What I've been doing over the last 2 months, part 1

First, an old entry I didn't post immediately because something pretty devastating happened around the time I would have posted and I didn't feel like doing much of anything. Second, some of the stuff that has happened since.




July 1, 2008

In 29 days my girlfriend will be in the same country as me for the first time in over 4 months. And this month, boy, I am going to earn it whether I want to or not.

Lemme tell you a story. Last week I had nothing to do. I answered a few emails from Engineer Without Borders (EWB) about the project we've been planning since I got here and killed time, basically. This week was going to be the same, with one meeting at that aldea. Then, yesterday at 3 pm, when I figured I would check in at the office and check my email again, my boss sees me coming and practically drags me into his office with another office buddy.

Some background: there's another huge project we've been planning in an aldea I went to a week or two ago... 4 hour hard drive up and down mountains, risking life and limb on a one lane cliffside dirt road. Just to do the topographic study would likely take two weeks. I thought it was going to be months from now. My officemates apparently thought it would merely be weeks.

We found out yesterday it was happening today. We were freaking out. The municipal office for the federal organization that does water projects (my counterpart is trying to buddy up with the federal organization) went ahead and hired professional surveyors to do the topographic study there and they arrived yesterday afternoon. Panic mode.

The communities we'd be visiting needed to be briefed and ready to help us clear paths and whatnot, lodging needed to be arranged, people designated to cook for us, everything. We managed to postpone the trip by a day because it would have just been impossible to make preparations in time without postponing things. My counterpart wants me physically present for the project. I don't see why I need to be there, as the professionals can handle it, but I would indeed like to be there because it will be my first topographic study and I would like to learn a thing or two.

Let me explain why I don't want to go. The first project, that I've been working nonstop on, starts July 21. EWB arrives then. We still don't have a final design to submit to the local government for approval. Important people are on vacation, including the translator who would be able to quickly translate the design into Spanish for the head municipal engineer, and that head engineer whose approval we need is also on vacation for a month. We seem to be screwed. But the other municipal engineer says he can submit the design to his boss via email and get approval that way, hopefully in time to not upset the project. I'm very, very nervous.

At first I tried to translate an 18 page design draft document into Spanish last night. I stayed in the office alone until 10:30 pm last night just working on that. Then I gave up. This morning I spoke with the municipal engineer and got the above information, and was told I didn't need to go to all that trouble, just submit the numbers with Spanish labels, and a design for the water tank. Thank goodness. EWB had touched base with the Peace Corps volunteer they had worked with before me in my site for help with the translations, the one whose service is over with and who now lives in the US again. We were that desperate.

So today I'm working on the much more modest translation assignment, tomorrow I'm leaving town to work from sunup to sundown in el campo on a surveying expedition through the mountain jungle, spending the night out there...somewhere... and work all day again and that night coming back, hopefully, for the 4th of July to have a small party (too many people involved who had changed their schedules to attend to cancel, including me) and make sure things are going alright with my other project. Meanwhile the professional surveyors will still be out in the mountains doing the project without me. Apparently this is an acceptable arrangement. I feel like I'm being used for political motives I think I understand but can't really elaborate on without being disrespectful.

And to top it all off, I'm trying to move into my own personal apartment right now, too, hopefully on the 7th. I don't own any furniture or appliances. That landlord isn't answering his phone, but I've met with him three times to discuss Peace Corps housing policy and stuff. I'm very nervous, for no reason other than paranoia, that he thinks I've lost interest in the apartment.

More fun stuff: since the EWB translator is out of town, she can't make it here in person. My girlfriend arrives smack in the middle of the construction phase of the project, the day before my birthday, so I will only be around to translate for EWB for the first week. Thankfully another PC volunteer in a city 2 hours away agreed to take over for me on-site during my absence.

If and when the project design gets the stamp of approval from the municipal engineer, we can order materials for the construction projects, and hopefully get the materials to the site before we break ground.

Busiest July ever. I haven't been this stressed since final exam week in college.

---------------------

August 13, 2008

Ok, fun little stories from before the best vacation EVER:

So I went out to shadow the professional surveyor at the big two week long topographic study. Had a blast. It would have been the first week in July. First we rode out in a truck, got to the village, loaded our stuff into a church where me, the surveyor and his assistant could all crash. Then we hit the ground running and started the hike to the water source. The surveyor was a bit overweight. He had trouble with the hike. I followed him for about 20 minutes, then me and his assistance cut ahead with about 5 other guys from the village. We took a leisurely pace and got there in about an hour. Beautiful hike. Then we got to one solitary house about a 10 minute hike from the water source (a medium sized stream) and waited for the surveyor and his two guides to catch up. And waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually two more guys from a neighboring town showed up, said they wanted to tag along also. They were heading up to see the source right then, said the surveyor was still way out there, so I went along to the source with them. Wow. beautiful 20 foot high waterfall, solid rock all underneath the stream. Massive trees. Really cool mountain jungle stream. So we head back and it's starting to rain. The surveyor has finally showed up, and everyone, probably 15 guys, are crowded into this one room mud brick shack to stay out of the rain. The surveyor says he doesn't have the energy to make it back to the church to sleep, that he got permission to sleep in the shack. His assistant is staying, too. This family has 4 beds and 5 family members. I'm asked if I would like to stay, too. All sorts of conflicting thoughts about what would be most polite... I wise up, look around at the tight quarters, and say I can make it back to the church, so I'll sleep at the church. So we get going while the rain had lessened. Much more difficult hike when the downhill trails are all muddy. Only slipped once, and caught myself so I didn't muddy up my clothes.

Got to town, joked around with the guys walking with me about the good time I was gonna have with my girlfriend, got complimented for being in better shape than the surveyor, chilled at one house until my dinner was ready. Chilled with some kids, then asked to get escorted to the church. To rest. Yeah, I felt weird because I couldn't navigate in this tiny town. Lots of small hills, winding trails, and large yards with no distinct landmarks. I got the hang of it by the next day, though. Anyway, the church had an outhouse latrine, pour-flush so I needed a bucket. I also needed a key to the padlock on the latrine. A kid helped me tracked down the key. And a bucket. And got me permission to use water at the closest house. Chilled with two kids in the church, taught em some English, joked around, then they excused myself and I got set up to rest. Read my book til sunset... no electricity in the church. Called my girlfriend on my cell phone. Got real good service if I leaned out this one window and tilted my head just so.

Next day I got breakfast and hiked out again. The last time, coming back, it took about a half hour because I was all warmed up. This time I was carrying a bucket to measure the flow rate, and my muscles were still asleep, so it probably took 50 minutes.

Got to the house, waited for other guys to show up, then went to the source with the whole gang. The surveyor looked around, agreed that it was a good spot to build the dam (pretty much a channel made of solid rock, perfect to put up a single wall and make a dam) and the crew chief asked if his guys could start working. He got a nod and then shouted "Now, men!" And 15 guys with machetes started mowing down the jungle like a giant lethal weedwhacker. I stuck around with the surveyor and got some refreshers on how to use a theodolite, then took two guys with me up above the waterfall to try and get a measurement of the flow rate. We failed. We were using a 3" PVC pipe, trying to build an earthen dam to channel all the stream into the pipe, but there was too much water. I realized about halfway through it was futile, but I was having such a good time making a dam in a stream just like I used to do when I was a kid that I kept my mouth shut and just enjoyed it. We needed a 6" pipe at least, or a weir, or a float.

Got back down, caught up with the surveyor, learned what I could, then had to start heading back to town to catch my ride back to my site.

I got a horseride! The village I was at was pretty remote, so I borrowed a pack horse and the owner walked with me. I had my backpack on, so that's how I kinda justified not just walking with the guy. It was probably a 5 km ride. An hour and half going at a slow walk, I think. We got 3/4 of the way there, and my guide asked if I was doing alright, because there was a shortcut through a valley and river. Or we could take it easy and stay on the road. I went for the shortcut and the river, of course. So I rode this horse down a tiny narrow trail, steeeep slopes, and had a blast. Then we got to a river. Walked through it without much difficulty, had to lift my feet up in the stirrups to keep my boots from getting wet. Then we got to a deeper section of the same river, and this time I think the horse actually swam for a moment. My boots definitely got wet. It was neat.

Then we got back up to the road, and my cell phone starts ringing. I got a text from my chick asking me to call her, because she had to adjust our vacation dates. So I called, told her I was on horseback and we marvelled a bit at the juxtaposition of technology... again. And then I chilled in town, got some free juice, and waited for my counterpart to arrive in his truck. Pretty much the end.

--------

Stay tuned for stories about my first real project, a writeup about my vacation, and more!

Fun fact: I'm now renting my own apartment in my site. Finally living alone with a ton of space. 538 square feet or so. I measured it myself! But yeah, the annoying sounds of dogs barking and birds squawking and roosters crowing at all hours have been replaced with the sounds of air conditioner units, light urban traffic, and occasional loud music on weekends. I prefer it. Give me sounds of machines over sounds of animals any day. As much as I like the peace of the mountains and the occasional camping expedition, I love livin' in the city.