Engineers Without Borders UD Guatemala Project

Esta terminado. Si se puede!!!

2012-01-28T04:28:00.000-08:00

And we're finished! We can't believe we're saying that! Yesterday we finished the railingsand that means the whole bridge is officially completed! The only thing the community needs to do is paint the railings. They have the paint and the paint brushes so it will be done quickly, hopefully today!!! They also have to maintain the bridge meaning putting water on bridge for a week to help cure it and not stripping forms until February 22nd. The community has agreed to this and promised they will follow our guidelines!! I will post more about our findings and our final emotions tonight! But we really finished everything in four weeks! It's the best and fastest bridge ever built.

Dhara

Curb your enthusiasm!!

2012-01-28T04:14:00.000-08:00

Two days ago we finished the curbs on the bridge!! That was the last concrete pour of this trip! For Chelsea, Andrew and I we were so happy it was the last because that meant no more rebar and concrete! It was a great moment! We didn't have to cut or tie any rebar! And I didn't have to make sure mixers and water were at the site during each pour! I would say it was a great day! We finished forming the curb in the morning and poured at two! It took all of twenty minutes to pour and then we waited till it was dry enough to strip so we could put a broom finish on it!!! After we finished the touching up we called it a day! Unfortunately it was our last night with Melvin and we had to say good bye to him too! But the best part of the night was after dinner at the hotel when Yvonni, our waiter, gave us presents! He gave Chelsea and I coin purses and he gave Ben and Andrew saddles! It was so cute and Chelsea and I "awwwwww-Ed" forever!!! Hanaha

Well that was two days ago stay tuned for more.

Dhara

Pour = Success

2012-01-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

Today we poured the deck! We got to the bridge site at six am and began work by six thirty! That's a whole hour earlier than the other days!!!! But we needed to start early, here was so much prep work to be done!! It was crazy butwe'll got it all done two and a half hours! We then started pouring the deck! And within an hour things were kind of iffy! The bulkhead at the end of the bridge was slightly bulging! We had to deal with that as soon as possible so more problems didn't ensue. Then the deck ends also started bulging out!!! It was a crazy moment then because if we let it go we'd have a wider and crooked deck! So Ben quickly braced it some more! During that time we stopped pouring but the minute he was done we began again! We did not run into any more problems after that; it was great! The pour went smoothly and we finished in about five hours! It was great! After we finished all the men had their lunch break but the Ewb team kept working!!! We were putting the final finishes on the deck, putting in curb rebar and getting it ready to cure! Around three o clock the community had brought in a new reporter who pulled me away from my work and asked me questions about our organization and university! It was great! Then he took a picture of the Ewb team! We were all covered in concrete though, especially Rod!!! But it's okay this project will be published in the Guatemalan newspaper on Friday!--and according to Melvin it's one of the bigger newspapers in Guatemala!!!! So I would say we had a pretty awesome day! So now were gonna celebrate by having a big feast at Ernesto's!!!!

See ya on the flip side.

Dhara

Home stretch!

2012-01-22T16:10:00.000-08:00

Well i haven't blogged in a while! I am very sorry!!! But on the good news we only have one more week!!! Woooo! So excited! But even though we goop home so soon we have so much left to do! But before I talk about that let me tell you about the last four days.

I mentioned on Wednesday that the wood wasn't arriving on time! Well it hasn't arrived on time yet! We didn't get the 2 by 10s until Thursday so we didn't finish the boardwalk of the deck till then! Then on Friday we really had to hussle to get everything we needed to get before Gary his skills left! We had a great work day on Friday after waiting for the wood all day Thursday! But unfortunately our luck wasn't that great! On saturday, the generator broke on us. The meant we lost three hours of work on Gary's last day of work! It was unfortunate but we still did get a good amount done! Btw we bought a new generator for one week! I know crazy huh! And then today, we didn't have Gary but the five us worked extremely hard and all the formwork is completed! We will be putting in rebar tomorrow and hopefully pouring the deck on Wednesday! It's been quite a ride this past week but let me tell you that the whole team knows how to troubleshoot in any situation! We have learned so much about how different life is here and how to deal with different situations on the spot! We have made it work this far and we are almost done! Wish us luck!

The daily construction is one thing but community interaction is the other thing! The comite and the mayors group wanted to take us out to dinner before Dr. Veness and Gary left! It was great, we got to meet all the leader and express all of our thoughts. After we ate, the communityleaders went around and each of them had a little speech. They all basically said they were very surprised with us and the project as well as very thankful for giving them this bridge. The mayor even asked us to continue helping the community with other projects! We said we'd be open to it but we want to finish the bridge first. Dr. Veness also spoke and thanked the community for having us! Then I finally made my speech! It was scary but I said what the team was thinking! It has been a great group effort even though it was bumpyat first! They really appreciated it and the dinner wasa success!

For Gary's and Dr. Veness 's last dinner we ate at Ernesto's on Thursday! It was great; the potatoes were to die for and everyone but me loved the shrimp! ( I don't eat fish) the dinner was awesome and a lot of fun! We had another dinner at the hotel on Saturday and we all said our goodbyes! It was so sad! I cried! They are both awesome people and a huge help in the project! It couldn't of succeeded this much without them! I hope they make it back safe and hope they email us to let us know! We miss you guys already!!!

Well I guess I should stop talking now it's been a really long post with really bad grammar! So excuse me, I'm writing on my iPad! I'm posting more pictures of the bridge tonight! So be on the look out for that and wish us luck on our pour this Wednesday!

Dhara

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES

2012-01-18T18:17:00.000-08:00

HI EVERYONE PICTURES ARE UP ON PHOTOBUCKET!!!!

www.photobucket.com/ewbguate

Dhara

Out of the hole

2012-01-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

It's Dhara here again! Today was the quiet after the storm; a great day if I had to say! We stripped the formwork for the wing walls and they look great. The men worked really hard. Some stripped the form work, others took out the nails and piled them nicely, and others cleaned the form work. It was an amazing sight and the men were awfully quiet hence the quiet after the storm because yesterday was crazy! We poured four wing walls and things went wrong but everything worked out. The issues were all revolving the generator and concrete vibrator...go figure. We can't seem to find a working generator in Guatemala. But it all worked out, like it always seems too. But today was another day and we started the deck form work. It actually looks like a bridge! But as lucky as we are to be this far, there are other issues holding us up! We first need to get all the wood by tomorrow but it doesn't seem like it..people here just aren't punctual. They told us we'd get it today but we didn't even get half of it today! We are so frustrated! But we will handle it tomorrow as well as getting a working generator and concrete vibrator! We've got our work cut out for us tomorrow and the next couple of days but we're out of the hole at least!

Dhara

2012-01-17T02:47:00.001-08:00

GOOBLE GOOBLE GOOBLE

2012-01-15T17:21:00.000-08:00

Well Hello!

It's Dhara here! This wonderful title is dedicated to our wonderful team member BRITTANY. WE MISS YOU AND YOUR TURKEY NOISES!!! But also, the team was making fun of me for speaking Gujarati! They said I sounded like a turkey. :( Anywho, I have a lot to update you on! So much has happened since the last post. It feels like a month has gone by already! Everyday is an adventure but our team never seems to give up! It's absolutely amazing! On a side note, I realize that the photobucket site is not working. Here is the new link: www.photobucket.com/ewbguate

So since the last post, we didn't actually pour the wingwalls on Thursday because we weren't ready. This doesn't mean we are behind schedule, though! We are now pouring both wing walls tomorrow morning hopefully! If everything goes smoothly, that is! So for the past few days we have just been getting the rebar and formwork ready for the wing walls. I have added those pictures to the photobucket, so now you can go see them! We did run into some issues with the materials though this week. We found out on Friday that we ordered way too much aggregate. In a way it is good because we can use it as backfill but besides that we really just lost money! (The company doesn't refund) So we are working on selling some of it so we don't lose money! Since we met Ernesto, he has been a GREAT help! He is helping us sell it as well as Melvin. The other issue we faced in the past couple of days was regarding the formwork! I had let the community take control of the wood (bad idea), so I didn't really think we would be short! Well the community doesn't have any more trees to cut so we can get wood! This is where we had to figure out how to get wood for the super structure by MONDAY! It was only three days notice! Dr. Veness and I, called Ernesto and asked him if there was any lumber mills anywhere! He really helped us out! He sent one of his workers with us to go to one of the lumber mills so we could get all the wood we wanted for a Guatemalan price rather than a "gringa price." Gringa is what they call us Americans. Leonel, Ernesto's worker, was an awesome guy and we got it all done and figured out in three hours! Another success! We truly have hit a lot of potholes on this project and we've overcome every single one. I am so proud of my team they have stuck by me and helped me out in every single way they can! So now this leads us to the concrete pour tomorrow. It will be an early day tomorrow! We are leaving at 6:15 (that's when Chelsea and I wake up on a normal day). But I am very excited to finish the sub structure and move onto the super structure! Hopefully we finish everything before we leave! :)

Now the fun stuff!! We had a pretty awesome dinner last night at La Estancia. Ernesto is a great cook and Gary even got to help out! He made some great vegetables with pineapple in them!! Gary is a great cook as well! Everyone else enjoyed the chicken, which is a special of Ernesto. The food was great and so was the conversation. We really have an awesome group of people who are ALWAYS sarcastic. They are making fun of me as we speak but I am too involved in writing the blog to have a reaction. I can never tell when Rod and Gary are sarcastic so I usually think they are serious and I freak out because I am just like that but I am slowly learning their ways. Ben on the other hand is obviously sarcastic so I don't take it seriously. (which is good). Anyway back to my dinner information. We had a wonderful dinner conversation, everyone was cracking jokes. We even got to see Ernesto's home, he built it himself. It is three rooms combined: a bedroom, living room and kitchen! It is filled with crazy art! It's also very unique!!! We all enjoyed seeing it and it added the finishing touches to Brittany's going away dinner!! Tonight we just ate at the hotel and that is where I am writing my blog. But everyone is paying their bills now so I should go. I hope this has been a great update! Comment :) and visit the photobucket!!

Dhara

Dinner Table Conversation

2012-01-11T20:55:00.001-08:00

Hey all!

Well, the bridge is coming along just fine! Tomorrow we are pouring the abutment walls. We got the formwork for that up today, and it's getting easier and easier to visualize our bridge. We are so excited!

Aside from the hard work of the day, the EWB group experienced a pretty unique situation here in Guatemala. We ate dinner tonight at a hotel and restaurant run by our new friend, Ernesto. We ate dinner at his lovely hotel Sunday night as well, and we learned that if we needed a professional contact in Guatemala, such as a doctor, he's the man that would know one.

Well, Chelsea feels a bit sick from the heat and the sun. Ernesto, noticing this, calls a doctor to come to the restaurant. As all of us are eating at a dinner table, the doctor asks upon his arrival, "Who is the sick one? How many times have you vomitted?" After taking her to a private area to talk (as a result of our strong suggestions) he announces his diagnosis. I don't think the situation would have been approved by HIPPA.

Anyway, Chelsea is sleeping this off. Hopefully she will feel better in time to see the wingwalls poured! That will happen on Friday.

In other news, I've fed dying dog the canned food I had bought for him (refer to previous blog). I don't think there was any happier dog on the planet at that moment.

Visit photo bucket.com/ewbguat to check out pictures of the trip!

Stay tuned for more,

Brittany

Dinner Table Conversation

2012-01-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

Making Moves

2012-01-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

Hola followers,

It's been two days since the second team has come in! It's crazy how much work we have finished! Complete turn around and you can see it! Sound the past two days we finished rebar for the footings and poured both footings! We're a day ahead almost; it's awesome. We just have to continue our progress! But unfortunately sickness is hitting us slowly but surely. We are resting more and drinking a lot of water. It's nice but with help from i don't know who a whole bridge is in the near future. Inthe super structure! That's crazy! Thank you so much for all of those who have supported and prayed for us. But a little more about our day today!

So we arrived early today because we are pouring concrete today for the footings. When we got there the men were all there. I would say about fifty people. It was over whelming at first but then we realized how much work there was involved. The mixers started pour at about 8:30 in the morning and Ben, Gary, and rest of team started the rebar on the near side. By twelve in the afternoon we had finished the far side footing and ready to pour near side. We thought that we would have to do it tomorrow but we didn't. It all worked out in the end. So by about three we were done pouring both footings and started rebar cages for the abutments. We ended up packing up early. So we headed home for some rest. Oh btw the way: the fun stuff for today was 1. Feeding dying dog. He wasn't dead! We were so happy. 2. We meet some kids our age between 18-21 and exchanged Facebook names. It was awesome! I would say good day.

Tomorrow we will be getting ready for the abutment pours! We are really excited. I am happy that we can see a superstructure in the near future. I'm adding some pictures from today! Stand by.

Dhara

A change of routine

2012-01-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

It's so crazy that it's already been a week! None of us expected It to go by so quick. We really miss Kelly and Ted! I hope they had a safe journey home! Email us guys lol! But today was so productive up until twelve! We got everything we wanted accomplished. We formed up the far abutment and created a path for cement. (I don't know if we did those two correctly lol) But we also cut and tied rebar for the close abutment. I say for four engineering students without our mentors we did a WONDERFUL job. All the men were great! They helped a lot and have been since the first day. The craziness has settled because we finally have a strong foundation in the close side foundation. But it will probably pick up again next week with change of people. We are currently waiting for our new men coming in. Rod, Gary, and Ben will be here in less than an hour; we're so excited for them!

But on the fun side! We had a lot of time today! We came back to the hotel and switched levels to save money in our budget! We're saving a lot and I'm so proud of my team; they really stepped up and all decided to save for the sake of the project! We still have air conditioning, don't worry!!! After we switched rooms, we went to La Estancia, which is a restaurant and hotel recommended by Dr.Veness's friends. It was so delicious, they accommodated for all of our needs: vegetarians and gluten free! We ended up staying there for two hours, which is crazy but the owner was so interesting. His dad was a German Jew who had come to Guatemala before world war 2. We talked about the history of Guatemala after that and more about malacatan. It was so nice to learn about that and get a fresh new view about Guatemala. But that was our day. It was great fun and now were eating dinner and sleeping so we can start tomorrow at 7.

Dhara

PICTUREESSS!!!

2012-01-08T16:52:00.001-08:00

The Dying Dog

2012-01-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,

Brittany here, writing today's blog- hence the creative title! I will fill you in on that story later. First- bridge update! As Dhara has alluded to in previous blogs, we have been having problems with one side of the abutment excavation because the ground is softer (and filled with water) which was something we had not foreseen. However, the men of the village did a suberb job of removing the "muck" from the excavation and filling it in with sand, rocks, and concrete to establish a firm base on which to pour concrete. Chelsea and I have decided that the men of San Jose Petacalapa are, in fact, the strongest people in the world because they can haul bags of the afformentioned materials across difficult terrain with ease.

On the other side of the river, we've started cutting and tying rebar. Things are really starting to come together, and the villagers as well as the EWB team are really excited about this. In fact, the men are taking an extra precaution to protect our equipment (and sparing us the trouble of hauling heavy stuff all the way back to the center of their village) by sending six volunteers to sleep near the site and watch over tools and materials. They insisted on this form of protection, which really shows how enthusiastic they are about making this bridge!

Anyway, here's the dog story. Yesterday while we were working, there were a lot of dogs around the site (they belong to the men, something you can recognize by the fact that they follow their owners around just as their American counterparts do). There was one dog who had the saddest face you ever did see, and he was incredibly skinny. He would slowly follow Chelsea around, and lay down near her when she stayed in the same place. We didnt call him dying dog in expectation of him dying, but moreso because of his lethargic and depressed demeanor. He was like the Eyyore of dogs. Today, he was not at the site. We were a little worried about him because he was so skinny (I even bought a can of pedigree to feed to him today). All day, we were hoping to see him so that we could feed him and be reassured that he had not, in some terrible and ironic way, actually died. On our way out of the village this evening, after worrying about him in the back of our minds all day, we saw him. He was lying in the street, looking lethargic as usual, and completely indifferent to the fact that a large vehicle was rolling inches past him. We shouted and cheered for the dying dog and his state of being alive. It made our day along with, you know, the bridge coming together and everything.

Well, I am not as succinct as Dhara but I hope I've entertained you! Time for bed- more manual labor under the hot Central American sun to come in the morning.

Brittany

"A Success"

2012-01-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

At first today seemed like it was going to be a great day. Yesterday, we had done the major excavation and things kind of looked positive. But we quickly found out that the soil on the near side was way too soft for it to hold a bridge, and water was seeping in. We didn't know if it was from the river or ground water. We still don't know!! There was much frustration between everyone and we had to call it a day at three. We needed to reconvene and gather our thoughts and so did the community. I, Dhara, on the other hand had been out dealing with feisty hardware store owners getting materials and working on Guatemala's time clock, not my fast-paced world. I had to slow down and really work with them. We did run into some scary issues but they were resolved. The hard part was when I came to the community and found out about the abutment ground. So we did all go back to the hotel, talked for and hour, ate dinner, and came back to the community to have a meeting.

It was actually a wonderful meeting. We were connecting finally. No, all of our communication problems in the last two days weren't resolved--but it was a start. The community pitched in their ideas and took charge. Again, we did tell the community that this still may not happen as much as we wanted to. We said it will be a "monument of failure" if it doesnt get done. But we (Ewb) did not want to give up until we exhausted every option! We aren't quitters. The community said the same we want to continue and we'll help. So all in all it was a success. We decided to pump out water to see if it helps and dig more. Also to divert water with sand bags. Which they offered to start putting together at six in the morning tomorrow. It has been quite a day! But it is late here and I'm sure Chelsea is asleep so I should get to bed!

Dhara

Malacatan Malacatan Malacatan

2012-01-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

We have finally arrived to Malacatan. It was a long ride but Leonel, our driver, brought us here safely! We even got to go into the community and meet the Comte! Unfortunately, we found out that the community has not excavated,which is a setback but Ted says its fine! It will hopefully only push us back two days! We'll have a backhoe tomorrow to excavate so hopefully we can finish tomorrow but there are still some outstanding questions! Rebar and aggregate will arrive tomorrow too and the team will sort it out! We have our work cut out for us tomorrow! But I guess you'll know how much we finish tomorrow! Make sure to read tomorrow!

Dhara!

Houston Houston Houston

2012-01-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

Made it to Houston in one piece andcthatvonly means me thing...halfway to Guatemala! We all just ate and now were starting to dose off. We have about an hour before we board again! The next time we blog we'll be in Guatemala! A dream come true! We didn't think this trip would ever happen but we're here! So surreal. But we're so excited to get started. We're already discussing work teams and strategies. That's all for now!

Dhara

Adios Estados Unidos!

2012-01-01T01:30:00.000-08:00

Hola,

Estamos aqui en el aeropuerto!!!! We're so excited and tired (4 am currently). Oh yea Happy New Year everyone! We'll be boarding soon and will post from Guatemala city next! But before we get Houston's where we are headed! We're just crossing our fingers everything in country works out! Wish us luck and Wait for our next post!!! :)

You're friendly pm,

Dhara

River Monster Wrangling

2011-01-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

Hello bloggers! Its lunes today and we finally arrived in the community of San Jose Pentacalapa. At 10am we had a meeting with the members of the comite to discuss the status of the bridge project and alternative solutions to problems within the community. We spoke at length about our expectations as well as their expectations and how we could work together to solve problems within the community. We defined our goals for the trip and began work immediately. We went down the Vivora River to begin our surveying of the site. We had to get shots up the river up to 50 feet from the proposed bridge. At first glance it looked like the river would be about waist deep. Of course, I was the one person who brought a bathing suit so I had to go into the river to hold the philly rod so we could get measurements. I soon found out that the water got deep really quickly and bada bing I am now chest deep in the Vivora River which I later found out meant snake river and was evidently….filled with snakes! Luckily, I did not encounter any critters in my adventure through the river and I made it out alive and with all of my limbs intact. Our team was working well together and we were able to get all of our shots pretty quickly. And everyone including the local men seemed to enjoy laughing at me struggling in the river. All in all it was a very successful day for Team Guat.

-Matt “Snake River Conqueror” Klepacki

Newark to Newark to Guatemala

2011-01-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

After gathering and figuring out how to pack up all the surveying equipment, we, the Guatemala travel team, left Newark, DE on a cold snowy night. We drove up to Newark, NJ and after a few hours of sleep finally got to the airport to leave for Guatemala. From there we hopped a 6 AM flight down to Atlanta. Five of us were all stuck in the very pack row of the airplane. We quickly moved to our next gate only to have our next flight be delayed. But at the gate, we did finally meet our trusty professional engineer, Guillermo. The flight from Atlanta to Guatemala City was really smooth and I think most of us took the opportunity to catch up on some missed sleep from the night before. When we finally landed, we were all excited to be in Guatemala (and that all our equipment arrived in one place!). We passed through customs just fine and moved on to find our rental car and the trip finally began!

Last Day in the Community

2010-01-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

So today was our last day to visit the people of San Jose Petacalapa. We are heading back to Guatemala City tomorrow so that we will have all of Monday to collect the rebar samples and do some souvenir shopping for the silent auction in March. Then home on Tuesday! I can't believe the trip is almost over! I will be very sad to leave again, I love being down here. But no time for worrying about that now!

So today we analyzed the results of our water quality testing. After letting our petri dishes full of the community's water incubate in Catherine's suitcase for over 24 hours, we discovered that most of the sites tested have fecal coliform colonies. A couple have E coli colonies, but not many, and most have some salmonella colonies. We presented these results to the community but explained that we cannot do anything about it at this time other than suggest that they boil their water. But we're hoping it might stir some water quality project ideas in their minds....we shall see!

We also planned to give the community a copy of the document we signed the other day (the Memorandum of Understanding), but for some reason the printer didn't want to print the PDF. We tried to convert the file to a Word document, but everything was skewed, so we ended up just printing a blank copy and had them sign it again on paper. But all is well, everything is signed! We also gave them a copy of our tentative construction schedule just to make sure that everything is clear for everyone.

Well that's about it for today! The rest of the day was just relaxing since we are done with our agenda! The next time we talk, we'll be in Guatemala City! As long as the hotel there has internet, that is!

Adios for now!
-Kelley

2010-01-15T20:22:00.001-08:00

We have had two very busy, very successful days. Yesterday, we sat down in the morning to work out exactly what we were putting in the Memorandum of Understanding. Afterwards, we went to Malacatan for lunch and to obtain some rebar samples. Unfortunatley, there were no 60K steel available in Malacatan, just 40K. We were informed that they do carry 60K, but only by request. I guess we'll grab some 60K in Guatemala City on our way out of town...

After lunch we headed to the community to meet with the Comitte. We were supposed to be there at 1 but due to numerous delays (the rebar, lunch, our ride, etc), we didn't arrive until 3. It's amazing how no one was even surprised. People were even just showing up for the meeting themselves when we were getting there. I guess the difference between "Guatemala time"and "American time'" is not just the one hour time zone difference...

Sooo yeah, we didn't blog last night... probably because we got back from Mexico so late! Yeah, we went to Mexico for dinner. (It's not really a big deal it's only a five minute drive away). We went to Tapachula. There was a really beautiful square with a statue of Benito Juarez. A lot of us really liked this statue because of his famous quote, which translates to "Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace."

Today (Friday) was extremely busy. We woke up early to go grab some water quality samples throughout the community. On our last trip in August, we had mentioned that we could do other projects besides a bridge project in a meeting with the whole community. On this trip, we were informed that people who lived in higher areas were having problems with their well water. I can't believe how deep these wells are--and they are all hand dug. We even got to see a well that was currently being excavated. (The family had realized that their well water was being affected by their sewage because it was turning brown). Personally, I would have claustrophobia issues if I was in a 20m deep well.

We also asked for a hole to be excavated for us at the bridge site to see if we would have resistance before hitting water level, but no luck. Like last year, we found that there is clay until the water level. Once again, I was thouroughly impressed with the way the people of San Jose Petacalapa can dig. The hole they excavated was 1m X 1m and about 3m deep; it was dug before lunch.

Finally, we had our Memorandum of Understanding signed today! It's nice to have an official agreement with the community, and I think it's reassuring to them to know that we have strong intentions to come back and finish what we started.

We went to Mexico again for dinner tonight. That seems to be the cycle; Malacatan for lunch, Mexico for dinner. Caitlin, Kelley and I noticed that Guatemala and Mexico both have a distinct smell; a mix of tar, diesel, and heat. It's hard to believe it's January at all, because today, it was 80 degrees F, and I know from experience that it was just as hot in August. January also seems so far away because despite the fact that it is the dry season, Guatemala is as green as it was the last time we were here...

-Catherine

First Blog from Guatemala!

2010-01-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

Hello!

So first off, I have to say that it took Caitlin and I about 5 minutes to find out how to create a new blog since all of the options were listed in Spanish and we both took French in school.....But here we are with the first blog of the trip!

We arrived at the hotel around 10 PM last night only to find that the hotel only had 2 rooms available instead of the 4 we reserved....But the girls shared a room and Evelio stayed with his mom, so all turned out well there. When Caitlin, Catherine and I walked into our room, however, we were greeted by a HUMONGOUS spider above our beds....And I mean larger than the size of my hand humongous....After a Raid shower and a very long pole, the hotel employee saved us from certain doom. Somehow we still managed to sleep after this traumatizing event.

Today we went into the village. We had a long discussion with some of the men of the community (who actually remembered me - I never would've thought!), and got a LOT of questions answered - awesome progress already! After talking to them for at least an hour, we decided to hike across the river and walk through the crop fields. We ended up walking pretty far through their crop fields and ran into the river further downstream and it was BEAUTIFUL. Definitely my idea of paradise, it was so serene.

After that we went into the town of Malacatan for lunch and also picked up a bag of cement for strength testing. We went back to San Jose Petacalapa and whipped up a batch of concrete! The men of the village mixed the concrete the way the normally have in the past - it was a really cool process to watch! We conducted the slump test today...it failed miserably! We couldn't even measure the amount of slump because the concrete was SO soupy. We still filled six cylinders so that we could conduct 7-day and 28-day strength tests. Some of these samples will be left to test here, and the others will come home with us and we'll test them at home.

After that we just chilled with the community...Stephen, Evelio, and Guillermo played soccer with some of the guys in the community while us girls played with the cutest little girls! Now we're back at the hotel relaxing a little.

Stay tuned for the next update! :)
-Kelley and Caitlin

Trip 2!

2010-01-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

The EWB-UD Guatemala team will be leaving tomorrow, so start checking the blog again!
Traveling on this trip will be Catherine Collison, Kelley Pyle, Caitlin Pretz, Stephen Mensah, Guillermo Gordillo, and, of course, the wonderful Evelio. We will be in country January 12th-19th. Stay tuned!

-Catherine

You have to love normal keyboards....

2009-08-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll!!

OK so I decided to make it one of my goals to teach everyone here that ya'll is a proper way to adress a group of 2 or more people in English. Haha ok, maybe not. All of you non-Texan readers can rest assured that that is not actually one of my goals.

So far our trip has been very successful. I am amazed that everything has gone according to plan and we have had no major glitches or set backs - unbelievable for an EWB trip! We have gotten a lot accomplished in a short amount of time and I have no worries about leaving while feeling as if something didn't get accomplished. All of the technical jobs have been completed! And I was actually interested in the dirt - I now know why Melissa is so obsessed! Haha. The site looks promising so far, at least from what I have seen and heard. The people are all very friendly and helpful. Everytime we pass someone in the village, a wave and usually a casual "hola!" or "buenos dias" is exchanged with a smile. Such enthusiasm and welcome is very promising and exciting!

The men of the village are also very helpful. I'm sure it is just a part of their culture that the men do the hard labor related to large projects, but it is slightly unnerving how much they take over the jobs we are doing. We all appreciate the help and it is definitely nice not to have to do all the manual work in the heat, but I do also wish that we, or at least I, got a chance for a little more hands-on work. Oh well, such is life! At least I still learn by observing! And they all mean very well by it, it is not controlling at all, just helpful. So all is well :)

The language barrier is a little interesting...Haha I realized that I have picked up very little Spanish in Texas. It is most inconvenient when hanging out with the kids, because they try to communicate with you and it's hard for them to understand that I have no idea what they are talking about...haha. But hanging out with the kids is wonderful, and teaching them English is great because they get so excited! I doubt much of it will stick with them for long, despite their avid note-taking, but the excitement is so adorable :) And their obsession with digital cameras is crazy!! We have become known as the white girls with pictures. They always ask for "uno photo!" and will run over to you and push others out of the way to get a view of the picture just taken on the tiny camera screen. One poor kid even got a bloody nose from one espeially crazy round of photos....But he was ok :)

It is interesting noticing the common threads between cultures all over the world. Through my limited travels, it is easy to see that basic emotions are expressed in the same way through body language and the basic gender traits are similar all over, as especially portrayed in the children, who don't hold anything back. This is helpful in attempting to overcome language barriers and also interesting in observing basic human nature, which has always been interesting to me.

Well, that's about it for now. Sorry if this blog is slightly scattered or chopy, but I tried not to repeat too much information that Melissa and Cara have conveyed and I am trying to finish the blog before our meeting with the entire village at 5 (which actually means about 5:30 or 6...haha). Well Adios for now! I can't wait to see where the next several days take us! :)

Kelley

Yay a computer!

2009-08-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

So we have had a very successful 5 days so far. We made it safely to the hotel Monday night right as it was starting to get dark with much thanks to Evelio for driving our awesome van (named Bertha). On Tuesday, we were driven to the river and got a look at the site and we also got to meet the committee from the town. Wednesday, we went back to the bridge site and tried to do all of our technical analysis. I say try because the community members tended to do all of the physical labor for me and I pretty much just stood around waiting for others or talking to the locals.

Catherine and I took a water sample from the river and tested it and then tried to cross the river (which can be easily maneuvered by hopping to and from various rocks as the water is surpirsingly low for the rainy season). However, apparently we made a big deal about trying to get to one rock so the men then drove the truck across the river to pick us back up (which was totally generous and unneccessary. Across the river, there is a very steep, slippery hill that must be climbed to reach the fields. Once on top, the fields stretch on in all directions. There are at least 500 acres, possibly even 1000 (very rough estimate done by myself), on the other side that are used for their crops. As a farm girl, I was very impressed and in awe.

Having done most of the technical stuff on Wednesday, yesterday and today was more about getting to know the community. The principal of the school asked us to teach English to the children in the classrooms. So we tried. Key word is tried. Having taken French and not Spanish in high school (and having too good of a teacher) I keep speaking French words before I can come up with the Spanish. So my class was interesting. But apparently, I had a good class and they were always well-behaved and they retained some of my words. Yay! Erin and I went into another class today and taught more English for an hour, and we sang the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" which was a blast. During the kids' recess they asked me to sing it again with them. (I was surprised they could tolerate my singing).

The community has been opening up to us and are very welcoming. Tonight we have a meeting that is open for anyone in San Jose to attend so that we can be introduced and answer any questions. I am quite excited and now have to go get ready.

Adios!
-Cara

A Real Blog?!

2009-08-07T14:45:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I want to start off by saying that it feels amazing to be blogging on an actual computer. It wasn't easy to get one, but our friend Evelio came through for us. Just as amazing is the fact that I managed to figure out to navigate through our blog on my very own. Go Melissa.

We've had an extremely productive 5 days (4 if you consider that Monday was a travel day). We've completed our soil analysis (yay for rocks!), some water testing, hydrology, the topo...I'm sure there was more in there, but it's been a very busy 5 days and the rest escapes me. With the technical data collecting coming to a close we've had the opportunity to shift our focus towards building a strong relationship with the community. We've been lucky to have April and Evelio to introduce us around San Jose and we're looking forward to meeting with people in the surrounding area this weekend and early next week.

As I mentioned before we completed our soil sampling and in situ analysis Wednesday. Of the 3 boring holes we attempted, 2 hit rock right away. This is great news. The 3rd was only a potential site for the abutment and was 5 feet of soft wet clay. While it's an unfortunate material to bear on, it was a great excuse to play with our dynamic cone penetrometer that we hauled here from Delaware. As if that weren't reason enough to forgive it's lack of compressive strength, the hand augering that this system requires gave members of the community of San Jose a great excuse to help.

Today, the surveyer was on site gathering data for our topographic analysis. Peter Waugh and I went down to the river with him with the intention of helping, but were once again beat to it by members of the community who were excited to be involved. So instead we obvserved the data collection and conversed with locals to gather more information on what life is like in San Jose. We were also lucky enough to be shown a "short cut" to the river. For the record, a "short cut" in Guatemala apparently means "a path that is longer, takes more time and is more difficult to walk." Such fun. :-)

I need to pass the computer along while we still have battery power and internet access, but I look forward to keeping you all updated on our progress. Go Team Guatemala!!

-Melissa

ps: sorry for any typos, the spellcheck is set for spanish and tells me everything is wrong. Unfortunate.

Ipod touch

2009-08-05T16:29:00.001-07:00

So all we have to blog with is an ipod touch so this will be brief. However we couldn't let our fans down.

It rains every afternoon haha. However the landscape is beautiful and green. The people are extreMely helpful. -catherine

Everyone is very helpful and friendly and we're having a good time :) weather is humid, like home (haha), and a little rainy... ;) -kelley

Hola mis amigos en la usa! Handled the soil sampling this morning, it was great to see people in the community so eager to help. Oh and it's raining...a lot. -melissa

Hey everyone! Things are going well. It has been raining a lot in the afternoons here and the weather is very hot and humid in San jose. The community and our contacts have been really helpful and supportive with our team. - Cara

And we're off!

2009-08-02T22:28:00.000-07:00

So, its 8:00 PM and we're getting ready to drive down to BWI . Melissa shows up to my house with a car full of metal things used for dirty activities. As this plethora of metal poles clangs to the ground on my front porch, we come across our first EWB-Guatemala trip dilemma; how do you pack a dynamic cone penetrometer for a plane ride? Huge duffel bag? Nope. Suit case? Nope. Baseball bat bag?! Nope.

Moldy lacrosse bag? Yeah, that'll do the trick.

Anyway, Sarah Dalton is now about to drive Melissa, Professor Santare, Cara and me down to BWI. At 2:00 AM. So if you see her, give her a hug... or a cookie... or maybe some coffee. Because she is awesome. We'll be meeting Evelio (our guiding light on this trip) at the airport and arrive in Houston around 8:00 am, where we should run into Kelley... (well, we'll run into her if she isn't already sitting in her seat. We have to switch planes in a little over an hour... that'll be exciting...)

By dusk (Guatemala time) tomorrow (Monday) we should be in San Jose Petacalapa, toughing it out in a hotel with a pool. And a water slide. Fortunately, we girls are just as skilled at forebearing gruesome conditions as the Cameroon travel team...

-Catherine