Two or our goals met, we traveled on Thursday to the small villages that had been previously selected by the co-ordinator. Pueblo Nuevo is about an hour away from Pearl Lagoon via Panga. And Orinoco island is about 30 minutes from Pearl Lagoon.
This time we had to hire our own transportation because there is no regular panga service to either of these areas (that tells you how remote they are). Yobeth arranged for our personal panga to take us traveling.
We went to the farthest community first.--Pueblo Nuevo.
This community is situated around a really high, steep hill. The only modes of transportation here are by foot and by horse.
We saw no bicycles, but I'm not sure if we did see bikes, that they could make the steep climb to the top. A cement sidewalk is available to walk on and is helpful because the ground around it is mud (and horse poop). All of a sudden (about 3/4 of the way up) the sidewalk ended and what was left to finish the climb up the hill (that seems like a mountain) was the mud mixed with poop. (Remember the rainy season came early this year)
We got to the top of the hill to find our main contact who was at training the day before. He showed us the well, the surrounding area which include a church building,
another building for refuge in natural disasters and lots of empty fields.
Some in our group have concerns about a well on the top of a hill and
they ask questions about the amount of water pumped out in one day. We were told 500 gallons a day, some doubted that.
He told us where they plan to build a place for the water filtration system and that they have plans to put an electric pump on the well. The well was measured at 46 feet deep with 6 feet of water standing.
A whirl pack test was done to see if bacteria is present and a hardness test (24-25). The Whirl pack test must have 24 hours for bacteria to grow and develop, and Yobeth will check with them via phone on Friday.
A side note here, after talking to the "water committee"(interested community members) we learn that they all have phones, but not all have water or electricity in their houses. The small stores- in the front of various residences-- offer phone charging for a fee. One of the larger stores sold hand-made tack and saddles for the horses.
We moved to someone's house, where we sat in the shade of a tree and asked the questions we needed to ask to find out if they could sustain a water system.
There are maintenance costs and operator's salary to consider. We got the impression that most of the commerce in the area was of the barter type. (Our discussion later with Father Tony, Catholic priest/missionary, gave us a better understanding of the financial standing of the community) These people desperately want and need the water system, but we were concerned if they had the resources available to be able to sell the bottled water to keep the facility functioning without subsidy. Their main question of us is when will we know, so we can begin constructing the building for the filtration system.
We asked them where a group of 5-7 of us could stay for a week and where we could eat while there. They showed a place (I got no pictures, cuz it was not lit and the only illumination was through the boards in the walls. There were 6-7 rooms with a bed in each, no window, no electricity, no water-- just a room. They said they would cook for us at the church, but there would be a charge. We saw no bathroom facilities, but I am sure they exist.
An interesting very primitive place
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| a family residence in Pueblo Nuevo |
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