Marcovia Update: 7/99
Don Stierman's Report
Updated 05/08/06

Photos taken on July 19, 1999.

This casa de madera was built as a health center.  The Peace Corps nurse is not in today.  It is said that she is frustrated at trying to provide care for people too poor to purchase the medicine they need.  

Yes, Virginia, there IS a cement mixer in Honduras!  Problem is, it appears that this one is powered by an electric motor, and the generator is nowhere to be seen.  When questions were asked, the big generator (also needed to power the SkilSaw) was located where one of the contractors 'forgot' he had stored it.  Too bad this mixer does not have the arm power option.  Even turning a mixer by hand would be easier than mixing with shovels on the ground.

There is even a well drilling rig.  But here it sits, broken down and awaiting repairs.  I wonder if they still make parts for this model.

The backhoe and dozer appear in pretty good shape.  When rain settled the dust and turned the ad hoc trails to greasy mud, Carolina hired heavy equipment to make roads.

The well north of the CARE section of this project works!  Water must lie just a few meters down, judging from the short time needed for this woman to fill her jug.

I tested the water for nitrates and nitrites, products of organic decomposition.  Both tested low: less than 1 ppm for nitrate, less than 0.15 ppm for nitrite.  The water appears clear and odorless.  I wonder how long it will remain so if these 800 residential units depend on latrines - or the bushes out back - for toilets.

Speaking of latrines: percolation is really slow through this clay-rich old alluvium.  This puddle persists 4 days after a heavy thunderstorm.  The water is being used to make mezcla.  A row of castillos rusts, waiting for construction crews to put down foundations and erect walls.

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