Here I am

I have no excuse. Nothing. Not a ting. All it can be called in lazy, sloth, apathetic. And it is with this in mind that I come to you, over a month since my last post, humbly asking your apology. Actually, I don’t know why I haven’t written in so long. Perhaps it’s because my life here doesn’t feel as spectacular and noteworthy as it once did. Things that were considered events and postworthy 6 months ago, now are common and happenstance. My life here feels normal now, and natural. Something that is all fascinating, wonderful and a little terrifying at the same time. I’m not calling Nicaragua my home (my heart still belongs in the Land of the Lakes) and I’m not even saying it’s where I want to live. But at the very least I’m comfortable. In many ways I feel like I’ve taken Nicaragua’s form of the Borsalino Test, passed through the ring, and miraculously come through whole on the other side…more or less.

That’s not to say Nicaragua can’t make me do a double take every once in awhile, and I’m not talking about the women, although I think I may be developing whiplash por ellas. One recent example of how Nica keeps me shaking my head (as much in bemused amazement as anything) was our first heavy rain fall several weeks ago. Seth and Sarah had generously taken me out to dinner and a movie for my birthday and when we left the theatre to our surprise we found that it had been raining RAINING for over an hour. But hungry we were and decided to brave the Tropical Thunder® and cab it to a nearby restaurant. What we didn’t realize when we hopped in a cab was that the windshield wipers didn’t work, the drivers side windows didn’t roll up and the rear windshield was a taped plastic masterpiece. This would have made the trip interesting enough on it’s own, especially for poor Sara who had unwittingly hopped in on the drivers side, but to add to the adventure was the fact that the street our conductor chose to go down was literally a flowing river complete with whitwater and riptide….yes I know that real rivers don’t have riptides, but remember, this was a Street River. Did I mention that it was night. This little tidbit was probably what saved our lives as he was able to use the headlights of oncoming traffic to navigate. Pues, we survived, and even picked up a soaking wet Nicaraguan along the way. But still, got me shaking my head.

Our projects are going fairly well. Biogas digestores are proving to be very finicky creatures, considering how simple the design is. The main problem right now is sealing the plastic resevoirs that store the gas to the concrete shit tanks, as they´re so lovingly called. We’ve tried everything from bike innertubes to silicon sealant and there’s always a leak. But we’re saved, gracias a Dios I’ve been able to find a vendor of duct tape so all are problems are solved. I plan on going up Wednesday of this week to plug the leaks once and for all. Thankfully the people have had a lot of patience with us as we work out the kinks in our first biogas digestor projects and hopefully soon we can get them all up and running soon (right now 2 of the 5 are functioning).

The microhydro projects are also progressing nicely. El Roblar has contructed its damn and penstock and are working on the turbine house right now. La Laguna has also finished its damn and is awaiting the arrival of the penstock tube to continue construction. Also, the turbine manufacturer has finished completing the turbines and we´ll be able to go see them functioning when Jaime gets back from Peru. I’m a little disappointed though that I haven’t been as involved in the actual construction of the sites. Instead we hired a man with microhydro experience to supervise the construction of the damn, penstock, todo. But we all have our jobs and I’m happy with the work I’ve contributed to the project, in terms of planning and engineering/design. I’ve also learned an incredible amount regarding microhydro (which allows me to realize just how much I still need to learn). But being part of the turbine design and construction would have been nice. Oh well, next time. I´ve learned that you need to be very proactive in Nicaraguan culture. No one is going to come hand you opportunities. This is even more true here than in the US, where I feel I´ve been handed a lot (Midwest Resorts promotion, that Pollock scholarship, HONEYWELL ridiculousness, ect). Or maybe it´s that the really world is a little tougher than Collegeville.

Speaking of handing out opportunities, I am officially on the job search. I´m looking EVERYWHERE (except for certain places). If anyone sees job openings in the fields of renewable energy or oil production (joking) please forward them on. Thanks. And from here on out blog posts are regular dietary supplements. I promise. Maybe.