February 7th 2009, I boarded a plane for Guatemala and a two-month project that changed the direction of my career from that point forward. I had found my place as an engineer. My first blog – yippeekiyay – documented those months and my first water/sanitation project abroad in San Antonio. I had returned, briefly, to … More Then and Now
…but Parrots instead! Panama – where the seasons are “wet” and “wetter.” 😉 My first couple weeks here have been busy, sometimes hectic, most always muddy and GREAT! When I arrived, there was a team here at the Wood’s house from Washington State. They were having medical/dental clinics, building rain-catchment systems and drilling wells (with … More It doesn’t rain “cats and dogs” here…
Hello Everyone! I have been home for a week now and it has been great. I am clean, rested, stuffed with yummy food and already packing for the next trip! I leave early tomorrow morning for the second phase of the Haiti Goat project. We will be providing more goats to the students in Marbial … More Walk the project with me!
I am home! I have many photos and videos from my 7-week project in the mountains of El Salvador, so I am sharing a small sample so you can see the finished project and a couple cute videos that show the results of my hygiene and english classes in La Cumbre.
I glued the last pipe yesterday afternoon! The project is unofficially complete! It will be official tomorrow during the ceremony with the community. I am taking the day off to hike up an adjacent (small) mountain where we should be able to see the ocean and Guatemala at the peak. The guys didn’t want me … More Not Forgotten
I washed my hair last night, which is a difficult task! I did that because today is special. Today is the day everyone goes down to town to vote.  We all got up early, men shined their shoes and women washed their feet off. Babies were either brought along or left with older siblings. The … More Rock the vote! (El Salvador edition)
On Sunday evenings, before church, women in the community fry pasteles over an open fire in an area behind the church and sell them.  They are corn tortillas stuffed with potatoes and I have become very attached to getting them every Sunday night. It costs a quarter for 6.  This past Sunday evening, the ladies got … More The Dinner Snatcher
The work is progressing slowly this week but we should still be finished by Friday. It takes a long time to position and support the pipe because we are working on steep slopes. We have supported about 80% of the pipe and should be finished with the pipe tomorrow. I literally hold small tree trunks to … More She’ll be sliding down the mountain when she comes!
We came down to Tacuba today for additional material to finish the tank roof and final piping. It has not been an easy few days, but our team is pressing on 🙂 Yesterday, we placed the lower tank liner after spending a lot of time making sure the lower tank was ready. After filling it … More Press On
The project is going well, but progress has been slow this week.  I am back in the little shop in Tacuba for an hour of wonderful internet time (36 minutes to go!). We came down early this morning to get some more material for the project. I can´t really describe how hard it is to … More Goldfish Crackers are the BEST!
How Many Cows 