Cangaime

We (Alfredo, Steph, Stephy and I) spent this week in Cangaime, a community in the jungle about a 40 minute flight  south of Shell.  About 6 years ago the municipio put in a captacion, an electric pump, elevated tank and distribution system - which the village then didn't use because they had to pay for petrol to fuel the pump.  So the municipio put in a water wheel pump, which didn't generate enough pressure to get the water to the taps.  There are meters all over the village which have registered zero ever since.  So our task was to install a solar pump with enough power to pump the water up to the tank, and also to report on the state of the rest of the system and how it could be improved.

Taking out the old water wheel, and drilling holes in the casing for the new pump

Each day we walked up to the captacion with about 20 men from the village - HCJB works differently from the rest of the contractors, on the principal that if the community has to work for their project, they'll value it more.  It also meant we could do more than our remit, making lots of improvements as well as training the técnicos in how to maintain the system.  So we took out the old water wheel, installed the new pump and associated plumbing and electrics, altered the roof to install the solar panels, and dug up the pipeline to the tank in order to repair it and bury it again at a better depth.

Installing the solar panels, and improving the pipeline up to the tank.

We slept in tents inside the community building, ate lots of yuca and fish, and and washed standing up in a shallow stream fully dressed.  To get to the latrine in the morning we had to walk past the entire school gathered outside - I suppose it was a good demonstration of good hygiene practice!

Washing in the stream, washing socks in the cement bucket (both only moderately successful)

My typical jungle dress is t-shirt, skirt (traditional culture says women wear skirts and although many of them now wear trousers a skirt gets you more respect), wellies (for the mud), long socks (very hot but to prevent blisters and insect bites).  The aim is to avoid overheating, getting covered in mud and getting bitten by flies – the result is an uncomfortable mixture of all three – insect bites win overall I think.

We're coping better with the wildlife - although upon discovery of a poisonous snake in the woods it was quite reassuring to see the women screaming and running away – at least there are some things they don’t like.  This is the most dangerous snake in the jungle (so we're told) - it lives up in the trees, but we'd chopped down its home to get more light for the solar panels.

This morning I met up with the pastor’s wife (who turns out to be from Guayaramerín, the town I visited in Bolivia!) to offer to help with Sunday School – starting in 2 weeks time so we’ll see how my Spanish holds up. Monday is Día de los Defuntos (Remembrance Day) and Tuesday is Cuenca Day, so we have a 4 day weekend and are off to Cuenca in the mountains tomorrow to be tourists.