Assessment

Julio looked down at his hands and rubbed the tips of his fingers experimentally over the tough flesh covering his palms. They were peeling and scaly. Looking up at me he said, "Just as well, now they will be tougher for next time."

While I was sleeping in until 7 and eating breakfast that was prepared for me with food from Iquitos, a good 20 hours upstream, Julio had spent the morning cleaning fish that he had caught in the river, leaving his hands scoured and raw. I looked down at my own soft pink hands that I have always considered relatively callused and frowned.

In a culture that is hunter gatherer based, there is little free time on a daily basis for tasks other than hunting and gathering. Full days are devoted to gathering food and preparing it for consumption. As there is no means of refrigeration in these communities, this process is a daily chore. I remember Julio going on a long diatribe about how most people that come to visit the research station just don't understand how much time is spent doing these things everyday, because "We don't have ice boxes, so things don't keep!"

Working for Project Amazonas, Julio is lucky and he knows it. I asked if he liked his job. "Of course, otherwise I would have to leave my wife and children for most of the year." The men that leave to work for the logging industry, if they come back at all, often return missing limbs or carrying malaria.

As a part of making a living, most rural Peruvians are sustenance farmers, the majority of the people living in these communities have little to no money to spare. Because of this, it seems unlikely that without good reason, they would be convinced to spend it on building a biogas digester when collecting firewood, which is a sustainable practice for the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian rainforest, is a much cheaper and easier way of providing a source of fuel.

A source of fertilizer would be much easier to market, and it would be much more useful.

As a demonstration of soil quality in the rainforest, you can simply dig a hole and take a look-see. The very top layer of soil is a dark loam of leaf litter. From there down is sandy clay...or clay-y sand, depending. This is terrible for growing crops.

The best solution, based on our assessment, would be to develop a cheap sustainable way of creating fertilizer using the biogas digester as a starting point. The only benefit of building a biogas digester (assuming the gas isn't a viable option), as opposed to a compost pile, is Nitrogen sequestering. In a compost pile, nitrogen leaches away into the surrounding soil, but in a digester it is conserved. A compromise of these practices would be to develop a contained composting unit that would be cheap and easy to build.

The logical next step, in following with the organizational of goals of Future Scientist, would be to create an educational program that would work in tandem with this technology. Future projects could focus on sustainable agriculture and water sanitation. By providing these tools, Future Scientist is aiming to give initiative to the global community, whether it be in Peru, or in the United States. With the help of social entrepreneurs, individuals such as yourselves, reader, this can be made possible. Thanks for all of your help and for reading this blog. I hope there was some learning involved on your side too.

You can visit our website at

futurescientist.org to follow our progress.

Please consider making a donation

to help support our cause!

Finished at last!

After three months living in the jungle, we finally got the digester up and running as a source of fertilizer. We spent a day squelching through a bucket of kitchen waste with our bare hands to get it started. Two parts water for every one part bananas peels etc...

Saying goodbye to the Julio, the caretaker, and his family was the hardest pat of leaving for me. We went to watch a last game of foot

ball at the nearby village and I spent the entire time getting chased and chasing his kids. Here is a picture of us attempting shaky face, a entirely diverting game that involves a camera and wobbly jowls.

I also got to go swimming in a cocha, which is spanish for seasonal lake, and exists only during the rainy season. We took the boat and had to hack our way through some water plants clogging the hidden entrance (at least I would never have found it). I couldn't believe we made it through, but I was amazed at what was on the other side.

A vast expanse of water filled with floating water hyacinths with delicate lavender blooms. Pink dolphins, or bufayos, dipped and jumped, breaking the stillness of the surface, and macaws flitted through the azure sky dotted with drifting clouds. It was a hidden paradise.

Frances returned home a little ahead of schedule, and I stuck around in Iquitos for a week, and met up with Fernando, the manager of Project Amazonas in Peru. We are planning on working with the university students in Iquitos as a part of involving the community and furthering the sustainability of our efforts in Peru. Apparently my Spanish has gotten a lot better! Anyway, I left with many new friends, and a desire to return some day, hopefully sooner rather than later. Adios Amigos!

Laying the Foundation

March 20, 2010

It was easy enough to decide where we plan to place the biogas digester, but it is a quite a different story making a solid foundation in the clay filled hill that we had selected. Brigitte and I decided to locate the biogas digester just outside the kitchen for easy access and use. The land surrounding the building slopes quickly downwards so the first order of business was to create a level and solid foundation for the 1130 gallon tank and all the degrading food that it will hold.

After debating a multitude of options for supporting the big lug, it was decided to dig a hole in the hill to level the ground, set the foundation in cement, and build a cylindrical wall to set the digester on top. Sounds basic enough, right? Well, let me tell you about the Amazonian soil: it is much less dirt and more like clay. Digging four feet into is trouble since it sticks to the shovel, so it is work to get it out of the soil and work to get it off the shovel...and don't get me started about the heat that we did all this digging in! Once that grueling work was done, we lay our sand to level the ground, drove some rebar into the ground to fortify the wall, set the first layer of bricks for the wall, and poured the cement for the floor. Foundation complete! Now let dry and onto building the wall!

Piping

March 13, 2010

Since the tank was made for storing potable water rather than for use as a biogas digester, the tank needed to be fit for its piping before it could even be taken outside to be set in place. The lid needed two holes drilled into it and the tank itself had two extra holes already in place that needed to be filled.

The two extra holes that needed filling proposed a bit of an initial problem since we had not anticipated pre manufactured holes in our tank. The problem was soon resolved with the rubber seals that came with the tank along with a few extra supplies we had on hand such as polymer glue and two-inch lids, we were able to devise a way to seal the holes.

The two holes in the lid are for the effluent for the decomposed material to come out. The first is a small hole for a one inch pipe to glide smoothly through without having discharge around the seal. This pipe will be releasing enriched liquid from the top of the tank to prevent it from getting too full. In order to make this happen, an ''L'' shaped pipe was constructed for the extra liquid at the top of the tank to flow through. Then a a hole was drilled in the lid and lined with natural rubber tubing and the long pipe was pushed through the hole. There was some guess work here to make the hole big enough for the pipe to slide freely, but not too big that the seal is no longer effective.

After doing this first hole, the second hole was a bit easier since we only had to get a two inch pipe to fit snugly with a rubber seal. The problem camewhen we went to attatch the valve that will release the decomposed food sludge. The ball valve we had purchased would not budge! So really, we now have a heavy pipe with a handle on it. We will need to go back to Iquitos to find a better valve.

Ode to Proyecto Amazonas

March 6th, 2010

Since the foundation of Future Scientist last year, Project Amazonas has been has been a helping hand and support every step of the way. From the early '90s and onward, this non-profit organization has been making a profound impact on many of the habitants in the Peru. They coordinate and run medical expeditions to rural communities, provide employment to locals, and give access to researchers. Future Scientist is now among the ranks or organizations and people it has helped, so we would like to take a moment to say thank you!

For our first project, when we installed solar panels and gave science based lessons at the orphanage, Project Amazonas provided the contacts to do this work. Now for this biogas digester project, this organization has provided us the means in which to do a wide range needs assessment of the area as well as a place to stay while doing our design work on the biogas digester. Thank you Project Amazonas!

Hopefully they will be able to make good use out of the digester we leave for them and perhaps Future Scientist can continue to work closely with them to continue to give back.

En la selva, en la noche

Four hours on the cheripita, a small uncovered metal boat, and one painful sunburn later, Frances and I were climbing the steep concrete block path up to Madre Selva, our home for the next two months. We drop our bags in the screened in enclosure we chose for sleeping, and make our way down to the kitchen to help unpack the food.

That done, we head back to begin the process of scattering our belongings.

Our sleeping house is basically a large screened in building with a bunch of wood frame beds lined up neatly inside. Frances chooses a bed on the far side of the room and I pick another one right next door. Mattress, sheets, pillows, a bug net for the bed, and it is starting to look pretty homey. Stretch sigh, and collapse.

A knock on the screen door followed by a soft "Hola?" interupts our lazing.

Frances and I bestir ourselves to find Julio, the caretaker of the research station, peering in from outside. We smile and invite him in and he looks at our set up and then at us. In a voice I can barely hear, he asks us if want something. A few stumbling exchanges later we find ourselves helping him set up a tent inside the building, into which we move our beds.

Now, this may seem a bit much, you know...a screened-in tent set up inside of a screened-in building. Well let me clear that up for you right now. IT IS NOT!


Night number one:

I lie on my back, prostrate in the heat. It is pitch black, like being in a cave, but despite this fact, my eyes are open and staring, roving aimlessly in the nothingness, as I try to track the various sounds. All around me, the nocturnal world is coming to life. Crickets are chirping, frogs are peeping, croaking and barking, and birds are hooting and trilling. This is not the cause of my roving eyeballs. Proximal noises, shuffling and scooting sounds coming from too close for comfort places.

And then... patter patter patter: the sound of fast moving feet. Above me...or below me? It sounds like it is on the surface of the tent. I bat at wall, making the whole tent sway and shudder. "What was that?" asks Frances, and a light comes on, blinding in the absolute darkness. I squint, listening still, "I thought I heard something on the side of the tent..." We both scoot forward on our bunks to tug at the zippered entrance, making sure it is closed all the way so that nothing can sneak in while we are asleep. A small measure of comfort in this strange environment. We lie back and eventually drift to sleep, the sounds of the jungle blending into the background.

Buenas noches en la selva.

The Hunt for Supplies

Frances and I sat down the other day and contemplated the feat of buying supplies. It went something like this:

Me: Frances, Necessitamos buy supplies!

Frances: Yo sais!

Me: Where should we go?

Frances: No sais! But we need to get them! Nooow!

Me: Yo sais!

Iquitos is a small city, but it seems vast and without limit when you need to find something specific. Hardware stores can be found on nearly every corner, but that doesn´t mean they have what you want. For instance, they might have a machete and some handy tools, and then some buttons and stickers, or candy. So, you could potentially walk to 10 different stores and still not find everything that you need. Which basically leaves you wandering around like an idiot. Now, imagine this added to the fact that Frances and I have the vocabulary of a toddler. Interesting.

Yesterday, we had a stroke of good fortune, or

maybe we sought it out and in turn were taken pity on....

It came in the shape of this fellow.

Caesar Peña.

Or, as we secretly refer to him when he is doing something valorous: our night in shining armor, who´s help has been absolutely indespensible to our project. KUDOS CAESAR!

He has worked wtih Project Amazonas as a translator for about 10 years, and we got to know him durng the medical boat trip. He speaks English and a few other languages to boot.

Caesar´s office is across the street from our hotel (how convienent), and knowing this, Frances and I ambled over, doing our best at nonchalant.

¨Hola Ceasar, que pasa?¨¨we say. A raised eyebrow and a frown, ¨Nada, commo estas?¨

We are fine (imagine us rocking onto our heels and twiddling our thumbs)! Smiles all around and nodding. Then, to keep from bursting, we spill our predicament. Caesar, nodds in all the right places as we tell of our woes and shakes his head at us. Whilst chuckling he flags down a motocarro.

Despite the confusion between pvc pipe for wires and pvc pipe for AGUA, finding the correct sizes, and locating gasket material, etc, we managed to find everything in two hours! MUY BUENO!

Frances rode with the rotoplast tank all the way back to the hotel. YEEE HAWW!

When we arrived at the entrance,

we thought...wait a second...(hands on side of face, OH MY!) this is NOT going to

fit in our room (note: I say this for effect, really we knew it going in to the situation).

Frances and I share a glance, a

glance that says PLEASE LET THE HOTEL TAKE PITY ON OUR SITUATION! It is a good

tactic. We ask, their eyes buldge, we look downcast, and they heave some signs. Crazy gringas! Some awkward fumbles and stumbles

later, and the large black tank is nestled conspicuously amongst the shrubberies in the courtyard.

GRACIAS A LA PASCANA and Caesar, we couldn´t have done it with out you!

Tomorrow, LA SELVA!

Dear readers, please stay tuned as we are headed out to the jungle and will not be able to

update the blog for a good period of time. BUT NEVER FEAR, there will be more to come at some point. Don´t fall off the edge of your seat! Until, I am Brigitte Cronier, and this is WIIILD Peru!

Madre Selve : Mother Jungle

During the medical boat excursion, we got to check out Madre Selva, the place we will call home for the next month and a half. This field station is owned by Project Amazonas and is located 90 river miles east of Iquitos on the south bank of the Rio Orosa. It neighbors Yagua Indian community of Comandancia which is approximately 20 minute boat ride away. This village has our only access to the outside world: a satellite phone that was recently installed by the government. We will also be trading with these locals for their delicious crop of corn, yuca, and camu-camu (a new favorite fruit of mine!)

There are places to hang hammocks and also beds to sleep in. I imagine I will hang my hammock for chilling in the middle of the day, but retreat to a screened bedroom in the evening. We will have a large kitchen to ourselves which will be great to cook in! Brigitte and I will quickly become fast friends with Julio, the grounds keeper, since he's got all the know-how of the area that he can impart upon us.

We also got to check out the scene where we are going to install the digester. There is plenty of space around the kitchen to put a large tank which is good and there is already a fish pond established that can immediately benefit from the by products of the digester. One problem that we will need to figure out is that the land around the kitchen becomes flooded during the rainy season so we will need to make sure the system can tolerate these conditions.

We leave on Thursday, tomorrow will be tying up the loose ends before the next leg of our adventure!

Assessment of Need

While the doctors were attending to their patients, Brigitte and I worked on compiling information for a needs assessment for the area. How are these people living now? What do they eat? Where do they poo? What do they want to see change in their current lifestyle and has any outside help been beneficial to them before?

On average we visited two villages a day which is quite significant since there is sometimes a two hour ride between communities and it is seriously too hot to work in the middle of the day. We visited 14 different villages spending time learning about their daily life, agriculture, health issues, income sources, education, town layout, hierarchy, etc. We talked to many people and played with children.

Coordinates were taken at the significant landmarks of the village. Each had a very similar set up and layout with all the houses lined along the water for close water source, a school and generator house(for the larger villages) established by the Peruvian government and sometimes there was a secondary school. Many of our hand drawn maps looked very similar.

We found that some of their main crop is yuca, bananas, papaya, and sugar cane. To earn money for the family, men leave the home to work in lumber yards which is a two day boat ride away from the village. This is also frequently how disease is berought back to the villages. Women stay home to care for the children and tend of the house. All villages had a primary school but many of the small ones did not have secondary schools. As a resuly, many people do not matriculate past the 6th grade because students need to be sponsored to live in the larger villages to continue studies.

We quickly learned where their bathrooms were when one of the medics asked for el baño and a child directed him behind the school and said, "Anywhere behind there is fine." I belive the doctor held it for several hours before we got back to the boat. We were all relieved to relieve ourselves!

The aid that has been provided by their government has been limited in its utility. For example, the Peruvian government installed toilets in many of these villages and now most of them are now used as flower pots, chicken coops, or just left to decay. I asked on child what one of these 'contraptions' was and she had no idea...she just shrugged and giggled.

So now that we have a better idea of the people, communities, and lifestyles, we can focus our design so that we can get people interested!

Life on La Ninita

La Ninita, a two story barge complete with bunk beds, a kitchen, and a roof for jumping off into the turbid waters below. For ten days we ate, slept and made merry aboard this vessel, as we traveled up and down the lengths of two large tributaries branching from the grande Amazon River. Breakfast was at 7 30 am, with endless amounts of fresh pressed fruit juice from any number of strange local fruits. Camu camu, monkey brains, mango, pinneapple, and gigantic passion fruit. YUM!

A soft bump heralded our arrival at every village, as the boat came sidling right up to the shore, along with the high pitched voices of children drifting hither tither through the windows. Our welcoming committee. The boat would dock right against the muddy bank and everyone would scramble off, stethescopes swinging.

The medical students and crew would set up shop in the school. A large concrete block building with filled with tiny desk and chairs. Large tupperwares of boxes filled with Tylenol, permetherin cream, and various other drugs served as the pharmacy. The doctors worked in teams of two and saw every single person that came, which ended up being about 150 people per village (aka EVERY SINGLE INHABITANT). Frances and I sat and listened to the translators as they described the various ailments of every patient. Headaches, stomach aches, and flu. Lots of the smaller children had scabes, and were rubbed down liberally with permetherin cream.

I watched as someone demonstrated how to put on a condom with his thumb to a thirteen year old girl, nursing her first child. Her eyes were wide as she took the proffered prevention, a look of tredeptation on her face. I wonder how many of those will be made into to balloon animals after we leave.

There were so many sick people that the doctors couldn´t treat. A tube of antifungal cream and some tylenol only goes so far. I spoke with several of the medical students during the trip, and while they expressed some feeling of accomplishment at being there, doing something, they felt useless too. Before we arrived at the first village, I helped fill plastic sacks with Flinstones vitamins, which were essentially a placebo. When villagers come to the doctors, they don´t want to leave empty handed, so Flinstones vitamins are given to everyone. Here, take your animal shaped vitamins, FEEL BETTER.

The people suffer daily with ailments that would incapacite me, yet they go out and work for 8 hours in the sun, tambien. Talk about relativity.

Around midday, when the sun is at its zenith, the earth steams. Time for a swim! The water, though completely opaque with floating particulate, feels amazing. From the top of the boat, two stories above the rush of the current, you can see into the canopy of the forest. Strange birds swoop in and out of the dense foliage, and bright blue butterflies the size of dinner plates waft lazily on the breeze, dipping and glinting in the wide shafts of light coming through the leaves. A bird call like the sound of water dripping from a pipe into a metal basin followed by three short chirps, the hum of a billion insects, the distance cry of some unnamed creature. Monkeys swing through the tree tops, chattering happily amongst themselves. The smell of sun warmed earth, sticky ripe fruit and flora makes for a heady scent, unlike anything I have ever smelled before. You stand and take it all in as the sun heats reflects white light from the fiberglass of the boat. Looking down, the water streams in whirls around the hull, continuing its swift passage downstream. Close your eyes and jump. The air whips past cooling damp skin, and your stomach drops. A large splash announces your arrival at the surface and you plummet into the cool depths. All of your senses are obliterated for those few seconds before you surface, take a gulp of air, and wiggle your toes hopping the pirhanas have had their fill of lunch today.

Carnival!

The sun is hot, and it beats down on our pale, t-shirt covered backsides like a blistering hammer. Today is Carnival and there is a hush about the streets as we walk along the dusty road, the heat coming off the ground in heavy waves. Frances and I are going to lunch with our new friend, Christian. The restaurant is called the Arena, and we order sour cerviche, which is a sort of seafood salad. It is delicious, the tangy lemon taste brings tears to the eyes, and it is spicy too.

After lunch, we head to la casa de Chrisitan. It is still incredibly toasty outside, and I am glad I applied a layer of sunscreen before departing. Stools are presented to us, and we sit on the vacated street that has been blocked off on either side by a line of motor-carros and wooden benches. Little girls, their clothes already dripping, are filling multi colored water balloons. They smile and giggle at us as we take our positions. The two white gringo girls.

Christian takes up a water gun, aims, and fires. I cover my eyes and cower for a moment, but it feels so good that I eventually relent to the onslaught. The cool liquid drips off of my face, and I can but relish the feeling. The heat is inescapable, but this in one way to flee from its grasp for an instant.

Moments later, I am filling my own water balloons from a bucket of murky water, and stacking a reserve on my lap.

Ammo.

Frances is doing the same, and the little girls are helping us. Between each balloon that is filled, we are splashed with water, our clothes becoming drenched and heavy from the weight of it. Soon, we forgo balloons and resort to dumping the buckets on our foes. There still that small part of you that wants to flee, but really you just stand still and wait for the onslaught that shocks your system, and cools it, leaving you feeling FRESCA and happy.

We drink small plastic cups of cerveza, mostly foam and water from the balloons. Then they break out the clay. It is yellow and sticky, and we smear in on our faces. It dries into a stiff mask that loosens after every balloon, leaving a new mask; the mask of a warrior.

Vamanos! It is about three in the afternoon and Christian leads us down the street to a stage. Workers on spindly ladders are hoisting speakers with chains, and a line of hombres are carrying four foot blocks of ice on their bare shoulders to the tubs that cool the bottles of beer, breaking them into bits with a hammer.

A group of boys, hands covered in sticky yellow clay and purple dye, spy our entrance. We duck and cover, but the chase it on. A short sprint down the street and we are caught, yellow and orange clay-covered hands plaster our faces, fingers leaving brighly colored tracks across our cheeks. We emerge filthy, yet decorated, bent over with laughter. Carnival! Awaiting our reprieve are buckets of cool water that redrench our already sopping clothing and track smears down our painted faces. The smell of fresh clay and river water runs into my nose and I smile with unadulterated joy.

I wish we had holidays like this in the United States.

Pure, city-wide fun. We were definitly a sight to see, to say the least. A pair of gringo girls, out to experience Carnival. Esta bien!

Brigitte

Plasic Bags

Hokay, I am here to tell you about shopping for supplies in Iquitos. Let me tell you, it´s nuts! As you followers know, Brigitte and I were on a mission to find plastic bags that would hold the off-gas from the decomposing material. From my last experience of supply shopping in Iquitos, I knew it would be difficult so we had enough forethought to bring our new friend, Christian along with us. So with our choppy Spanish and our wits about us, we embarked.

First we were offered bags that were used to hold large amounts of grain and would obviously not hold any methane in it. As a side note, did you know that there is a whole block of stores in Iquitos that only sell chickens and chicken eggs. I´ve never seen so many eggs in a single place...and boy did it smell! After Christian finally understood plastic bag vs burlap sack, we were getting closer when we went into hardware stores to find big rolls of plastic...yet no sacks. Finally, we came upon a store that solely sold plastic bags. (well, they also had ice cream available which I was tempted to get since it was so hot even at 5 in the evening) Finally! What we were looking for!

The search lasted about two hours...one less item to get! Hopefully the rest will not take so long. But since we´ve gotten those sacks, we can now do the educational model. More later about how that progresses.

Frances

Las plantes medicanales

Oi, Frances y yo went to a research station outside of Iquitos con nuestros nuevo amigo Rudolph, who is starting an ecotourism buiness in Peru. Esta un amigo muy bueno! We partook in a guided tour of the reserve surrounding the station and learned A LOT about plants.

We set out on the trail at 10 in the morning, sunscreened, bug offed, con mucha aqua. It is muy caliente in la selva, or jungle. Pero, in the shade, it is much cooler. There is so much verde all around, large vines snake through the canopy, a close reminder of the real thing. There is one vine that is as thick as an anaconda, and a dard orange red. If you are lost in la selva, try to find it. Tiene mas agua that is clean and parasite free.

The guide picked a small yellow flower from some low laying plants and crushed it between his fingers before lifting them to his mouth. He mimed tasting it and pointed towards the ground. I bent low and picked one of the small cushy amarillo buds and bit down on its furry head. The taste was mild and unremarkable, so I frowned, ¨Esta para que?"
He pointed towards his mouth and said nothing, all the while looking at me expectantly. Gradually, my tongue began to sting and develop a slight burning sensation. Not unpleasant, but very strange. I ran ma lengue around my mouth and realized I was starting to lose feeling where the flower had touch my gums. The guide pointed towards the sign, which read something along the lines of anaesthetic locales. Mes ojos widened and I licked my lips, to which a throaty chuckle was his only response.

I took pictures of everything. My favorites were of mushrooms and various slime molds that seeped from the soft crumbly logs, droplets of moisture clinging to their spongy surfaces. Our guide pointed out a small rojo cosa on the ground and I bent down, my camera a lista. It moved, jumping about three inches away from the lens and I leaned closer to realize it was a TINY TINY frog!!! Five minutes of chasing it about, the guide and our friends trying to trap it in their grasp, and I only got three shaky pictures of a red dot!!! Que devertido!

Rubbery spinned seed pods, filled with bright red seeds that burst when you pinch them and leave a thick opaque residue on your fingers, perfect for face painting.

Trees that extrete a viscous milky juice that can be used to set a cast, like plaster. Others that when cut, bleed a dark red liquid, called sanga, the spanish word for blood. Appropriately, this can be applied to cuts, because it has antiseptic properties.

Hallucinogenic vines, magic plants and various aphrodesiacs galore!

Basically, we learned mucho, and bebemos mucha agua. Antonces, vamos a el bano....

Muchas mas tardes,

Brigitte

Educational Digester Model

Hi All!

I suppose some of you readers are wondering what we are actually doing down here. Well, let me tell you! Our main goal for this three month stint is to build and test a biogas digester. Other objectives will be to do a needs assessment and plan next steps on how we can best use our skills on following trips to the area.

But first, let me tell you more about this super cool digester we will be building. It will provide a way for users dispose of their organic waste without polluting the surrounding area. When users put the waste into the digester, the food will decompose off gasing methane that can then be used for fuel for cooking, the remaining decomposed sluge is high in nutrients and can be used as fertilizer for farming crops or fish providing further food sources.

From there, we can set-up educational session so that community members in the area can see the benefits in action and will have the opportunity learn about how it works and the methods for maintaining the digester so that they too can build and operate one in their own home. The idea is that if locals learn about the process and make it their own the new system is more likely to be sustained than be a temporary fix.

Our first steps will be to create a small educational mock-up version. We plan to do this with a couple of water jugs, cardboard and aplastic bag. We will let it sit and decompose while we are on our 10 day trip on the medical boat, when we will reture, we can assess the success of the tiny system!

now, off to find an methane gas imperveous bag!

-Frances

When it rains....

Iquitos is a city of water. Thirty feet from the entrance of our hotel, La Pascana, the sidewalk drops away and you find yourself standing on the brink of the river basin. It stretches as far as the eye can see, the water glinting in patches between submerged trees and lush flora. Long shallow boats inch along in the distance, their captains about their days work.

It is the rainy season.

Every night it rains, and it pours. The fall of the water on the tin roof sounds like a stampede of minitature elephants. But, after a while, it blends into the background, and lulls you to sleep.

We´ve walk around town everyday and try our best not to look conspicious. This is difficult, as we are generally much taller than everyone, and very blonde. But, we haven´t had any issues. Except, Frances was hit by a water balloon from a moving motocarro. Surpressa!

My only thought was; it could have been worse.

There are a lot of people associated with Project Amazonas staying at our hotel. We´ve met and talked to many of them. What we have learned about the up and coming boat trìp has us very excited. It sounds like we are going to get to help with the medical expedition, and maybe even pull some teeth!

Off to find supplies for our educational biogas digester.

Buenas tardes,

Brigitte

Voracious ATM

Hola amigos!

We landed in Lima at midnight, after about sixteen hours of travel. Both of us were exhausted and running on third and fourth winds, so we decided to scope out a hotel in the area before booking our flights to Iquitos. After finding a handy dandy atm, we extracted some soles, but in the process of stowing the cash we accidentally left the card hanging out in the slot for too long.

MUNCH!

After much ado, and an extended period of sleeping to recoup, we have a plan. Looks like we´ll be seeing some of Lima, and scoping out supplies for building the biogas digester.

This city is much larger than Iquitos, and is more likely to have some of the things we need, like tephlon tape and bug off.

I got to practice my paltry spanish with the taxi driver, much to his amusement. He was very helpful, and more than happy to speak slowly and sound things out for us. Yay for practice!

It is warm and sunny here. The hotel we found is in a pretty safe neighborhood with a grocery store and a bank. Excellent!

The Pacific Ocean tosses its monstrous head a short distance from our place of rest, and there are palm trees and flowers dotting the green spaces outside. The smell of exhaust crowds my nostrils as I write this, and through the glass panes of the door the cars are whizzing by, horns blaring occaisonally. Welcome to the city. Bien venidos a Peru!

Won´t be long until we venture into deepest darkest, so stay tuned.

Hasta luego.

Brigitte

Fish?

We are also planning on building an ornamental fish farm.

The effluent from the digester, which is a nutrient rich liquid that drains out the side, can be diluted and added to the water the fish are swimming in to improve their environment.

If this is successful, and the fish survive, then they can be sold as a source of revenue.

Crazy united statians and their fish-fetishes.

I guess they are pretty...



Image courtesy of : RateMyFishTank

What is a BIOGAS DIGESTER?

When I tell people I am going to Peru to build a biogas digester, they always want an explanation.

What is it?
How does it work?
WHY?!

I can answer some of these now, but by the end of the trip I should be able to give a better account.

What/How/Why?

A Biogas Digester is basically an airtight tank of biodegradable material. Through a process called anaerobic digestion (WITHOUT OXYGEN) this material decomposes at a relatively fast rate, producing METHANE! The methane can be collected from the top and subsequently burned as a cooking fuel.

This not only provides a sustainable source of fuel, but the sludge leftover in the tank can be used as a Nitrogen rich fertilizer. Plus it helps control waste build-up near dwellings.

Cool!