Bluefields Trip

Hi All!!

It's been quite a while since Mikell and I returned from Bluefields, and I'm sorry it's taken so long to update this blog but we were very busy with our senior design project once we returned to SCU. In this blog, i wanted to share our wonderful experience abroad and talk about the non-technical aspect of our trip.

We arrived in Bluefields Monday, March 21st after 11 hours of traveling, beginning at LAX, then flying to Panama City, Managua, and then to Bluefields. We had absolutely no trouble making it to Bluefields and we were even greeted by one of the blueEnergy employees at the Bluefields Airport. We had a bit of trouble finding a cab since they were on strike due to gas prices staying stagnant in Bluefields while the price of gas in Managua had dropped. We soon found out that the cab service is a cheap and easy mode of transportation that can be found EVERYWHERE. It is a flat rate of 10 cordobas (50 cents) per person to go anywhere in Bluefields. After 10:00 pm, that rate goes up to 15 cordobas (75 cents). As dangerous as Bluefields can be at night, it is easily worth the price.

Main blueEnergy house

These pangas deliver food from Managua to the Bluefields supermercado.

blueEnergy owns a few guard dogs. Mikell and I love dogs so we were very excited!

This is Cookie, one of the smelliest most senile dogs. We shocked everyone by giving her a bath since most people do not even touch her =(

This is Soozie, a deceivingly sweet dog. She's infamous for attacking children.

Mikell carries her home after she runs away and attacks a family.

This is Soozie's little boy, Turbo. He has a very silly personality.

There were many adjustments to our daily lives that I never imagined. These include throwing the toilet paper away after going to the restroom (to avoid the pipes from jamming), turning on a pump to take a shower, washing clothes by hand, being very cautious about valuables, eating food that probably a dozen flies have sat on, and spraying ourselves with Deet every morning to avoid insect bites. As normal as these nuisances are in this part of Nicaragua, it was tough to even begin complaining about them.

Here I am cleaning my own clothes...I think I made my clothes smell worse.

The house that blueEnergy has just built for volunteers is quite extravagant in terms of most homes here in Bluefields. We even had a rainwater catchment system that feeds into a piping system for the shower, toilet, and sink. Since we were getting into the dry season, the water level was quickly diminishing so we were careful to use as little water as possible. One day we walked through one of the poorest barrios in Bluefields that was right along the ocean water and all of the houses were standing on stilts to protect from flooding during high tides. Along with these homes, most homes in Bluefields are built from wood planks and sheets of metal. I believe that the type of shower and toilet we have at the blueEnergy home are fairly rare. Most people have a well next to their homes to obtain their water.

Rain water catchment outside our volunteer house.

The day after our arrival we went to Funcos, a sustainable farm. One of the main farmers who lives on the property showed us his efficient cook stove, his solar latrine, a horizontal biosand filter, his well, and the sustainable farming techniques used at Funcos. He is a very knowledgeable man that found unique ways to live a simpler life in a very tough area of Nicaragua. Although it took hard work, determination, and money to build the stove, latrine, and filter, they have helped his family live an easier life.

Efficient cookstove

They had a pet parrot!

Horizontal bio-sand filter

The farm (Solar latrine on left)

Their home

We also had the chance to go up to a Finca (farm) that belongs to one of the blueEnergy employees. I was expecting to be walking around an ordinary farm but we quickly realized it was quiet the opposite. This land had actually been bought to protect the natural beauty that was quickly being cut down by the people of Bluefields in order to claim it and build upon it. We began a 3 hour hike beginning at this Finca and then going on to a pristine forest/jungle. Some parts of the hike, we were foot deep in mud, and along with the mud, there were very steep hills we had to climb. It was quiet an adventure! We left the blueEnergy home at 6:30 in the morning and came back around 9:30 but even by then, it was so hot and humid that we were happy to return home.

There were beautiful views at the top

We made it back down..just a little bit muddier than when we started

The following day, we had the chance to build 2 bio-sand filters at Inatec. blueEnergy has a goal of producing 100 bio-sand filters by the end of the year.

Inatec

Preparing the bio-sand mold

Getting the filter media ready by sieving out the right size sand

Bending the copper coil for the outlet pipe

Making cement

Pounding the sides of the mold in order to get the air bubbles out of the cement

It will be ready in 24 hours to take out of the mold

24 hours later...Removing the mold top off the enclosed bio-sand filter

Inside of the finished bio-sand filter!! Unfortunately, after we finished our 2 bio-sand filters, we found out that the cement was too old, and the filter began cracking.

There is a deep well at the blueEnergy home and each year, it must be cleaned. Mikell had the cool opportunity to do that job!

Getting tied up to the rope

Cleaning the well

2 hours later, he comes back up

All done and very muddy!

On our last night in Bluefields, we had a nice dinner down at the water.

Beautiful view from the restaurant

We had such a wonderful trip in Bluefields. We learned about an amazing foreign culture while achieving our project goals. We will update you on our actual project in the next blog. Thanks for reading!

Sad to be leaving Bluefields

Goodbye Bluefields!!

We've reached our fundraising goal!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our cause! We've reached the $1300 goal! And with plenty of time to relax and get ready for our upcoming trip to Nicaragua.

Your support means the world to us, blueEnergy, and the communities we are serving! It DOES make a difference!

Stay tuned this week as we have a presentation this Thursday. We will upload our powerpoint for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks again, and we love you all!

Mikell & Ami

More Pictures!

This is the final setup for our filters. Before moving it to this position, we would have to pour water straight into the filters. By doing so, it disturbs the top layer of sand, which is not good for the system. In our new setup, all we have to do is pour 1 liter of water into the beverage dispenser on the left and 2 liters of water into the beverage dispenser on the right (the amount of water is dependent upon the volume of each filter). We found the optimum outflow for each of the beverage dispensers, slow enough that they wouldn't overfill the filters, but fast enough that the water leaving the system would be a flow rate similar to a real bio-sand filter.

This is a top look into the larger filter where there is now a diffuser plate. It ensures that the water is disturbing the biolayer as little as possible. This piece is especially crucial for a real bio-sand filter where the user normally dumps water into the top of the filter. We've already controlled our system with the beverage dispensers, but replicating our system as close as possible to the real thing will hopefully give us results as similar to real-life application.

Side view of the diffuser plate on the larger filter. This one is held up by some string and rubber bands. As you can see, the top of the filter has a lip which would not easily allow something like the diffuser to end up where it is now. It has to be in this position because we will be adding our activated carbon filter piece to the top of this filter in a few short weeks. This diffuser placement was craftily done by Mikell who had to bend the diffuser plate before placing it into the filter and then unbend it once inside, no easy task. (Thanks Mikell!)


Diffuser plate on top of the smaller bio-sand filter.

This is the side view of the smaller diffuser plate. This one is held up by ridges at the top of the filter.

At the end of every day, we cover our system with black trash bags. We want the filters to be in as little contact with sunlight, which could potentially stimulate some unwanted growth.


Thanks for reading =)

Pictures!

Click on the picture to see it larger:

C

-This is what the granular activated carbon (GAC) looks like!

-GAC and "teabag" approach (will explain later)

-Up-close look at the different layers in a common sand filter. From bottom to top, it's large gravel, smaller gravel, little pebbles, big sand, and filter sand the rest of the way up.

-Wire mesh to keep gravel from clogging the drain in the smaller sand filter.

-This is the smaller sand filter, with the wire mesh shown.

-Here's our setup in the lab!

-Look how dirty that water is!

-You wanna drink that?

-Will it come out clean?

-I'd drink that...Ok...maybe not...but it's a good start!

-Remember when I talked about drilling the holes? Here's the tool we used. A drill bit taped onto a long stick. Fact: The greatest inventions in the world involve duct tape.

-Here's how it was done...very slowly...

-Up close view.

-Pretty bored at this point...(10 minutes to drill 1 hole)

-Ami, you try. Much more enthusiastic!

-These are different sieves. You can see the different size holes that we use to pick out the exact type of sand we want. Basically, you put a mixture of dirt/gravel/sand into the top and shake it for awhile. The different size particles will land on the different layers so you know their average diameter.

-These are sieve shakers. They provide the shaking power needed to separate the sand on the different layers!

-Washing the sand before we use it as filter sand. It's pretty dirty. If you don't wash it, then it doesn't filter the water as well, it's all full of nasty stuff already and won't take any of the nasty stuff out of the water.

-This is a lot better, and about what it should look like. If the sand is too clean the water will go through the filter too quickly and won't filter as well. There's a fine line between being TOO dirty and being TOO clean. It takes practice! (We got a lot of it)


Hope these were fun to look through! We'll have more later.


Mikell