Mision Imposible

Special Change Agent, code name "Arido", writing here. I completed my mission last Wednesday with my partner, "Biomasa", a.k.a. Isaac. We had to travel by Combi (local buses) to the nearby town of Chosica and complete both a light-cover mission and a deep-cover mission. We had a competition with the other groups of environmental trainees. Isaac and I were one of the groups that won a prize at the end of the day. I think it´s because we had the most fun. We were supposed to start off by investigating the campaigns advertised outside of the municipal building/town hall. No prob. Then we had to find out about sanitation and waste water. We got a reference of a water engineer for the city, who for some reason worked in the soccer stadium along with a lot of other town officials, and headed in that direction. We decided to do some "work" on the way. We decided to walk to the stadium because Isaac hadn´t been to Chosica yet. Chosica is a really pleasant town with a nice park, lots of gardens, fountains, and a HUGE statue of Jesus with his arms outstetched modeled after one in Rio, Brazil. Very cool, especially at night when the fountains are going with lights of green, blue, and red, and the desert air loses all of it´s heat. An interesting place to investigate water issues... and what a better place to start learning about sanitation than the Chosica version of porta-potties? Isaac and I decided to chat with the attendee of a rather luxurious metal toilet house found on the edge of the plaza. Keep in mind that any bathroom in Peru with toilet paper and running water is luxurious!! This one had a separate stall for men and women, t.p., a sink, and even a mirror. I was impressed. The best part though was the company outside. We talked to this guy in a wheel chair that had worked there for 5 years and his buddy that was just passing by. They told us that they had 3 steel drums full of water in the roof of the "servicios higienicos" structure, where the water went to in order to be treated, and how to say "brother" in Quechua. No se por que. :) We proceeded to the soccer stadium, observing the not-so-well-treated river along the way. We fraternized with some other PCT´s (Peace Corps Trainees) and found out that their contacts at the stadium were not at their desks. Well... ours wasn´t either, and his secretary wasn´t helpful at all. We, being the resourcefull potential PCV´s we are, sought other methods of investigation. Haha... there was a dude cleaning a swimming pool next to the stadium. Why not talk to him about water? Actually, he was more than willing to talk to us and ended up doing so for what could have easily been an hour. He even lead us down a metal latter to where all the pool filters were. He offered to show us where the pool chemicals were stored, but we politely declined. This guy was awesome. When we asked his name, he said, "Technica Piscina" before his name. He takes his job seriously, eventhough he did let us distract him while he vacuumed the pool. He told us all about how the water for Chosica comes from the mountains and passes through/ is collected in 3 tanks. My favorite fact was that people use cacti during the rainy season to purify their water at home. They put the water in a bucket and stir with a slice of the cacti. Somehow all the bad stuff sinks to the bottom of a bucket, and you survive without too many prickles and have nice clean water fit for drinking! Isaac and I are supposed to go back to the pool to swim sometime and bring a soda (Gaseosa) for our friend. :) We came up with a survey to ask to people on our way back to the bus stop, but just ended up hanging out and chatting with a guy watering the grass in the park with a massive hose. We didn´t talk long because we were acutely aware of the fact that the water streamed out of the hose all over the grass where he let it lie while we were there. BTW - In case you didn´t know. My code name means "arid". Signing out - Judith.