Panimacac - Friday Prep

On Saturday, 6:30 a.m., I will be on my way to Central America!!! (Actually that will be 3:30 in the morning as I need to be at DFW at 4a.m.)

When: Saturday 6:30 a.m. - Friday 10 p.m.

Where: Panimacac, Guatemala; About 2.5 hours northwest of Guatemala City. 40 minutes North of Comalapa.

Purpose: To assess the village's water source and distribution. Survey and plan for potential new distribution and/or water treatment. Perform health surveys to link health issues to water borne diseases. Do anything else necessary to better the lives of the people of Panimacac.

The team: My advisor Jim, 2 professionals Jon and Phuc, myself, Mary (Environmental Engr working with me on my reactors), Andrea (translator and mechanical engineer), and Michael (Civil Engr who also works in the lab).

Village/Villagers: Small village of 50 families. 100% indigenous. 92% with 6th grade or below education. Each family has an average of 16 animals. There is 1 small school house. Nearest hospital is in Comalapa which is ONLY an emergency hospital. The emergency line is Guatemala is 128, but I'm not sure if Comalapa has an ambulance. Most of the children have runny noses. A lot of the adults have diarrhea, diabetes, a cough, and frequent stomach pains and headaches.

Things we will bring that is out of the ordinary for a typical "vacation" or "spring break": beakers, pipettes, petrifilms (to measure e-coli and total coliform), nitrate test strips, arsenic equipment, hot hands to somehow make an incubator, waterproof notebooks, GPS for coordinates and elevations, hand held augers, string for surveying... 100 pepto pills.

Where we are staying: The first and last night we are staying at Comalapa hotel. We will be sleeping, the other nights, in the one-room school house on the floor... all of us in one room... for 4-5 nights, 24/7 together all the time. :) Privacy is a no-can-do on this trip. Also, I'd like to note we will not have showers while we are in the village. No running water anywhere.

Food: The villagers have expressed their interest in making all of our meals. So wonderful! We are taking snacks and will buy food once we get to Comalapa to try and not be such a burden on the community... and to hopefully prevent some illnesses. We will eat with the village for most of our dinners, I assume.

I won't have internet access but I'll be taking notes as I would if I had my computer so I'll update daily when I get back.

My only concern is all the earthquakes. We have traveling insurance that covers evacuation costs if worst-comes-to-worst. We'll be okay though. We're engineers, right? We'll figure it out... I hope.

I'm so excited to get there, work, and really just to come back. It will be an awesome trip but I have a feeling I'll look forward to having a hot shower and a bed and a good 'ole greasy american hamburger.

See you when I get back!