Day 4: 5/22/15

After a night spent in Cochabamba, we got up bright and early to meet our community contact, Damian Sirpa, to travel to the project site in Asanquiri about four hours away.  But before we could leave we had to drive around the city and gather some supplies.  Damian helped us navigate through the hectic streets of Cochabamba to get what we need. 

The 4-hour drive in Damian’s truck to Asanquiri was a little terrifying driving through the mountains on a dirt trail with no guardrail, but beautiful regardless.

It was dark once we finally reached Asanquiri and the view of the night sky was breathtaking.  It was refreshing to be away from the big cities and enjoy the surrounding wilderness.

Here’s what our rooms looked like! The beds were actually pretty warm and comfortable.

After we got settled we talked with Damian about our schedule for the coming week and what we want to get accomplished.  We were also introduced to one of the teachers at the school, Zoli.  They were really thankful that we were there and really excited to get the project started!

After an 8 hour bus ride from Cochabamba we are back in La Paz!  Our week spent in Asanquiri was a lot of fun as well as very helpful in moving the project forward.  Unfortunately we did not have internet access at the project site so we were not able to update the blog at all, but there will be more to come!


There was actually a giant parade going on when we came into La Paz, and we had to walk through it to get back to our hostel.  It's the biggest annual festival in Bolivia!

We will keep updating the blog to share everything we did in Asanquiri, but for now here's a picture of all of us after we finished!

Day 2: 5/20/15

We started our day today by taking a taxi down to El Museo de Instrumentos Musicales de Bolivia, or the Bolivian Musical Instrument Museum.  We got a good taste of some of the musical history of Bolivia, and even got to try out some of the instrument on display!  There were some really bizarre and interesting ones!

After some more shopping and walking around the city, we came across a really neat plaza where we stayed for while.  While we were they a band started playing the Bolivian national anthem, which was an awesome sight to see.

For lunch we dined at a place called Cafe Arte Tomino. It was a giant open building with statues of Roman figures scattered throughout, unlike any cafe I've ever been to.  

Here's what our food looked like!  Pork, potatoes and corn

After lunch we headed to another Museum.  This time it was the Museo de Coca, which refers to the coca plant indigenous to Bolivia which is a huge part of their culture and has many uses.  Chewing on the coca leaf is a common practice among many natives, and it is said to help a lot with altitude sickness, which is a common ailment do to La Paz being 11,000 feet above sea level.  It's also been used as anesthesia, used to make tea, as well as an ingredient in Coca Cola.  

Day 1: 5/19/15

 Bienvenidos a La Paz!

Today we flew out of Raleigh at 6pm and began our journey! We first landed in Miami, and took a second flight into Bolivia.  We got to witness a magnificent sunset on our way!

After our 10 or so grueling hours of travel and making it through customs we entered the beautiful city of La Paz today at 6:00 am!  When we landed we took a taxi through the chaotic streets of the city and got to see some breathtaking views of the mountains.  

Taxi ride to the city

We arrived at our hostel, Hotel Sagarnaga around 8:00am and took some time to relax before we went out to explore La Paz.

Our temporary home, Hotel Sagarnaga

Without many other pressing tasks, we got the opportunity to spend a lot of time exploring the city and adjusting to the harsh altitude change. 

For a good part of the day we walked downtown and looked for potential souvenirs to buy in the many small locally owned shops or from the street vendors around the area, as well as looked for good places to eat. It was really cool to just walk around take everything in.  The way the city is built within the mountains makes for an extremely beautiful environment and some amazing views.

Later that evening we went out for dinner we got a taste of some delicious authentic Bolivian food in a really cool restaurant called Angelo Colonial.  The quiet ambiance of the restaurant in contrast to the loud populated streets made for a nice relaxing dinner.   We all got some variation of llama for dinner and the general consensus was that they were all delicious.  Here's some pictures so you can see just how cool this restaurant was.

After dinner we went back to the hostel and did some preparation for our upcoming trip, mostly making final touchups to the field manual we intend to give to the community in Asanquiri.
We are all very excited to continue to explore Bolivia in the upcoming couple weeks and work on the project!

We are back in the states and we can proudly say that our implementation trip was a success! Sorry for the lack of posts the past week! After finishing our project at CETHA, Damian brought us to a school in Arampampa (also funded by Save the Children) where we interviewed professors and students on water supply/quality. We were surprised to learn that there was only one tap available for 160 students! These interviews allow us to assess situations in neighboring communities for future projects/collaboration. Towards our last days at CETHA, Damian and Professor Zolio discussed how they were able to take from our project and know how to apply it. Hearing this from them was amazing! Not only will the project be sustainable, but also grow for the better good of the communities. Water supply is a huge need for these communities! Not just for consumption, but also for hygiene purposes. We will continue to communicate with both CETHA and the school in Arampampa when fall semester begins. Side note: past posts were also updated with pictures.

Water from an open catchment that the community drinks from when water is low

School in Arampampa

Us and Damian

After eating two lunches (one with Damian and another with CETHA), we headed back to Cochabamba. Gabe was so kind to drive us there and to La Paz rather than us having to ride a bus. But before we left, the students and professors prepared a goodbye and thank you speech for us. It was a very sweet moment. We couldn't be more grateful for this opportunity! We gained just as much from this experience as they did, and we are so thankful for it! 

Gabe and Christina also giving a thank you speech

Our tank!

Mosaic of our project

Highlights of our post-project free week in Bolivia: 

Cochabamba

Ate ice-cream at Dumbo's! To sum that place up, it's like a miniature Chuck E Cheese, minus arcade games.

Visited Cristo de la Concordia (Jesus Christ statue). It's the largest statue of Jesus in the world!

La Paz

Bought items for our upcoming benefit dinner (they're some awesome items, so be pumped!)

Gabe brought us to a delicious French restaurant. It was one of those places you dress up for, but we went in our traveling clothes. :)

Took a tour to Tiwanaku (Pre-Incan Civilization Ruins)

Wes and Kia left back to the states two days early :(. It was odd saying that we only had 5 people whenever we would get a taxi or go out to eat. 

Explored parks and plazas around the city

Hello La Paz!

Art in the plaza

Mt. Illimani

Loved feeling like a kid again!

BEST slide ever!

 Watched a World Cup qualifying match (Bolivia vs Venezuela)

Score was 1-1

Gabe invited us over to his house to eat dinner and play pool. Afterwards, we sang some kareoke! Perfect way to end the trip.

Thank you again for following us on our EWB NCSU adventure to Bolivia! This experience was truly unforgettable and we are so grateful to everyone who has contributed to this project. A huge thank you to Ben Lord for leading our team!! You were a wonderful project lead and we will miss you a lot, Ben! 

Damian, his sons, and Ben

We will give more updates when fall semester starts again. Until then, have a wonderful summer!

It’s our last day in CETHA and our project is officially completed! This weekend has been super busy! It’s been filled with lots of painting, interviews, and everything else that comes with constructing a rainwater harvesting system with a huge concrete tank!

Us, professors, and most of the students at CETHA wolfpack style in front of our first flush diverters

Gabe and Christina showing/explaining the rainwater harvesting system

Hurray! Wes wants to note that he jumped high, but the camera shutter was too late. :P

Us again, normal and all

Rewind to Friday, the students left early that day to go home for the weekend, so the professors here were able to help us all weekend. Aside from implementing our rainwater harvest design, we’re also assessing for future projects. Some of our assessment work includes surveying, soil testing, and lots of interviews. We were able to interview the school’s nurse as well as Damian and Zolio (our contact and professor here at CETHA). These interviews really helped us get an insight in what they needed: water supply and knowledge in water technology. Meals here are generally starch, starch, and more starch. But they’re delicious and filling! But because they’re mainly starchy food, we’ve been missing snacks like peanut butter and cookies! Some of the snacks Gabe and Axel brought back from their last Cochabamba trip were Oreos and peanut butter, which we ate Friday night! They were amazing.

Oreo & Peanut Butter night!

After our night snack, we all hiked up a little mountain right beside the school and star gazed on mini stone benches. Star viewing here is unreal! The Milky Way is literally splashed across the night sky with stars twinkling like fireflies. Some of us even saw our very first shooting star!! Right next to the school is a big farmland with cattle, goats, and donkeys roaming around. Sometimes, they cross through our work site and we have to scurry to get all of our materials out of their way. There’s this one bull though that’s been chilling at the top of the schools main pathway for the past three days and we almost bumped into it on our way to our star gazing site! We weren’t able to see it until Ben flashed his flash light towards the bull’s direction and BOOM, two bright eyes with white horns were looking our way. We ended our Friday watching a couple of episodes of Workaholics before calling it a night. It was a nice and relaxing way to finish off our labor intensive day.

Saturday was just as busy, if not busier. Aside from finishing up major parts of our design, we started focusing on all of the details…which seemed to all add up into one big project of itself! The best part about having a hard work day is sleeping even harder during the night. Sunday was our big day because it was our last!

We used Sika Top Seal to seal the interior of the tank

Applying Sika Top Seal

Final cleaning of the tank

Re-sizing the ends of PVC pipes using a heat method

This morning was the best breakfast yet, hot chocolate and fried bread that was almost like a flattened fried doughnut/funnel cake. It was scrumptious.

We made our final list of small tasks to get done for the day and installed the last portion of the pipeline. Side note: we were interrupted momentarily by a herd of cows through the work site, but we fended them off successfully.

There will be a few tasks for the professors and the students of the school to complete, but we have prepared a checklist of scheduled maintenance for them to perform throughout the year. This ensures that the project will remain effective for years to come. After finishing work, we loaded up a car with our team, the professors at the school, and some of the students to go play sports at a nearby school. We played an intense game of soccer followed by two close volleyball matches. The teachers from the schools played our group in both sports. We showed a lot of improvement and everyone got involved in volleyball. We played until way past our normal dinnertime, but it was a great way to spend our last night. We piled back in the car and rushed back for dinner, but it wasn’t even cooked yet. The students cooked tonight, a delicious rice soup with lots of potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes. After eating until we were stuffed, we came back to the dorm to play cards, relax, and pack up for our trip back to Cochabamba.

We made it back to La Paz after staying a day in Cochabamba. More pictures and updates to come after a good nights rest! Thank you all for following our project!! We are beyond happy that it's implemented. A special thank you to everyone who helped us on this project!