Huge Photo Blast!

Hace mucho tiempo! So I've been really bad about writing new posts. I'm going to do one huge post right now where I post pictures from the past few months with brief explanations of what I've been up to.

1.) Wind-turbine! I built and installed a wind-turbine back in October/November! It was a wonderful experience. My site has crazy strong wind and so I installed a turbine at my school through an ECPA grant to continuously give my school 500W of energy. Here are a few photos of the construction of the turbine and the installation. I could not have done this without the help of ECPA, Peace Corps, and WindAid (a great organization in Trujillo that helps bring wind energy to rural communities.) On top of the installation, we did a workshop with my students to teach them all about wind energy.

After we built the blades out of resin we had to sand them down

Painting the blades

They taught me to weld!

Working on the installation ontop of our water tank (very high)

The movers and shakers of my town coming out to support me

Casual drilling ~10m up

We worked untill 11PM on the 3rd day...

But it was worth it!!!!

Finished product!

Teaching the kids how turbines work

Workshop presented by WindAid

2.) I recently constructed an Ecological composting toilet with the help of the Pacasmayo marathon. Our hopes for the toilet are that the park will use the compost to reforest the  park. Cañoncillo is an incredibly unique ecosystem that is basically an oasis in the middle of the desert. I had the fortune of seeing foxes during one of my visits there! We are hoping to construct 1 more because there are many visitors to the park but this will depend on if the community can raise the money for the materials.

3 natural lagoons in the middle of a forest in the middle of a desert....

It is a seriously beautiful park

The plan book

The first stages

Halfway there!

Final product!

3.) My family visited!!! It was the most wonderful birthday/Thanksgiving. We traveled to Machu Picchu, my site, and the jungle!  It was so wonderful having my 2 families meet, our time in Cusco was filled with amazingness, and the adventures in the jungle were unforgettable. It was truly a great vacation and I can't believe how quickly it passed by. I miss them more and more everyday and cannot wait to see them again when I get home!

My moms!

In the plaza de armas in my town

Walking on my street

Cusco, the lake girls

Train ride to Machu

Typical lake family

Obligatory Machu picture

My father, my sisters and I hiked up Machu Picchu Mountain! it was beautiful.

Our Christmas photo

Beautiful ruins close to Cusco

And then we went to the jungle. Horrible picture. it was SO muggy

Canopy hike

Our humble/beautiful homes in the jungle

One of our beautiful river boat rides

Canopy walk!

Us and our wonderful Tour guide

Caymin!

Super rare giant river otter. We saw it catch and eat a piranha!

4.) Finally, Mike and I celebrated Christmas Day in Ancash with a day hike to a disappearing glacier and a nice dinner with our friends Amanda, Charles, and Crystal. We made rosemary stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, Parmesan broccoli, Gouda mac and cheese, potato skins and bought some chicken. We had to make this all with 1 stove that only went up to 200° and at altitude. It was a HUGE challenge but a wonderful meal. Then we rang in the New Year in the beautiful mangroves of Tumbes.

Mike's famous potato skins

Rosemary stuffing

Garlic mashed potatoes

The glacier!

So many different types of crabs in the mangroves!

Using a piece of wood and some fishing line, Mike caught a fish!

This guy taught us all about crabbing

Mike and the crab

Relaxing on the beach in Zorritos, Tumbes

In the upcoming week, I will do a post about my current projects and how they are going. Hope you enjoyed the photos!