So this past week was holy week but there didn’t seem to be anything holy about it. I assumed there might be daily church services, prayer time, etc., but the only religious service I know of was Sunday morning mass (45 minutes long!). Basically, “semana santa” (holy week) is a week of vacation used as an excuse to get together with family and party. Alright by me! Lots of eating was done, and I was inspired enough to make an eggplant parm (fresh eggplant from the garden), and fried green tomatoes with a pesto spread. I also made homemade mochachinos, consisting of coffee, cocoa, evaporated milk and spices. Everything = pretty good.

While I was bored at the beginning of Holy Week (with no classes to prepare for), guests soon arrived later in the week and the fun began. There was a birthday party for a woman turning 60, and daily domino playing. I also went to a nearby river with my host family where we played in this gigantic waterfall! Pictures posted. There was also a large pig butchered and eaten – fresh fried pork skin (I chose to abstain). During lunch, I saw my host father gnawing on an ear…

Florencia has been growing and growing, for the better. Last week she was very sick, not eating, crying and pooping everywhere. But, things have changed for the better! She now sleeps through the night, goes to the bathroom outside, drinks milk and recognizes her name! It’s amazing how fast these animals grow and mature. My host mom is great with her, which really helps. Florencia has also begun to play, not only with us, but with other animals. She has a new best friend, Esperanza, who is a baby chick rejected by its mother (and subsequently being raised by us humans). You can often find them both playing in the kitchen together; its incredible really.

Other very exciting news! Our rebuilding of the aqueduct is becoming a reality! I know I have written quite a bit about our semi-functioning aqueduct, but I will repeat what we have accomplished so far (and what our eventual plans are).
So, our aqueduct was built by the community 20 years ago with the poorest quality PVC pipes you can imagine. While this amateur aqueduct has helped the women avoid the problem of a lack of running water in the houses (before they traveled to the river to wash everything), the pipes are deteriorating and often break (leaving the community with water for hours). Furthermore, the aqueduct was built without engineer supervision, so the pipes literally hang on vines 10 feet above the river at some points (definitely not as efficient as it could be).
Where I come in: As a peacecorps volunteer, redoing water systems are generally projects that can easily get funding (lots of organizations provide funds for building acqueducts). While my community appreciates the classes I am giving, they also like material projects that provide function. So, as of 2 months ago, I began meeting with my community water committee to talk about possible upgrades for the aqueduct (committee of 3 community members).
Steps we have accomplished so far: We went to visit the local city representative to ask for help from a government engineer. Our meeting with a huge success and the representative granted us permission to use the engineer! Then, just last week, the engineer actually followed through with his aqueduct surveying (and came on the day he said he would!). He told us that it was a miracle our system is still functioning because typically, PVC pipes of the best quality rarely last 20 years (and we have the worst quality). In the next 2 weeks, the engineer will write up a report about the acqueduct, including important measurements and pieces of advice, and will meet with the community to present his findings. He is also going to prepare a budget for us (which will help me immensely!). Then, we will solicit funding in the form of grants (I don’t assume the system to cost more than US$3,000).
Probably the most exciting thing the engineer shared with me (he has had 15 years of building rural water systems and often works with peace corps volunteers) is that our new aqueduct with include a main holding tank in which we can put chemicals to purify all the incoming water into the community. Imagine, purified running water in all the houses (a health promoter’s dream come true). Currently, we do not drink purified water.

Well, everything seems to be running extremely smoothly (which is exciting but makes me nervous). I will be sure to update you with more details when the engineer returns.

Until then, enjoy the coming spring!