My name is Linda Wan, and I am a sophomore attending Johns Hopkins University with an intended major in Civil Engineering.  From May 19 through June 16, 2006 I spent my time in Uduzhapa and Canseco, Ecuador building 40 latrines with the Engineers without Borders team from University of Maryland at College Park.  I had an amazing time there, and I wanted to share my experience with as many people as possible.  I hope that this online journal can do just that and shed some light about this volunteer group, Engineers without Borders, which also exists at Johns Hopkins University.

 

The following entries come from my personal journal that I kept during my stay in Ecuador, which is located in South America on the Equator.  Certain details have been omitted or added in this online journal version due to its content.  I have also tried to incorporate pictures wherever possible.  If you have any further questions or comments upon reading my online journal, please feel free to contact me by email, telephone, or in person.

 

 

May 19, 2006

8:41pm

Continental 2456

 

There are seriously five other people on board this flight.  All flights to Newark, NJ have been delayed by an hour because of the weather there.  I think most people who were suppose to be on my flight got on the 7:45pm flight to Newark.  It is a good thing that scheduled with a couple of hours inbetween flights.  This ride should only take about an hour.

 

May 20, 2006

11:45 am

Cuenca, Ecuador

 

Finally, I am here after six hours of flying from Newark and four hours by bus.  Guyayquil, where we landed, was a pretty beat up.  There was a woman who fainted during the customs.  She probably did not have a lot to eat or perhaps dehydrated.  It is a good thing that all of us traveling are pretty healthy.  We are holding up pretty well even with the lack of sleep. 

 

Guyayquil has a lot of construction going on.  There is plenty of banana plantations and weather is hot and humid.  Pretty much like North Carolina when I left it.

 

Cuenca actually looks a lot better than Guyayaqil.  Apparently, it is declared a National Historic Site by the United Nations.  We are staying at a hostel that Javier reserved for us.  It is really nice for only eight dollars a day and this includes breakfast. 

 

I think coming here not knowing any Spanish was a silly idea.  I wish I came here with at least a high school background in Spanish.  Maybe then I could at least understand something.  Later today we are going to buy some materials at the hardware stores such as planks, rebar, pipes, and other wood stuff.  Mind you, the shower was refreshing after all that mountain traveling.  Anyways, I took some pictures of the bus ride here.

 

May 21, 2006

1:06pm

Cuenca, Ecuador

 

We went to buy materials in the city yesterday.  Javier’s family took us out in their Benz SUV, which could, surprisingly, seat all eight of us.  I guess being in a developing country hit me right then because there was no Home Depot or Wal-Mart to go to pick everything up at one spot just one time.  Seems silly of me to actually think otherwise.  I guess we have all been spoiled rotten in the United States.

 

Last night after purchasing materials we went to Javier’s mom’s birthday party.  It was a lot of fun getting to know some of his cousins and his close family members.  In Ecuador, there is this tradition where they release a hot air balloon into the open air on birthdays and special occasions.  Also, for big family gatherings they slaughter a pig and eat it.  The celebration was fantastic with all the food, music, and dancing.

 

I was lucky enough to spend time with some people around our age – well actually she was thirteen, but still she was really fun!  Her name is Sophia and she goes to a German school, where she learns English and German as well as Spanish in school.  It was really easy talking with her since she was only 13 and she spoke English.

 

Today, after we ate breakfast we went out to the city to explore the area since it is a Sunday and we did not have to work.  We saw a bunch of wet markets selling fruits, clothing, and pirated cds.  I think the U.S. is missing out on the good street food and cheap clothes.  I bought a nice little pullover made from llama wool for $12, and yes I actually did bargain it down from $15.  I probably still got ripped off.

 

After walking around the center, we ate lunch at El Grile.  I ordered a 1/8 chicken, and it came with soup and rice for $2.10.  How cheap?!  I can’t wait for dinner.

 

May 22, 2006

9:05 pm

Cuenca, Ecuador

 

Man I am so extremely tired.  Today we actually got a lot done though.  First, we cut the rebar mesh into the appropriate sizes.  It is a lot harder to do than to say.  We had to figure out what size we wanted the pit slabs to be and this took forever.  We never really finalized the design for the pit slabs, and all the designs that we had on paper were old ones.  In my spare time I made a tool inventory list, which makes me feel a lot better since I have my own tools in the toolboxes.

 

At least Chris, Sarah, and I are getting to know each other as well as Sebas and Javier a lot better.  Tomorrow I am definitely bringing sunscreen and bug spray.  I feel like my arms are heavily sunburned and the mosquito bites do not help.  

 

Activity Report

Wire mesh

            80-61cm x 1.22m

            40-2m x 2m

Plywood

            80-61cm x 1.22m

            44-6.5/7cm x 1.22m

Planks

            198-140/150cm x 20cm

 

May 23, 2006

9:50pm

Cuenca, Ecuador

 

Today was another day of hard work.  For dinner we ate at a Mexican restaurant.  I can’t wait for tomorrow because Sebas is taking us out in the city since it is his birthday.  Oh baby!

 

We are also ahead of schedule since we finished cutting and assembling all the doors by lunch time.  As Clifford put it, we worked like Chinese factory workers. =)

 

Activity Report

Assembled doors and painted a majority of them with Vaseline oil

Made twenty-four pit slab forms

 

May 26, 2006

10:21pm

Namarin, Ecuador

 

Today will be the second night at the convent.  It takes about two hours to get to Namarin by car and another 20 minutes from here to get to Uduzhapa.  We have hired a driver who will drive us everyday to Uduzhapa.  The roads leading to Namarin are scary and bumpy.  We were curving around these big mountains with big pot holes.  The sad part about leaving Cuenca is that there are no showers here in Namarin.  At least we still have awesome food because we brought along a personal cook, Julio.  Yay!

 

The weather in Uduzhapa is pretty nice.  Supposedly, it rains about everyday, but the rain that we see is just a sprinkle.  We see rainbows all the time too.

 

 

As for work, we have assembled all of the roofs after deciding and agreeing upon a set form.  I have some pictures of us drilling, bolting, and nailing the roofs together. 

 

 

Activity Report

Assembled roofs – nailing, drilling, bolting

 

May 27, 2006

9:00pm

Namarin, Ecuador

 

Today was the first day I actually took a shower.  Some people in the village of Namarin were nice enough to let us use their showers.  I had to boil water and mix that with cold water to use as my bath water. 

 

I think I may be picking up a cold or maybe my allergies are getting worse.  I was coughing last night and I woke up with my ears clogged up.  I am glad that I brought these allergy and nasal decongestant pills from the States.  Also, somehow when I was in Cuenca I developed a sun blister on my ear because I forgot to put sunscreen there.  My ear blister just popped so it feels a lot better and now I can sleep on my side once again.  It seems like I have been the target of feeling a little under the weather.

 

On the other hand, I really enjoy the people from University of Maryland.  I worked with Nicolas and Xiah to do a foundation form and they are really nice and funny people.  Sebas is leaving tomorrow to go back to the States for his studies, and Javier is leaving to get Bitsat, Sandra, and Phil.  Yay!  More people are coming to help us out.

 

Activity Report

Assembled roofs

Pit slabs (4)

2 foundation forms

1 pit form

 

May 28, 2006

8:11pm

Namarin, Ecuador

 

I found out that we are going back to Cuenca for the soccer game, Ecuador v Poland, on June 9, and that we are also going to have a break a couple of days from now.  Bitsat, Sandra, and Phil are coming tomorrow.  Whoo!  That will be the rest of the team.  Julio washed our clothes washed and they came back so fresh and so clean.  Oh man, I am exhausted by all the work we have done.  When I get back I better be in shape because of the crazy mountain hikes around Uduzhapa.

 

Today everyone went to Gato’s house, which is really far away.  John showed us how to set the foundation form and mixing the gravel, sand, and cement to make concrete.  He also showed us how to do the piping for the sink and shower.  We ended up doing the piping and the foundation form and slab at the house for the really old lady, Margarita Loja.  I guess we are doing pretty well with schedule, but I am not exactly sure.

 

Activity Report

Foundation forms and slabs, piping for Gato and Margarita

Pit slabs for Gato

 

May 30, 2006

8:40pm

Namarin, Ecuador

 

Man I am so exhausted.  Xiah put us on teams so we could work efficiently that way.  Yesterday I was on a team with Nicolas and Phil, and we worked on house eight.  It took so long to do because Nicolas was trying to be perfectionist and would not let anything slid.  Today I worked with Nicolas in the morning to do the foundation at house twenty-three, and then in the afternoon I was doing random stuff like helping Chris at house five and then Amanda at house twelve.  Man I am so tired of doing foundation forms and slabs.  I cannot wait until later this week.  We are going to Cuenca tomorrow after lunch for a work break.

  

June 1, 2006

8:56pm

Namarin, Ecuador

 

Last night was so awesome.  We went to this really fancy restaurant dressed in our work clothes.  I also found out that my camera was cracked on the LCD screen.  That made me pretty mad.  We got Ecuador jerseys near the wet shops, and they were only six bucks.  When I woke up this morning I had a sore throat.

 

Today was a crazy day getting back to Namarin because of the rain.  First, we had a pit stop at some oil change place.  Then we had to four wheel drive our way up a really muddy hill.  And a short while afterwards we almost ran over a man, and I could have sworn we hit two dogs too.  Crazy day and I blame it on the heavy rain.

 

June 2, 2006

8:39pm

Namarin, Ecuador

 

The school in Namarin gave us a letter asking for Engineers without Borders’ help for an additional classroom for the sixth and seventh grade classes.  Bitsat handed this over to Hopkins because she thought that this would be a pretty good beginning project for Hopkins. 

 

Nicolas, Phil, and I actually got to finish two foundations.  Tomorrow should be a good day even though I am a little sick with nasal congestion and a sore throat.  I am crazy tired, and I miss John and Clifford because they left today with Amelia and Janella.

 

June 11, 2006

9:26pm

Namarin, Ecuador

 

Today before we left Uduzhapa, Nicolas and I worked on finishing eight doors.  It was amazing how fast we were working.  We are a pretty good team even though we both have strong personalities.

 

We spent two nights in Cuenca loosening up and having fun.  Once we got to the hostel I took a long shower getting the dirt from underneath my fingernails, shampooing my hair twice, and washing my body twice.  We ate a hearty dinner at La Vina, an Italian restaurant.  Then Javier

 took us to a live band bar to unwind a little.  We had such a good time. 

 

June 16, 2006

5:43am

Cuenca, Ecuador 

 

The last night here in Cuenca was awesome.  Actually these past couple of nights in Cuenca have been really awesome.  Yesterday night we went to watch some religious sort of fireworks at the center.  Those fireworks were splendid, and they exploded right above your head.We finished ahead of schedule in Uduzhapa on Monday morning.  The town had a celebration on Sunday afternoon inviting the villagers from Canseco and other neighboring towns.  There are a couple of disappointments I personally feel because of the quality of the attachments from the toilet to the pipes and also the fact that the collars on these connections do not work.  But overall, we finished ahead of schedule, within budget, and reached our goal of building all forty latrines.  I would have to say that this project was pretty successful.  Go EWB!