hadn´t seen our stop zoom by on the bus and yelled for the driver to stop… they said they knew where Centro Solar and Sabana Grande was, but I didn´t think they really did. Nathan and I backtracked with all of our stuff, and finally pulled in around dinner time.

Saturday morning was wonderful because I saw so many people that I knew and who were excited to see me. All of the locals knew that I was coming, and were eager to stop by and say hi. On top of that, the Breakout students were at the Solar Center, many of whom that I knew from UD. Now I am their expert on everything local as well as their translator. We spent the day building solar box cookers, and I even gave a demonstration of the solar autoclave. Students from the National Engineering University in Managua came up for the day, and we talked all things autoclave for some time, which was a great intercultural engineering exchange. We spent the day milling about, discussing life in SG, building box cookers, throwing frisbee and playing hackey sack. That night I had all of the volunteers who wanted to come over at my place to play Uno and listen to good tunes. We had a great time and ended up playing card games for several hours.

Sunday we did something I had never done before: we went to Somoto Canyon. This is a large and gorgeous natural park area, a canyon with very clean water running through it. The tourist-y thing to do is go to the canyon and swim upstream, traversing the rocks and occasional waterfalls of course, and then float back downstream. At our turning point, way upstream, is the diving spot where we can climb up the cliffs and jump into the river from various heights. This was where we spent most of our time and was great fun. After tiring from diving, I found a good spot in a small waterfall to sit and let the water massage. I did NOT want to move for a long time. Eventually, however, we swam/floated back and dried off. This was also the day of Mike Vehar´s birthday, the grad student in charge of the Breakout students, so we all celebrated by hanging out together for awhile when we arrived home.

Now it is Monday. I brought the Breakout students to Ocotal so they could explore for a few hours. They have already left for SG, and I need to get going to get lunch. Afterwards, I will begin setting the autoclave up to start testing. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures to upload this time, but I hope to soon! I hope to have more time to write more detail in the near future, but for now, nos vemos!

-Daniel

April 19, 2009

I had the distinct pleasure of working with a freshmen engineering course at University of Dayton this past semester. When Dr. Margaret Pinnell – the professor for the course as well as one of Salud del Sol’s most involved mentors – approached me about ideas for a project for the course, I was quick to suggest a solar tracking device. Thus, I mentored the class and their group projects over the course of the semester, and was very pleased with the results. Because of Salud del Sol’s infatuation with sustainability and appropriate technologies, I asked the students to write an article for the site describing their projects. Their articles are posted below:

K(A)BEBS – Sean Drennan, Katlyn Lopus, Emily Getter, and Becky Herrman
Redirecting the Sun

During the second semester of the first year at the University of Dayton, the Engineering Innovations class was presented the challenge of building a prototype of a device that could be used in developing countries to track the sun throughout the day. This device would be used to maximize the amount of sunlight directed onto a solar panel to capitalize on the efficiency of the energy. The class was divided into groups and each group had a $50 budget to work with.

The design team decided on a design that was much different from the rest of the groups in the class. A device that would remain stationary and be constructed using reflective newspaper tin would be built around the solar panel and redirect the sun onto the panel. The sunlight would enter through the top of the device and would reflect off the panels, which would be at carefully calculated angles. The design team tried to design the device so that no matter where the sun would be in the sky, its’ rays would be directed onto the solar panel after being reflected off the newspaper tin. The team had reasonable results and found that the idea did work but more calculations and testing would need to be done in order to correctly position the reflective panels for use throughout the day. Overall, the design team was happy with their final project and excited to see what could become of their idea on a bigger scale.

Solar Tracking Device Project – Alex Jules, James Lab, Jim Razzante, Alex Reed

In the class Engineering Innovations this semester at the University of Dayton, our team was presented with the project of designing an automated (hands free) and sustainable(reusable) solar tracking device. What the device needed to do was move a solar panel throughout the day so it faced the sun at all times. This would result in increasing the efficiency of the solar panel by forty percent.

When the day came to actually test our design, our team saw great success. Our simple design worked well, although we did encounter some problems. Interference with the weather caused some issues as clouds blocked the sun and a strong wind moved our rotating piece of wood. Our group was able to come up with propositions to create a better device in the future.

Overall, this project was a great introduction to the design process and gave us hope for our futures in engineering.

Again, as their student teacher who is heavily involved in projects like this, I was impressed with the results and proud of the work they had done. Our only hope now is that they will take away what they have learned about appropriate technologies and solar trackers and spread the word. They have a great opportunity to see some change in the world. Once again, comments and suggestions are always appreciated!

Many thanks and peace always,

Daniel J. Hensel
Director of Product Research

April 7, 2009

Design Lab Presentation

Update on Status of the Solar Autoclave and Sterilization Indicator

On March 13th the new design team currently working on the solar autoclave system presented the status of the project to their sponsors. Among the attendees of the presentation were Executive Director Lori Hanna, myself (Director of Product Research, Daniel Hensel), longtime sponsor Dr. Margaret Pinnell, and the ETHOS field team accompanying me to Sabana Grande, Nicaragua this summer. The presentation provided a brief overview of the project, the status of what they are working on now, and their plans for the immediate future. The members of the design team, those who presented, are Staci Grey, Christopher McGuinness, Ryan Smolik, Corey Vossler and Kyle Zeller.

The team is on task for the most part. There have been some issues with the pressure release valve that releases pressure if built up beyond 16 or 17psig. Using a proprietary valve with weights, rocks or sand was investigated, but found to be too insensitive. In other words, using these methods, the weighted valve will not release air/steam at the required pressure. The team feels that a precisely machined weight will be necessary, such as those used on traditional pressure cooking pots. This setback has pushed back final design testing by several class periods.

The team displayed the current progress of the sterilization indicator, which is made up of a small plastic container about the size and depth of five nickels stacked together. Inside the plastic container is polywax2000 and a washer. The idea is that the washer starts on top of the solid wax, but as the autoclave heats up and the wax melts, the washer moves to the bottom. There is a calculated amount of wax inside such that when the washer lies on the bottom (i.e. all of the wax has melted), at least 15 minutes have passed, the minimum for sterilizing surgical instruments at 121 deg C and 15psig. There have been problems with these initial prototypes, such as the plastic melting inside the ovens, or pressure being created inside the capsules (due to expansion during the phase change) that causes them to burst. The design team is currently looking into correcting these faults by trying a vented hourglass design instead. This design will be very similar to the capsules previously discussed, except they will be larger, vented and in an hourglass shape and will not contain a washer. Their contingency plan, should all else fail, is to go with a bimetallic-based timer. Currently, the price of on sterilization indicator stands at $2.00, which complies with the team’s goal of under $10 if reusable and about $0.01 if non-reusable.

For the solar autoclave pressure vessel, the team has replaced one of the wooden end caps with an aluminum end cap, shortened the bolts that connect the two end caps and used lock nuts on one end cap. Upon testing, they successfully brought the pressure up to 32psig – well above the 15psig required for sterilization but not quite up to our Factor of Safety of 45psig - before it started to leak at the seal again. They are looking into new sealants, such as silicone pie pans and baking mats. Nevertheless, once again the stresses were well below the yield strength for the can. Then the team discussed how the instruments themselves will lie in the pressure vessel. It was ideal that the instruments would be situated at mid-height in the can, such that they are not lying directly in the water. It was suggested that chicken wire be used to hold the instruments up, but a disadvantage is that only a few instruments could be sterilized at a time due to the size of the can. The team is now developing a test plan for use for the rest of the semester as well as in Nicaragua this summer. Their next task, once the design is completed, will be to determine how much water is needed in the can for sterilization.

The semester is quickly coming to a close and the design team is pooling resources to have testing and prototyping done before the summer. They will present their last findings at their final presentation on the 24th of April at 8am in the UD Design Clinic. Lori and I, as well as the ETHOS field team accompanying me this summer, are anxious to see the final results before I leave for Nicaragua on May 8th. As always, please feel free to comment with questions or suggestions if the urge strikes you!

Gracias, La Paz y Salud,

Daniel J Hensel

Director of Product Research

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