Monday, February 15, 2010

This is our last full day in Oaxaca.  Tomorrow we take a bus to Mexico City and Wednesday we leave Mexico City:  Stan back to Seattle; Rick, Jude and cousin Peter to a week’s vacation in La Manzanillo.

At 1 o’clock we met with Lic. Rosa Elena Manzano Mendez, a representative of the State Institute of Ecology (IEE). She had attended the Oaxaca Water Forum on Friday and, therefore, was familiar with who we were and what we were doing there. Prior to the Forum, we had asked Juan Jose if we could meet with any of the organizations that we want to collaborate our efforts with and he was able to arrange this meeting on short notice. The meeting took place at the INSO office.

Mendez explained that the State Institute of Ecology had no jurisdiction over the waste water (sewage) situation in SDBB. Since the waste water flows into a river, it is the responsibility of CONAGUA, the National Water Commission. Her department, however, does have responsibility with the illegal dump and is vigorously pursuing a resolution to that problem They have set up a meeting with both Etla and SDBB for February 25th to discuss the matter. Her concern is that they have no authority to impose a fine on Etla (ultimate responsibility), if they do not follow their advice and recommendations. If Etla does not, then they will fine Etla, but if Etla does not pay the fine, they cannot do anything about it.

Water for Humans explained to her that, if a constructed wetland is proposed for the site, then in all likelihood, the area where the dump is now located will be needed for the wetland. She said that, in general, they are supportive of our project and will work with us to implement whatever is proposed. She did say, however, that the soil would have to be tested to make sure that it is useable with whatever is proposed.

To bring CONAQUA into the picture, she suggested that INSO write a letter (for documentation), to the director of IEE, explaining the situation and requesting that CONAQUA get involved to ultimately resolve this issue. In that way, IEE and CONAQUA can work together on this. INSO’s letter to IEE will be instigated by a letter from Water for Humans to INSO.

Later in the afternoon, we met with Juan Jose and Nelly. This was our last meeting to talk about upcoming strategy to move our project forward and the role that Nelly will fill. A formal contract is due from Water for Humans to officially bring Nelly on board as an associate.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Today is the day of INSO’s 25th Oaxaca Water Forum.  The venue for the event is the Botanical Gardens of the Santo Domingo Church, about three blocks from the INSO office.  Water for Humans is on the agenda for a presentation to introduce ourselves to the water interests in Oaxaca and to introduce our project to them.  Maria Gonzalez and Camerino Santiago came from SDBB for this important meeting.

We went to INSO at our normal time to help transport equipment to the Botanical Gardens.  We them helped set up the room and participants starting arriving before the room was completely set up.  The first thing on the agenda was a tour of the gardens.  This was done to make sure that late arrivals would not miss any of the session itself.

The Gardens were beautiful with many varieties of native plants throughout.  There was also a section with a vegetable garden.  Since the tour was in Spanish, we missed out on a lot of the discussion, but the gardens were very nice and tranquil place to reflect.

The first item on the agenda was El Pedegal, set up and run by INSO.  Don Pedro, who donated the land to set up the demonstration site, was in attendance.  Many of the permaculture features that have been put in place were explained and the impact that they have had on the property discussed.

Water for Humans was next.  Nelly spoke for the team, since it was in Spanish for a Mexican audience.  She introduced us, as well as herself, and explained our mission and how we ended up in SDBB with this particular project.  She then went on and explained the situation that we are dealing with and where we are in the project.  At the completion, a question was raised about our affiliation with the constructed wetland at UABJO and Humboldt State University and the Arcata Wetland.  Those who knew about the demonstration wetland at UABJO were glad to know that we are associated with that team (through one of our board members).  A second question/comment came from someone who seemed to be associated with the original treatment plant at SDBB.  She said a lot that never was translated to us.  But after Nelly addressed her concerns, Maria Gonzalez took the microphone and explained to the audience what the community is presently facing.  When she finished, the entire Forum clapped and seemed to like what she said.  There was a lot of support for what we are doing.

When we left the room to allow the forum to continue, all three of us (Nelly, Rick and Stan) were asked questions and given support for the project.  One person who was very interested in constructed wetlands and asking a lot of questions found out that his organization has a meeting set up with us on Monday.  Nelly was interview by two or three reporters and the forum continued and ended about 2 PM.

We helped clean the facility and transport the equipment back to INSO.  This ended a full week for us and we looked forward to a restful weekend.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

We spent the morning at INSO and sent Nelly feedback (electronically) on the presentation for tomorrow’s Water Forum.  We didn’t see Nelly in the morning because she went to El Pedegal with plans to meet us at UABJO in the afternoon to talk to Erik Torres.

When we all met up in the afternoon at UABJO, we covered a number of topics with Erik.  He explained how to get a complex water sample from SDBB, if our team needs more water analysis data for the design specs.  A complex sample will require taking a one liter sample six times throughout the day, mixing the six samples together and analyzing one liter of the mixed water.  Hopefully we will not have to do that.

We then talked about the one piece of missing data:  the flow rate.  Erik has a broken flow meter that he has been trying to fix for over a year now.  He will send us the details on the flow meter model and we will try to expedite a fix or replacement.  Care will be taken to make sure the flow rate is measured before the sewage stream breaks up into multiple streams.  He also mentioned a ‘rule of thumb’ estimate that is used (170 l/person/day) when the actual rate is not known.

Erik will introduce the Water for Humans team to another professor at UABJO and to one of his students, Pablo.  Both have been involved with wetlands and our project.  This will broaden our ties with UABJO, so that we will have more contacts than Erik.

The last topic was about future water testing and the possibility of some of his students setting up a certified lab in Oaxaca as a business.  As far as we know, there are no certified labs in the entire state of Oaxaca.  We would like to see a lab set up so that SDBB and other communities can have the effluent from their waste water treatment plants tested.  Erik will provide us with a list of lab equipment that would be needed for such an enterprise and Water for Humans will try to find used equipment in the US for them (we hope as donations).  We will also introduce Erik to UMA (Universidad del Medio Ambiente-BGI’s sister school in Mexico), so that an interested entrepreneur can get the proper business training for such a lab.  Erik thinks that Pablo may be a good candidate.

Meanwhile, UABJO will be glad to support us in our efforts at SDBB, as long as we can help with the cost of the reagents needed for the testing.  We were more than happy to oblige.

When we left UABJO, we had to hurry across town to the INSO office for a creativity session with the staff.  The session covered two topics:

1.    How can we ensure that operations and maintenance are seriously planned and executed after a waste water treatment system is put in place?

2.    How can we get the different organizations in Oaxaca, interested in water, health and the environment, working together for a common goal in SDBB?

Once the staff understood the process, a lot of ideas were put forth.  Some were discussed and all of them were written down (we hope).  We kept emphasizing that all ideas needed to be written down.  We have all of them and will translate, organize and evaluate them when we get back to Seattle

Susan flies home to the US

Monday Feb 8th
This was Susan’s last day in Oaxaca for this trip.  We had what we would call a typical day at the office.  Stan and Nelly started working on our presentation for the Water Forum (on Friday), and I helped Susan write a few letters and post our last blog entry.  We all broke for lunch about 2:30 and it was “Susan’s choice.”  The place she wanted to go was closed, however Nelly directed us to a great place we had not been to yet.  Stan, Susan, and I returned to our casa for a short siesta then some afternoon work. Susan went for a long walk about Oaxaca to enjoy her last afternoon here. Susan has as always been very helpful in getting us around and translating for us.  Stan and I would not go hungry but we would surly not eat as well, and get lost a lot more often.  Every trip her skills improve.

Tuesday Feb 9th
Susan caught a cab at about 7am for her flight back to the states on Tuesday morning.  I know she will be happy to be home, as she has been away from home since the beginning of January. Prior to meeting up with Stan and I, she spent several weeks in New Orleans LA, working on building some houses and came directly from there to Oaxaca to join us.  Stan and I had a typical work day and awaited the arrival of Judith (my wife) and her cousin Peter.  They arrived about 10:30pm after a long day of travel.

Wednesday 10 Feb
Stan was off to INSO a little before 9am after his normal morning run.  I worked from the casa as I was waiting for Peter and Jude to rise.  Once Jude and Peter were up and going we had a quick breakfast and then off to the office.  We stopped by the Mango lady for formal introductions and our daily load of fresh fruit.  Peter and Jude went exploring Oaxaca while Stan, Nelly and I worked.  We are having a busy (good kind of busy) last full week in Oaxaca with several meetings scheduled for Thursday and the water forum on Friday.  We will travel back to Mexico City on the 16 via the bus to catch our flights out to the US on the 17th.

February 7, 2010, Sunday—Breakfast at the SD Market
This morning we made our way via bus and taxi to Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla for a fabulous breakfast at the Sunday market. 

The townspeople set up a weekly market in a field adjacent to a soccer field.  It was a great morning with the sun out and not too hot.  There were several kinds of tamales (green, sweet, and mole), memelitas with chorizo and chicharron, salsas, fruit, vegetables, tacos, café and hot chocolate oaxaqueno, a drink made from corn, and pan dulce.  Needless to say, none of us were hungry after that.  Maria set up a table & chairs for us to enjoy the sitting and talk. We sat around the table for awhile and talked about our two cultures, our presidents, where we live, etc. After a while 2 sisters, Ittai and Karla Perez, about 11-13 years old came and wanted to practice English with us.  They learned English in school, starting in kindergarten, and spoke without accents.  In the group setting they were very shy and we tried to make small talk with them.  They were great!

The group broke up when Maria invited us back to the municipio for a meeting. She and two council members sat at the table to discuss a meeting she had with an engineer last Friday (February 5) who had presented a plan for a treatment plant (that we all think is totally inadequate), and go over some of our agreements and discussion from Thursday night.  It quickly became apparent we needed more help with translation.  The 2 girls were called.  These girls did a fantastic job of interpreting the conversation and once they got going they brought themselves into the discussion with their own perspectives and ideas.  It was a truly amazing thing to see these young girls using their fledgling English skills and describing the situation in their community.  At the meeting we discussed the need for a solution to treat 100% of the waste-water with a plant that is easy and inexpensive to maintain.  This is an alternative to that which the engineer proposed which treats 50% of the water. The meeting ended with everyone looking forwarded to the Water Forum (sponsored by INSO) on Friday the 12th.

Camerino Santiago gave us a ride to the taxi stand in Etla where we said “hasta la vista” and not good-bye.  We caught a community taxi back to Oaxaca with the typical capacity of 6 passengers and the driver.

It was such a lovely day I (Susan) decided to take a long walk in search of streets without construction.  I followed Pino Suarez to the end.  The street name changes when crossing the highway to San Felipe.  It was a very pleasant way to spend an hour.  I (Susan) went to church and got lost in the ritual associated with communion.  I was about a half a step behind but did get to say good-bye. I came home to find Rick and Stan gone to dinner.  Francine and I went for gelato down at the Zocalo.

Our first DAY without an agenda!

February 6, 2010, Saturday

This marks our first DAY without an agenda!  We decided to go to Mitla.  We hopped a city bus to the second-class bus station where we thought we could get a taxi to Mitla.  It never occurred to us (gringos) that one doesn’t catch a southbound taxi from the northbound taxi stand!  We caught a second-class bus instead. The north bound taxi station is right next to the second class bus station.  As soon as we walked into the station a driver was calling out “Mitla-Tlacolula,” we hopped on the bus and it promptly left the station with only 6 folks on it.  We could not figure this out. Why would the bus leave with only a few folks on it?  Well it became clear as we worked out of town.  The bus stopped at all the local bus stops as it made its way to the main highway to the south.  As it turns out we could have walked about five blocks from our pension to the stadium and hopped the bus there. Such is learning a bus system when there are no transit maps! The bus took just about as long as a taxi with a tour around Tlacolula thrown in, and was much more comfortable we each had a seat. In the “community taxi’s” that go to the outlying communities there are typically 3-4 in the back seat and 3 in the front (2 seats).  The taxis are small 4 door Toyota sedans, so the bus ride was much more comfortable and it only cost 14 Pesos each!

We arrived in Mitla and searched for the weaver I had seen when last in Mitla with friends two weeks ago.

  Mitla is known for producing many of the textiles sold in the greater valley.

We found them and bargained for some of their wares.  We found a very nice place to eat.  The mole was excellent.  Again when we walked up to the bus stop, a bus was ready to leave back to Oaxaca, we hopped on and it left promptly. We then reversed our steps back home in plenty of time for a siesta and Stan to attend an engagement.

Rick and I had a great dinner at one of the places Nelly suggested.  I had never had stuffed Pumpkin flowers before.  They were stuffed with Oaxacan cheese, lightly breaded and fried.  They appeared as thick potato chips.  They were quite tasty. It was still early.  Rick and I went to the Zocalo for gelato and looked at a very tame clown act.  Since the audience was four people deep, I couldn’t see anything.  We didn’t stay long.

February 5, 2010, Friday

February 5, 2010, Friday
Today we debriefed after our meeting with the Council of Elders of Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla and discussed peacemaking with Etla.  Later on this morning we met with Carlos Placensia (INSO) who is in charge of health concerns with water.  He gave us a brief outline and agenda for the Water Forum at which Stan, Rick, and Nelly will present on Friday, February 12th.  The forum is structured in a way that everyone has a voice.  It meets approximately every two months.  This one commemorates the 25th forum.  It has continued and survived many administrative changes in government, unlike many institutions in Mexico (or the US for that matter).

 In addition to the Forum, there will be a guided tour of the Botanical Garden, the venue for the Forum, associated with the Santo Domingo Church.  In this garden, there is a nursery for the rescue of endangered plants especially orchids of Oaxaca.