11th SuSanA meeting in Rio

The park of Catete

I have lived in Latin America long enough to learn that when you are a foreigner here, odd things tend to happen to you that are completely unexpected.  In the past I have written about the time that I was just sitting in the main square of San Salvador and ended up at a lucha libre (Latin professional wrestling) event or the time that I was hanging out in another main square in Guatemala and ended up having dinner at a Mormon family´s house.  So when I walked into CENCA one morning and immediately swung into a meeting and was asked if I wanted to go to Brazil for a ecological sanitation (EcoSan) conference, I was not not surprised because that is how my life so often seems to fall.

Most of the South Americans

So only a couple days of resting up after being in La Oroya, I was at CENCA getting ready to fly off to Brazil.  If you have ever spent time with Latins, you will find them to be very relaxed about time schedules.  And in 99% of the Latin world, that is completely fine, unfortunately international airports run on a tighter schedule.  So, after a meeting ran late, stopping at 2 banks and arriving at the airport 45 minutes before takeoff, we got through security, customs, and meandering through the duty free stores and to the gate right as boarding began.  This was far from the end of the travel confusion.  Upon arriving at our layover in Sao Paulo,  Jose Luis and I accidentally went through customs only to find out that our flight was in fact an international one (because the plane would continue on to Paris).  So I have an extra set of stamps in my passport and now have seen lots of the Sao Paulo airport.  Be prepared, if you go there, IT IS A CONFUSING AIRPORT.  But after a long day of travel, we did arrive at our hostel at around 1am local time.

My Coworker at CENCA Jose Luis

In the morning, we awoke to the world of Rio.  It was hot.  I am just finishing a summer in Lima and Rio was hotter.  I think that had I been coming from the northern hemisphere to this event, I would have died, but instead, I wore long pants and close toed shoes all weekend (I was also sporting my new knock off Lacoste polos that I got for 23 soles a piece).  The part of town we were in is called Catate.  It is a nice little part of town with cobblestone streets and the metro right there.  Pretty cool.

A bar in Lapa

The event took up the majority of our time in Rio (I guess that is how it is supposed to be, right?).  3 long days of discussing poop, but in reality it was very good.  We had presentations by various experts on the subject of EcoSan from all around the world, long discussions on the future of EcoSan in Latin America, and lots of coffee breaks (where we received the smallest coffee cups ever, like being given shots of normal coffee).  It was a great time to work with other sanitation workers from around the region and world to see what is being done and how it affects the populations with whom we are working.  I learned a lot and hopefully will be able to find ways to better incorporate some of the ideas into our processes at CENCA and in the way I live.  If you want to know more about the specifics of the conference send me an email or click this link to see the wrap up of the event.

At the conference

One thing that really struck me during this event was the general desires of those attending to have the local populations be involved in the process.  I think that everyone there very strongly believed that it was not our job to push this form of sanitation onto the population, but rather to enable them to make the decision.  This is extremely difficult because the technology that we are trying to promote takes a little more work than conventional systems that simply flush away the your problems and make someone else deal with it.  Everyone is taught that feces and urine are dirty and that they are scary.  In many cases this is the case.  Human feces is a extremely dangerous carrier of many pathogens, but at the same time these deposits are so full of usable nutrients that are being completely lost because of our fear of what comes out of our own bodies.  It doesn't help that every single government in the world still puts flushing, piping and dumping away waste as the highest form of sanitation.  In many situations, EcoSan is an impossible or at least difficult goal because of the structures of the zone, but as with so many other issues in the world, it is necessary that everyone looks at other options and seeks ways to deal with problems that is not conventional, but rather is sustainable and looks toward the future.

Our Metro station

Aside from the conference, I did get the wonderful opportunity to see much more of what Rio has to offer.  I attended a concert of Seu Jorge at a fantastic venue in the district of Lapa.  Jose Luis and I saw early morning swimmers (we think training for triathlons) at the famous Copacabana beach.  We rode up to Sugar Loaf.  We stood below Cristo el Redenor.  We saw a fútbol match between Flamengo and Botafogo (2 of the biggest Rio teams) and we swam at the famous Leblon and Impanema beaches.  So look at the following pictures and know that when the Olympics are there in 2016, it is going to be one great party.

Flamengo fans light flares

View from Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar)

Graffiti

Seu Jorge Concert

Cristo el Redenor (being refurbished in preparation for the Olympics and World Cup)

La Oroya with Colorado College

After returning from Mancora, I turned in a series of 4 long days at CENCA translating a 54 page book on ecological sanitation from English to Spanish.  If you´re interested let me know and I´ll send it to you.  You will know more than you ever thought necessary about poop.

First Day Mixers

Then, another group came, this time from Colorado College.  They came through their schools annual work study trip (I forget the actual title, but something along those lines).  They came with two main purposes, one to get to know La Oroya and the people that live there and two to aid in a study of the levels of toxins in and around the city.  Due to my preparations to go to Brazil, I was only with the group for the weekend, but it was a great experience.  I am so glad to see a world where there are more and more people who are interested in working to better the lives of others. 

Shirly leads a dynamic

Every time that I enter La Oroya (from now on, just LO), I have such a strange feeling.  It is always amazing to see this city that has been some utterly disrespected and trashed by man but then to enter the office and to meet people who are so filled with love and caring.  Every time that I am welcomed by the enormous smiles and great laughter of Esther (the director of the NGO with whom we work in La Oroya) never ceases to make me so glad to be there and it was most definetly no different when we walked in with 17 instead of just Jed and I.

Matt (our expert) sets up the sampling equipment

Our first day in LO was basically just a day to get acclimated.  No matter if you live at sea level (like me) or in the Rockies (like the CC kids) it takes a little bit to get used to the cold and complete lack of air up there.  This also gave us a great opportunity just to be with our hosts.  We played games, did little dynamics and really laid the foundations for real relationships that were going to be formed during the time there.

2 kids from La Oroya take samples

On saturday, we did our study.  3 groups were sent out throughout LO and the surrounding areas to take samples of water and soil.  One of the faculty of CC that was with the group is a world leading lead expert and was conducting a small experiment on the contamination in the region.  My group took various samples from a special center for children with elivated lead levels, the source of LO's water, a playground, a soccer field, a clothes washing center, and a few others.  As the peliminary results have come back, the levels were most definetly above what they should be and will require further study to really see what is going on and then how those toxins are entering and affecting human bodies.  But during our day of sampling, it was a great time for gringos and peruvians alike to come together to enjoy the process and look for a brighter future for us all.

Some of the Doe Run company housing

On sunday, we took a day to go to the Rock Forrest near the city of Cerro de Pasco in the state of Junin.  It was a great day to see the amazing rock formations, see the various shapes that had come out of them (ranging from a praying bear to a turtle to snoopy).  Our guide was a local who was very proud of his land and his culture.  He showed us the aincent rock paintings that were in caves and explained how the men of that period had killed llamas.  Then we ran across a herd of llamas and realized that if they are that hard to take picures of, then they must have been really hard to kill.

Early the next morning, I had to return to Lima to prepare for my next trip, but I am so thankful for my time with the CC people and I know that the rest of their time in Peru was fruitful.  I hope that as they left they had strong connections with this wonderful country and city and will seek justice in whatever means they can.

Mancora

So, since we were halfway through the year, the 6 YAVs and Debbie had to deal with the trying and very job of spending a week in the beach town of Los Organos so that visas could be renewed.  It was a rough life, but it needed to be done.  So we loaded up for the 16hr bus ride up north and then a little moto-taxi ride to what turned out to be heaven on earth.  The location truly felt like we were on a reality TV show because the quality of everything.  It was a fantastic 2 story house and I (being the only male) got a master bedroom that pointed straight out toward the ocean (which was only 20m away).  There was the pool, the green grass, hammocks, a bbq, and of course, the continual crash of the pacific ocean. We also developed a sport of crab catching.  Anna was by far the most excited and best, but nothing like watching a bunch of college graduates running around after animals smaller than your cell phone to make you laugh.

Like I said, there was a purpose, we had to go up to Ecuador for a day to renew visas (Peruvian tourist visas are good for 183 days, so we needed new ones to last the rest of the year).  We woke up each morning to devotionals given by us YAVs.  All were rooted in biblical texts and concepts that were impacting the presenter at that point.  For mine, we focused on peace and justice.  For years, I have done a type of yoga/stretching/meditation/prayer kind of activity.  So for my reflection, we started out with 15 minutes of a series of yoga moves I learned by watching podcasts (I know that is not the best way to learn it, but if you´re interested, look up some good videos that can be downloaded from the itunes music store, just search "yoga podcast," I like Yoga Download).  My mind usually wanders during prayers, so in order to maintain focus I had us focus on a mantra "God is justice (breathing in), God is peace (out), teach me justice (in), teach me peace (out)."  So as we worked our way through the movements, I felt myself focusing on these two concepts and how they can be found but still need searching.  Then we relaxed into a time of meditation on the verses peace: Zec 7:9-10 and justice: 1 Peter 3:11.  So we laid there, ignoring the wind blowing through the palms, the waves crashing, and an ant or two crawling over our legs to search within ourselves what justice and peace really meant in our lives and where we wanted to go with it.  I really do feel that these are some of the most important elements of our lives as Christians.  So give it a try or at least think about the concepts and let me know what you think.

For the rest of our time together we enjoyed cooking for ourselves (mon: creamy pasta and cookie dough, wed: curry vegetables, thurs: fajitas and "queso", fri: Sushi and stir fry), getting sunburnt, spending a day in Mancora itself, laughing, playing way too much "nerts" and just enjoying being a team.  It will be a week that will stick with me for a long time.

I don´t really live here

The month of March has been the craziest, busiest month that I can remember.  This means that I have so much that I want to share with the world, but also understand a little bit about attention spans.  So in order to help you the reader to not be overwhelmed by a dissertation on my life and to hopefully keep me from just blowing through events, I am going to write a series of blog entries over the next days and week to catch up, but have each one be on only one subject/event.  So enjoy and please let me know what you think as we go along.

Also, I have tried to minimize how much I talk about fundraising on this blog, but we are approaching benchmarks and if you can help out, that would be more than fantastic.  If not, I still love you.  To donate, just click here, scroll down to my name and then follow the instructions.  Thanks!

1 x 2 x 3 x 4 = Me

Wow, so I'm 24 and halfway through my YAV year. That is unreal on both levels. I believe this was my 6th birthday outside the US. For my entire childhood, it always snowed on my birthday, HS, was always in Mexico on AMOR mission trips, College was just a grab bag, and now I´m here.

I do not understand why our culture always asks "how does it feel to be

24?" (or whatever age you are turning) Why do we ask that? IT FEELS EXACTLY THE SAME AS 23 AND 364 DAYS. Why does a semi-arbitrary (I didn´t choose the date, it just happened) date mean that we should somehow feel different? I see more value in questions like "what did you learn while you were 23?" or something that actually asks about my life.

Sorry about that rant. Feburary 12th marked the halfway point for us (sept 1 - July 27: 329 days). I think that one is a little more strange. I am now on the back side of this trip. I really feel like I just got here. I know that it has been an enernity since that day we six boarded a plane in NY for her, but at the same time it really feels like yesterday. But what have I learned during my time here? I have learned that I do feel really at home in other countries, espicially latin ones. I know that I have said this before, but I love walking down the street or riding the bus because it just feels so natural. I really enjoy this type of work. It is hard because since I´m a temporary volunteer, in lots of ways, I´m not as involved as

others (espicially because I am splitting time between two organizations), but I love what we do and feel like it is actually doing things for the good of humanity. I do know that wherever I go, I do need a strong community. I have a good back up here, but don´t feel completly enveloped in this world yet.

I have set becoming more invovled in my life here as a goal for the rest of this year, but one of the challanges to that is that I travel a lot. General laws of physics say that if you are not actually in a place it makes it more difficult to be there. But that is not a complaint. I am so blessed to be able to see so much of this country. A prime example of this was the trip that I just finished with a group of people from 1st Presbyterian of NYC. They arrived on sunday

and we took a tour of Lima (including the photo exposition from the conflict period, chifa, plaza de armas, and parque de aguas). Then monday morning we headed out to Huancavelica. Tuesday was spent getting used to the altitude and had a few meetings with members of the El Mecurio cooperative. The group discussed fair trade and the group´s involvement. I personally spent my time hanging out with the artisans joking, learning a few words of quechua, and watching as they knitted monkeys. We then ventured up to see part of the community of Santa Barbara (in which the majority of El Murucrio lives) and got a first had look at the landslides that have been plaguing the andean region of Peru for the last 2 months.

Wednesday - Friday we spent the day in the community of Wayanay, which is a small village in the middle of the andes. When I am there, I half expect Frodo and Gandalf to come walking through. The community truly opened their arms wide for all of us. We were blessed with mountains of food consisting of Guinea Pig (cuy), trout, sheep, and of course, potatoes. They showed off their knitting, looms, health center, and even gave the group an opportunity to take home a few of their products. Then on the 2nd day we all worked together on a reforrestation project to help protect the community from landslides and the 3rd was all about smoke reducing stoves. I really enjoyed the

planting day because it involved the whole community and the whole group working together, on their knees in the middle of the andean sun. Most white hands were covered with gloves while the brown, wrinkled, callosed peruvians both dug holes and put the saplings in the ground. It was a moment in which both cultures opened up and sought a connection that would not be found any other way. At the end of the day there were 300 more little trees in the ground, hopefully leading to a more secure future, but there were also more openess, care, and knowledge of others planted in the planters, and hopefully that will lead to even more in the future.

To hear a podcast about this trip: website or

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

¿Ya has acostumbrado?

Today is one of those days that you have to step back and remember, my life doesn't revolve around technology. I laugh because when I decided to become a YAV, one of my reasons to do so was to simplify my life. Instead, I find myself writing this blog entry this morning in word because one computer, the one that has the document that I am supposed to be working on, won´t turn on and now that I´m on another, the internet isn't working on it. So, you all get my frustrations instead. Oh well, I guess a Thursday morning with my coffee and some typing is probably good for my soul. Also, to anyone who doesn´t read this blog in its actual space (google reader, etc,), check out the real site because I´m quite proud of my map that shows where I have blogged about druing this over 2 year run we have so far.

It is strange to look back and realize that I have now been here in Peru for 5 months. That is a long time and in some ways it doesn't seem real. In some ways, I feel like I just got here and in other ways, I have completely forgotten what the US is like. Whenever I meet people here, one of their first questions that they ask me (after the standard name, where from, “oh, I have a cousin in…”) is “ya has acostumbrado” or “have you accustomed yet.” My answer is always yes (well, it is “sí” but you know what I mean). I have gotten used to being here. To he heat of January. To the general lack of sunshine. To the crowded streets, dirty facades of the buildings (since there is no rain to wash them clean), to the cobradors who cannot understand what I say when I tell them where I want to go, to the prices of what things should be when they try to overcharge me (in my frugality, I am learning fair prices for everything and have learned to accept what I should pay and just go with that rather than ALWAYS trying to bargain something down). I love having bread and butter for breakfast and dinner and then a solid lunch in between. I have gotten used to chifa almost once a week. I have gotten used to my work schedules and am generally pretty busy. I feel at home with my family and love meal times when we are all together to laugh. In all, I have more that accustomed myself to Peru, I now am at home here.

It is kinda strange saying that because yesterday, I got my plane tickets back to the states finalized. I will be landing at SeaTac at 1:22 pm PDT on the 27th of July. I know that is almost 6 months away, and that is more than half of my total time in this country, but it is strangely tangible now. Previously, we didn't have them set and it was nice because in some ways, it really felt like I was going to be here forever. But, it is set and I have a lot left to do. In this second half of the year, I am excited to welcome 3 groups to the country and help them see why I love this country, to have my Callie and Scotty (sister and best friend) come and hike the Inca Trail with the YAVs in may, to keep at my jobs, to make more trips to La Oroya, be more and more connected to my workplaces, to find ways to really connect with my host family on a even deeper and meaningful way than evening soap operas and rummikube, to put down my laptop and pick up a book, to finally buy a knee brace and start running again, and just find ways that when I leave this country, I do feel like I left a part of myself here. I know that I am “acostumbrado” to Peru, but in the next 6 months, I really look forward to really trying to learn how to better become Peruvian.

How do you feel about where you live? Are you accustomed? Do you feel at home? What does home even mean to you?

On a side note, I have a fund-raising benchmark coming up. If you have a few extra bucks or something, I could really use it, just click here. No worries if you can´t. I understand that times are tight for everyone. I love you all. Thanks for reading and I look forward to sharing even more with you all.

Pictures

1. Door near CENCA institutional workshop in San Bartolo
2. Sunset in San Bartolo
3. Waterfront in San Bartolo
   

Vacation and Bolivia wrap up

So it has been a while since I blogged, but mostly due to travel. Here is a quick wrap up on the last few weeks.

After Christmas, I left on 2 weeks of vacation in which I spend the first week (all of vacation was with Erika and almost all with Stacie) in Arequipa, which is in the south of the country. E and I went to a little nothing of a town and saw some petroglyphs and a really pretty valley. Then we met up with S and the rest of the YAVs and hung out in the city itself for a few days. There was a beautiful convent there and it was relaxing. We then went to the Cocla Canyon, which is the second deepest canyon in the world. We hiked for 3 straight days of 6 hrs+ per day of hiking and spent new years in the bottom of it. New Years eve we swam in this natural hot spring made where a geyser and the river met and by the time we got to the hostel, we were so tired that we went to be at 8:30 and woke up at 11:50 to say "happy new year" before going back to sleep. Then began the 2 day trek back to Lima and then on to a city called Tingo Maria which is the entry to the Amazon. There Erika got sick and so Stacie and I just cruised around and saw everything we could. It was really fun, but sad to not have E out.

Then we went back to Lima with a quick stop in another town first. We then had 2 days with all of us before the girls went off to some other town for a few days before they headed off to Argentina. I had a day of meetings and then left for Bolivia.

Travel to Bolivia took about 32 hours and included 2 taxis, 1 plane, 1 van, 1 collectivo (rented car), and 1 overnight bus. Kinda ridiculous. The conference in Bolivia was really good. It was attended by us, the Red Uniendo Manos of Bolivia, the Bolivian Mennonites, and some people from the US. There were in total 16 presentations on topics ranging from water as a human right to a people´s movement against climate change. They were mostly pretty interesting. We had a fair on the differing topics in the city of Sucre, and in our closing meeting formed a network of young environmentalists. There is one international coordinator (who is my coworker at CENCA) and 2 national coordinators in each country (of which i am 1). That meeting was so long and boring. We argued about what to call ourselves for over an hour. It was really great because at the conference, 2 of my friends from Whitworth were there along with my fellow whitworth YAV. so it was pretty incredible to have 4 people from such a small school meeting up at a conference in Bolivia (3 of us went to Central America too). It was so good just to catch up and talk about the "good old days."

Then we went to Puno (Lake Titicaca on the Peru side) and went out tho the floating islands and did some shopping. For more on the congress, check out the podcast, Kuzka. We did an edition specifically on it. (click this link or just search "kuzka" on the itunes music store). Note: the podcast has been such a success that we need to upgrade our account, and that is being more difficult than expected. If the podcast isn't there now, check back soon, it will be!

In all, I have basically been on the road for 3 and a half weeks straight and will be gone all week next week too so i´m enjoying being at home for 6 days.

I am very excited and motivated to be involved this year. I´m happy with my life and really want to find ways to become even more involved. That may be a little difficult because I will be on the road for basically half the time until Easter (and then still lots more after that). But in all, I feel really good about where I´m at.






Film Pictures
Other Pictures
Bolivia Pictures


Captions:

1. Pieced together view of El Mistí (mt. to the right) above Arequia at Sunset
2. Us all at the convent in Arequipa
3. New Years smiles at the bottom of the canyon
4. Stacie and Joe in a cave, trying not to get hit in the face by bats
5. Peru delegation after dancing Whylash dances
   
6. Reed Boat on Lake Titicaca
7. Sky above Puno