Water System Reset in Pueblo Nuevo

Two Goyos back in Pueblo Nuevo with the goods

A day with mi tocayo

Ligorio is my tocayo – we have the same nickname (Goyo), which gives us a sort of bond to begin with. But, today we deepened our friendship with a trip to the Emerald City. He doesn’t get to the big City much – last time was over a year ago – so it was a treat for him. He got all dressed up and was like a little kid commenting on everything we passed.
Our mission was a shopping trip for water system supplies : sand for the filters, HTH chlorine for cleaning the tanks and a dissolved solids test kit. The village had absolutely no way to figure out where to buy this stuff, so it was my job to find a source and show Ligorio how to get there and what to get. Goyo took notes about everything on the trip, got the number for our taxi driver, how to get from the Mega Mall to the store, etc. The idea is that when I leave, these guys need to be able to do all this stuff themselves.

The water team , loaded with materials

We had a little glitch when we realized he only brought money for bus and product, but forgot about sales tax and lunch. So, I offered to treat him to lunch and asked where he wanted to go. His arm shot out, straight at a KFC – wouldn’t have been my choice, but he said he had always wanted to try “American chicken” and I was not about to burst his bubble and say that the chicken likely came from back in Darien. After thanking me about 10 times for “the best chicken in the world”, we continued on our journey.

Loading new sand into the filters

Since we couldn’t very well haul 100 kilos of materials to the bus, we went to the Global Brigades office, who had kindly offered to transport for us. Now, the GB offices are pretty modest, at best. But, you’d have thought we just entered IBM headquarters from the look on Goyo’s face. We got him back to the bus stop for Darien, with copious note taking and Thanks all the way.

It’s things like this that are the core of what I do – giving folks the tools and information they need to do for themselves. It wasn’t a hard day’s work , but it was certainly rewarding.

4 years of dirt were flushed from the water tank

Pueblo Nuevo Water System Reset

It was a great day for me and my wonderful water team. All our materials from yesterday’s shopping trip arrived and we set our plan. When I asked the team “recharge filters or clean tank?” they shouted back “BOTH !!”. So, that’s what we did. Loaded up all our supplies and set out through the jungle to the water tank / filter area, slogging through mud and overgrown trails the whole way.

I got jest a leetle woosie from the chlorine fumes

First, we had to cut the tank drain line since the valve has been broken for like forever. Muddy water flowed like mad. While the tank drained, we opened the filter ports and added our brand new sand (from FLORIDA !!). When the tank was down to about 2 feet deep, we scampered up the rebar ladder and pushed mud down the drain. This was the accumulated silt from 4 YEARS !! Constant rinsing eventually got all the dirt out. Then we scrubbed the walls and floor with a concentrated chlorine solution. We took

The result : a spotless clean and safe water tank !!

turns, staying no more than 5 minutes each in the chlorine fumes. Even still, I felt a tad woosie. Walls and floor got a final rinse and the result was a spotless clean and safe water tank. The boys did GREAT !!

We then replaced the drain tube and valve, which took some McGuyvering. But these folks are great at that. We went back to the village and celebrated with a big water spray of filtered, crystal clear water – the first the village has seen in years. It had some residual chlorine, but that was fine by me. We had a fast lunch, which Benino’s wife had for us, washed down with a gallon or so of ice cold bottled water.

I left Darien for home a very tired, very dirty, very happy camper.

The new Ipeti Chlorine Lab in production

Chlorine Lab
A good morning in Ipeti Choco, setting up the new Chlorine Lab. I made a test batch, which turned out just like the Internet said it would – about 10% pure or 2x regular Clorox. The first class at Universidad de Cloro, con Prof Goyo, will be on Saturday. Now, these folks will be able to make all the chlorine they want from a little salt and tap water !!

Magical Metro Choir

I boarded the Panama Metro (subway) at the El Ingenio station, headed for Albrook , to stock up on “city only” items, like brown rice, teriyaki sauce, peanut butter and jelly. As we approached the Via Argentina station, I started whistling “Don’t Cry for me Argentina.” I do stuff like that to amuse myself.

And that’s when the magic happened.

I suddenly realized that another passenger – no TWO others – were whistling with me. I stood on tiptoe to see across the crowded car and my gaze was met by a tall black man and a stocky twenty something, smiling and whistling back at me.

It is hard for me to explain the excitement and thrill I felt as we formed a spontaneous, joyous choir of three on a crowded Metro car.   Some might think it silly, but to have 3 total strangers drop their shields and guards and connect like that was a kind of ecstasy for me.

We finished the chorus just as we pulled into the station and my two choir mates got off with a wave and big smiles. I hope they enjoyed that rare kind of human moment as much as I did.