Second Day in Huata

On Friday we returned to Huata to assemble and demonstrate the pilot filter to the community. Today was market day, so unlike the day before the community was bustling with people. Jared, myself, Camila, Javier, and his super-cute little daughter walked over to the market area to buy some plastic buckets we could use as diffusers. Jared and I stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the locals, and we brought out a couple of laughs and smiles as we walked around.

Despite our remote location, I was surprised to come across some outside influences during my time in the community. For instance, on Thursday I saw a little Quechua boy holding a packet of WWF wrestling stickers. On Friday, not only did we come across a man with a good-looking CAL hat on (he declined for pictures with us though, with a smile)

I also recognized some music being played through portable speakers on our walk towards the market (Papa Roach and Rammstein). After returning back to the Huata health post with the needed materials, we began the process of assembling a new filter with all the materials we prepared earlier. For this demonstration, Steven took the lead, patiently going step-by-step through the assembly of each pot, explaining the purpose of each material to the gathered community members.

Camila had prepared simple paper handouts with easy-to-understand diagrams of the pots in Spanish, which we then distributed to everyone in attendance.  As Steven explained each step, myself and others walked around with small buckets filled with the two sizes of sand, charcoal, bricks and other components to make sure everyone was able to visualize what we were doing.

Meanwhile, Philippe made some friends and attracted a small group of kids away from the filter discussion. It was fun jumping around and playing with the kids, and it also drew some smiles and laughs from the mothers and old ladies gathered around.

The filter was overall received very well with the community. During Steven’s presentation, members of the community spoke up to offer their comments and ask questions about the filter. One recurring theme was the community’s concern about the saltiness of the well-water. Not only does salty water taste bad, but community members complained of dry and cracked skin being a side effect of exposure to the “hard” water. Although water hardness is a legitimate concern (and at around 800 ppm, their water is well over the 180 ppm distinction of “very hard”, the health risks presented with chronic arsenic contamination are much greater and include pigmentation and thickening of the skin, bladder, kidney, liver, and skin cancers, as well as central nervous system damage and circulatory problems in some cases. After both Steven, the local doctor, and Javier explained the relative dangers of arsenic over salinity, the point seemed to get across. Although it is important for our team to be receptive to what the community wants, if we were to tackle the problem of water hardness before arsenic, we would encourage residents of Huata to drink more of the arsenic-laden water and further worsen their health. Once the second filter was completed, we put it to the test. On Thursday, Jared and Phillipe tested the health post’s water for it’s total arsenic concentration and speciation between arsenic 3 (the more dangerous form) and arsenic 5. They came up with a value of 30 ppb, most of it in the arsenic 5 form. On Friday, we ran this same water through the filter we completed on Wednesday. Even though the filter has not yet reached it’s maximum potential, we observed a reduction in arsenic to 10 ppb, which is at the Maximum Contaminant Level set by the EPA! We expect the filter to further reduce this level as more water passes through the three pot layers and more rust is able to bond to the arsenic in solution. We were careful not to overstress this small victory, as these were just preliminary tests of a pilot filter design that we expect to make changes to during the scope of our EWB program. After the presentation reached its conclusion, Jared, Philippe, Allie and I went on a small hike up the surrounding mountainside, where we met a local woman with a spectacular hilltop house overlooking the town.

As we enjoyed the view from the top, we got a call from down at the health clinic letting us know that the doctor had prepared some huatia for us. Huatia are potatoes cooked in an earthen oven served with Andean artisanal cheese. http://www.cuzcoeats.com/2011/06/huatia/ That got us down the mountain very fast! After our potato feast, we packed back into the combi bus and headed back to Puno.

Along the way, Sophia and Allie prepared some delicious cheese and avocado sandwiches, yummmm. After dinner, we walked over once again to the headquarters of  Red Interquorum, the college environmental group, to give our arsenic presentation to their members. As honorary “gringo primero” of the group, it was good to get some additional practice speaking in Spanish. It was also great talking about the arsenic problem in a much smaller setting, as we were able to get a lot of constructive comments and questions from the Interquorum group. As luck would have it, Javier Bojorquez (the founder of our partner NGO Suma Marka and professor of environmental engineering at the University of San Carlos) was celebrating his 28^th birthday that night! It was great to spend some more time with this Peruvian power engineer and get to know him a little better.

 

P.S. We’re all back home safe now, having arrived in San Francisco on the 23rd. We’ve just been busy catching up with things back home and have a couple more days to fill in here on the blog.

-Dom

Nothing Goes As Planned in Puno!

post by Jared Dozal

Steven and I were up bright and early as we waited for la banda de diablitos to start up.   Dominic, Camila, and Philippe were lucky today because there was no band practice at 6:45am.  Steven and I have been getting a good laugh every morning because we would be up when the band started and we just pictured Dominic waking up disgruntled and grumpy because of the obnoxious horns and drums blaring right outside their hotel window.  The plan for today was to get picked up in a combi by members of Suma Marka and Chijnaya so that we could travel by caravan to the community of Coata with the filter that we had completed the day before.  There was some sort of miscommunication along the line because the officials from DIRESA set up a meeting in Huatta with the local Quechua villagers.  This was a suprise to all of us but we have learned to go with the flow down here in Peru.

We showed up in Huatta and a group of locals were waiting for us in front of the health clinic.  The main plaza and the health clinic were the only structures that were not made of adobe.

While we waited for the rest of the caravan to arrive, we noted some other problems which could possibly be addressed with future projects under the EWB UC Berkeley Peru program.  One very obvious issue was the way they hauled water from a nearby well.  They transported the water in tanks in the back of a truck and used garden hoses to fill up the tank at the health clinic which could pose huge cross contamination issues.  We also noticed some wells that were basically flush with the ground and surrounded by live stock.  The locals definitely need some education on well-head protection.

Once everyone in our group arrived to Huatta, the presentation began. The president of Suma Marka  , a doctor from the local clinic, and a DIRESA official explained the health risks associated with the arsenic in their water and how the community could use simple filters constructed from local materials to treat their water.  This presentation was made possible with the help of Amelia who

translated the presentations into Quechua.  Amelia is local mover and shaker who even has her own television program.  She is an essential asset to this project because she has the trust of the Quechua communities that we want to help and will help us to gain the trust of the Quechua people.  During this time, Francisco and I practiced using our portable arsenic testing kit that we would be leaving with Suma Marka to test the filter’s performance.

Our next destination was the Reserva Nacional Del Titicaca where a ranger station is located.  Our combi couldn’t handle the rough terrain once we got a few kilometers out so we had to jump into the back of a 4×4 to make it to the station.  Ingrid (a water tester for Suma Marka) and Francisco (a chemical engineering student) helped Dominic and I with our spanish and we taught them some english during the rough ride.

Once we arrived at the ranger station we were greeted by the director of the park.  We had planned on installing one of the filters at this site because their well had very high levels of arsenic and they had a competent staff who would be able to monitor its performance.  Unfortunately, the pump for the well was out of commission and it would have been pointless to leave a filter out there so we brought it back with us.  Even though everything did not go as planned, the day was success in the fact that we met with officials from the park who are very interested in the project and made our presence known to the Quechua community.

Build Day #2 and Lecture

Wednesday began with the music coming from the grade school band as it had on previous days but about a half an hour earlier.  Dominic, Phillipe, Jared and Camila had been up late the night before working on the presentation they will be giving this afternoon.  They did not particularly see the students as a band of angels.  The group still had work to finish on the filter making over at the Ministry of Health´s compound this morning so they had to stop presentation preparations and head over to the courtyard in the Ministry of Health´s Public Health section where all the filter making materials were stored.  We needed to have one filter completely assembled this morning so that we could take it to the presentation in the afternoon.  The presentation content will be on arsenic and the Chijnaya Foundation, the USA based NGO working in Peru that we are partnered with, will present on what arsenic is and the health related affects when ingested from either organic or inorganic forms of it.  Suma Marka, the Peru based NGO we are partnered with, will cover the issue of arsenic as it affects the Puno region of Peru covering also all the data collection efforts that have been done in the region to date.  Our part in the presentation will be to introduce the audience to Engineers Without Borders and explain our process of selecting the type of filter we have recommended for using in the pilot study and also give a detailed explanation of the filter components and how they function.

As we leave the hotel and head out along the route we have now become familiar with to get to the Ministry of Health we are talking about the presentation and wanting to have more time to prepare but we also need to have the demostration filter completed so we can display it at the presentation.  If we can get this demonstration filter completed this morning then we will have a couple hours in the afternoon to put the finishing touches on our presentation before we have to leave to go give the presentation.

We have become accustomed to the manner of walking on the streets of Puno along sidewalks that vary from an uncomfortable less than two feet wide (with utility poles at the most unopportune places) to more than three feet wide and ornately done.

The pedestrian traffic is always heavy as is the motor traffic on the mostly very narrow roads.  In Peru the pedestrians must yield to the motor vehicles.  Going along the very narrow sections of sidewalk requires focused attention to avoid on coming pedestrians by stepping into the street but without having an altercation with vehicle traffic.

We round a corner that brings us to a large plaza that has a beautiful stone church and a much welcomed wide sidewalk.  However on this day we encounter a site that puzzles us as well as makes us realize that this day will not be another typical day like we have had so far during our stay in Puno.

While the streets are full of the locals going about their normal morning ruotines there is the spectacle of over one hundred military personel and police deploying into the plaza.  We headed down a sidewalk on the side of the plaza across the street from the church and going right toward a line of soldiers.  To our suprise they motion to us to continue along on down through them.  We pass through them and on down to the end of the plaza and continue on the street as it norrows and has buildering without gap along it down past the plaza.  We pass another very small group of soldiers and police on this street who greet us warmly with <buenos dias> to which we respond in like manner.

Our pace has picked up and our focus has changed from the presentation we are to give this afternoon and the fact that we will be giving it in Spanish to what is happening in Puno this morning?  When we arrive at the Ministry of Health compound we learn that one of the indigenous aymara peoples leaders, Walter Aduviri, has been captured by police.  We also learn from radio reports that an estimated three thousand Aymara are marching toward Puno.  We also learned that there is a courthouse on the side of the plaza that we had walked passed and that most likely the Aymara leader was either being held there or was going to brought there and that is why there was the strong military and police presence in that plaza.

Puno continues to function as if all is normal but no one really knows what will happen when the marchers come into the city.  We get to work on putting together the demonstration filter and others go and pick up additional materials and the welded steel frame to hold the filter pots in a vertical alignment.

By early afternoon we are done with the filter work and head back to the hotel to finalize our part of the presentation.  At this point the Aymara march has been peaceful and most locals now feel that it will most likely stay this way.  We returned to the hotel in taxis but noted that the military and police presence had been scaled back noticably.

It is a good challange for us to give our presentation in Spanish and we are fortunate to have Camila on our team who provides essential support in getting our presentation in good Spanish form.

At three thirty we make the short walk over to home of Francisco (an employee of Suma Marka) to pick up the filter components we had stored there since it is close to the University of San Carlos.  From Francisco´s house to the university is just about a block.  The University of San Carlos is a private university and in located in a three story building that sits among other three story buildings on one of the many very narrow streets in Puno.  The founder of the Peruvian NGO Suma Marka we are working with is an environmental engineer Javier Bojorquez who also teaches courses in environmental engineering at the University of San Carlos.

We enter the building to a large vestabule that is bussling with activity and are guided to the back of the building to a moderate sized auditorium.  At this point there are only a few people in the auditorium who are putting the final touches on preparing it for the presentation.  Within fifteen minutes the room has filled to standing room only and it appears that there are well over one hundred persons in attendance.

The staff of the Chiynaya Foundation start off and are well received by the audience.  Next is Javier and his presentation is done in an interactive fashion with his students that are among those in attendance.  The presentation has gone very well to this point and now the EWB segment is up.  Camila and Dominic copresent the first part giving the history of EWB-USA and the UC Berkeley Chapter.  They present supperbly and seamlessly transition – as planned - to bring Steven´s segment up.  Steven gives the outline of available technologies used to remove arsenic from drinking water and a brief explanation of process of ranking the available technologies and selection of the preferred alternative for the pilot study.  Steven then transitioned to Phillipe who gave a detailed explanation of how the filter processes arsenic laiden water.  Jared then gave a detailed explanation of what each layer of the filter is composed of and what its purpose is.

The presentation overall was very well received by the audiance and the UC Berkeley team´s portion came off very well.  The team had a very short time to prepare for this and to give it in Spanish and do it well was very fulfilling for all of us.  Following the presentation there was a good Q&A session.  Before leaving the auditorium to go to dinner we took time to take many group photos and talk with students, faculty, administrators as well on others in the community who had attended the presentation.  We were even served hot chocolate to warm us against the chill of altiplano night.

The dinner conversation this night had a lot of energy as we celebrated the good work we had accomplished this day.  As we had walked to dinner we say the candle light procession of the Aymara marchers winding its way through Puno in a dignafied and peaceful manner.

But the team´s work was still not done.  Jared, Camila, Phillipe and Dominic attended a meeting the Red Interqourum after dinner.  This was the group we had spent the previous Sunday with when we had just arrived in Puno from Cusco.  The meeting went very well and the Red Interqourum requested that the arsenic presentation we had just given at the University be given to there group on Friday night.  We discussed with Suma Marka and the Chijnaya Foundation and decided this would be very positive in helping to get the word out on the issue of arsenic in groundwater in the Puna area.

When we finally got to bed this night we all were ready for a good night´s sleep and at least one of us hoped to hear the angels playing music in the morning…….

Build Day #1

Before I talk about our first build day, I have a rant to get off my chest:

7:15 AM IS NOT A TIME FOR MARCHING BAND PRACTICE.
If I had to put together a list of activities acceptable for 7:15 AM, it would probably include:

• Sleeping
• Dreaming
• Waking up
• Taking a shower
• Eating breakfast
• Going for a morning walk
• Going back to sleep

Assembling a group of 5th graders, giving them drums, trumpets and cymbals and then instructing them to play the same monotonous rythym for an hour is NOT what you do at 7:15 AM, especially if you are right outside my window. La banda de diablitos!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh goreadabookorsomethingquiet!

Whew, alright I´m done.

Today we started building the filters!

We met Javier, Heather, and her two interns from Pomona college: Sophie and Allie at the Suma Marka headquarters ¨two blocks¨ away from our hotel. We brought all of our filter materials over to the regional health office headquarters where we had our meeting the day before. When we arrived, we were surprised to see many of the people from the meeting (doctors, nurses, biologists, health officials, and engineers) already there waiting to help build the filters with us! It was really cool to spend the day working together with such a diverse amount of people in order to achieve the common goal of constructing filters to provide clean water. The Peruvian officials who we shook hands with and gave business cards to the day before took off their suit jackets and rolled up their sleeves as we got ready to work.

In order to put together working filters, we had to prepare and wash all of our materials. We split up into small groups to complete the following tasks:

• Prepare appropriate sand by seperating fine and coarse grains, straining to remove silt, washing with water, detergent and bleach.

• Prepare the iron filings by cutting/breaking metal scrap into small pieces, double-washing with detergent, and then soaking in diluted chlorine bleach.
• Preparing the charcoal layer by mashing up large pieces of charcoal into thumb-size pieces

• Cutting up polyester cloth into small squares to allow water to pass through and keep out sand
• Breaking up bricks we found lying around the side of the building into 2-3 centimeter chunks and then disinfecting with diluted chlorine bleach.
• Cleaning and disinfecting the three filter pots
• Drilling four .5 cm holes at the bottom of our filter pots to allow water to pass from the first and second filter pots to the third.
• Travelling to the local metal shop to order a stand in which to place the filter system.

The work was long and tedious under the hot Peruvian sun, but we were treated to some snacks and lunch by the Regional Health Office, who were very nice and appreciative of us being there.

By the end of the day, we had successfully prepared all of our materials and grouped everything to be ready for assembly tomorrow once our stands are ready for pick-up from the metal shop.

On the walk back from the DIRESA regional health center, we were lucky to spot a rare Peruvian lamborghini!

In another turn of fortunate events, Jared and I were able to tame and teach two Peruvian bear/ guinea pig hybrids to pose for a picture with us! Fue increible!

Back at our hotel for the evening, we are now going to focus on preparing for our talk at the Universidad Privada San Carlos. Heather Williams and her two Research Assistants will begin the talk by speaking about the history of arsenic contamination in Peru and around the world, with it´s associated health risks. Then Javier will speak about the work his Non-Governmental Agency (NGO) is doing to tackle the problem of arsenic in the altiplano of Peru surrounding Lake Titicaca. Finally, our group will talk about EWB and different intervention methods available to tackle arsenic, giving an in-depth description of our pilot filter design and it´s qualities of being low cost, made of local materials, and ease of use.

It’s Business Time!

It was about 6:30am when the alarms and the music from a kid’s marching band from the school next to Maria Angola’s hotel woke us up. Today was the first day that we were at the Sumamarka headquarters. Looking sharp, we met Heather at the entrance of our hotel. She explained that the office was about 2 blocks far away, which it turn into about 7 blocks up the hill.To catch up our breath we drank some coca leaves tea, and chatted for a bit.The first meeting was supposed to take place at 9am but everything was delayed and we ended up skipping it. Javier the Peruvian engineer and the head of the Suma Marka NGO finally appeared and took us to where the second meeting took place: the Hospital of Puno and the headquarters of DIRESA the local ministry of health.

The EWB team arrived and waited for about 10 minutes until the room for the meeting was ready. More than twenty people with different interests and careers were present.The meeting started with a brief introduction of who the organizations involved in this project and the main activities of the team for this week. It was Steven’s turn to explain to the audience how the pilot filters will be made, the materials needed and the basic chemistry involved. His presentation went well and was made in Spanish.

After the project proposal was made the doctor from Huata started to ask questions. His biggest concern was the fact that the project did not explore in depth the social and health consequences of the introduction of the pilot filters in the communities of Huata, Carancas and Coata. Biomarkers such as blood, urine and hair samples were proposed as a further study como tambien an epidemiological analysis of the local population.The monitoring periods, the different concentrations of arsenic in superficial and tubular wells according the season of the year were also discussed.The acceptance of health authorities exceeded our expectations and the meeting was a successful interchange of ideas to improve and make the best of this project.

We headed to our hotel to change into less fancy clothes and met Heather, Allie and Sophie her interns, and Javier at a place named Chaya en la calle Libertad.  We ate a traditional peruvian menu meal for 8 soles each, chuno soup (with potatoes, intestines and stomach!), cebada drink, chicharron de pollo with rice and potatoes and for dessert dulce de membrillo.

The plan for the afternoon was to get the materials for the pilot filters. The market  was full of animals, colors, textures,fruits, and everything that we needed. The scavenger hunt started!!We bought ceramic pots, coal,and cloth.

Peru has a very high variety of potatoes. I was looking to some of them and asked a quechua lady selling them if I could take a picture of her. She said yes, but her aunt got upset and told Dominic and me that her face costs 100 dollars. While we were walking to the market, the same woman found me looking at papas negras, amarillas y moradas and shouted: Are you betraying me? Hahahaha

At this point, we decided to split into two groups: Philippe, Francisco (Chemical Engineer) and myself had the task to pick up some iron cuttings at a mechanic near the pier. The pier conducted us to the Lake Titicaca. The bay was covered of totora( Schoenpledctus californicus)  a type of bulrush which the communities use to build mattresses,boats, to feed the animals and to cook some dishes too.

Dominic, Steven, Jared and Javier went to the Universidad Privada San Carlos . The president welcomed them and he was very excited about the conference that we will give to students and members of the community on Wednesday. He even offered them some hot chocolate and pan dulce. They walked back tot he Sumamarka’s headquarters and met Philippe and me at the hotel.

At dinner after enjoying an international meal, we got some chocolate fondue!!

EL FIN

-Camila

A Day in Chucuito

Sorry for the late post; this was for Sunday 6/12

Our plan for the day was to meet up with a local group of students who are members of the ‘Red Interquorum’, a South American environmental group with chapters all over the country.  We started the day off with an interesting “bus” ride from Puno to Chucuito, a small town in a peninsula on Lake Titicaca.    These buses are little minivans called ‘combis’ and we crammed 19 passengers inside.  Dominic used his contortionist skills just to fit inside.

We had a great day with our new Peruvian friends which started out with a tour of Chucuito.  We stopped by the Templo de la Fretilidad  which is an old church built by the Spaniards to convert the locals.   We stuck around for a portion of the Sunday service and then headed outside to the garden of fertility which featured phallus stone structures of various sizes.

Afterwards, we went in the back of the church to set up a volleyball court on a blacktop, holding the posts with rocks.  The engineers without borders had a distinct height advantage which translated into an almost unbroken winning streak!  After a short break to enjoy the view of lake Titicaca, we joined in on a soccer game that had started while we were gone.  We had been wondering how altitude was affecting us, and only a few steps into the game, it was clear that there was a serious lack of oxygen up here.  Even if we were winded, the game was a great way to get to know people from the ‘Red Interquorum’.

Under the Church's archways in Chucuito.

Many ‘last goals’ later, we made our way up the hill to a fish farm where we sat in the grass and had lunch that our hosts had prepared.  Somebody had brought up a guitar and most of the group broke into song as we passed around bottles of Inca Kola and mandarin oranges.  The entire group was so full of energy and enthusiastic that it didn’t take long after lunch that a new game started and people were running around the fish pools trying to avoid being tagged by a ball.  When we finally got tired of games, we went back down the hill and had a local specialty called Watia to finish off our lunch.  To prepare this dish, Puneños (People of Puno) build a makeshift oven of stones and earth in which they start a fire.  Then, they place the potatoes in the oven and collapse the oven over them, letting them bake in the smoky heat of the pile of stones and earth.  They then spread out the baked potatoes on a colorful blanket and let everybody have at it.  We peeled the potatoes with our hands and tried to keep the muddy peels from getting the white potatoes black.  To spice it up a little, we passed Huancaina sauce and cheese around.  To get back to Puno, we packed back into ‘combis’ and caravaned over.

After such an action packed day in the blazing sun of the altiplano, we were all exhausted so we walked back to the hotel and had a nap.  A few hours later, Camila finally received her luggage which had been lost by the airlines on the way to Cusco.

For dinner, we went to a tourist restaurant that served local specialties featuring duck, alpaca, quinoa, chicken, fava beans, and of course, potatoes.  A group of dancers and musicians performed traditional dances and music on a stage at the front of the restaurant.

Traditional Peruvian Dances during dinner.

First Night in Puno

Posted by Jared

We woke up bright and early to catch our bus to Puno.  We spent the majority of the day taking in the sights along the way and catching up on some sleep from our long overnight flight.  We made a brief stop along the way and I got pretty intimate with a baby alpaca.

We drove through the flat, dusty city of Juliaca about one hour before arriving in Puno.  As we pulled into Puno, we were all impressed with the spectacular view of the city overlooking Lake Titicaca.

After getting settled into our rooms, we met up with Heather Williams (from the Chijnaya Foundation) and two of her students for some pizza in a castle.  We discussed our plans for the upcoming week and decided to spend some time with some students from the local university to

discuss our project and make some new friends.  After dinner we explored the streets before calling it a night.  We sat in front of a church and watched some local musicians play for a while.

It’s getting late and we are getting up early so goodnight.