cooking with poop!

Hullo! I've been posting on my facebook account random updates here and there, and kind of forgotten about this blog! One thing I realized would be a perfect blog post is about a recent project and workshop we hosted in my community on how to build and start a biodigester. A biodigester is a tool to foster the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter. The resulting product is a biogas (methane) that one can utilize for cooking fuel. It's simple, but it requires training and practice to know how to put together a biodigester. There are many different models and technologies for producing biogas out there. The one that Peace Corps promotes in Paraguay is about 21-feet of tubular plastic, which is filled with water; the organic matter comes from either cow or pig manure, and is added daily.

I am not actually a trained biodigester technician, but I did help organize a one-day workshop at my neighbor's house last month, and invited four trained and fantastic Peace Corps volunteers to my site to show us how it's done. I presented on the nutrient cycle of a farm with my amazing friend Lydia (her website Pedal and Plow, I recommend checking out!) and coordinated logistics of the workshop. Thanks to the help, know-how, and skills of these volunteers, we successfully carried out a 30+ participant workshop, and installed the first (hopefully not last!) biodigester in my community, La Novia.

The need and utility of a biodigester is very important, especially in the developing world where cooking fuel is a major priority. Most people in my community still cook "tata yvype" - over a wood-fire on the ground. Some families have a cook-stove that uses a chimney to funnel out the smoke, but not many. The process for collecting firewood can take up hours of the day since people must go farther and farther away for usable wood. There are many other issues here, too - it is mainly a woman's job, it increases deforestation on already disappearing forests in PY, and the smoke created from the fires is a serious respiratory and health problem. Needless to say, an alternative to collecting firewood can be a huge change to the way a family prepares their food.

There are also families who use a gas stove, but the propane is super expensive and those who have them use them selectively and never to cook main meals or anything takes a long time to prepare. An alternative to buying expensive gas tanks is using charcoal, which is also widely used. The charcoal is pretty cheap, but this still has the same health and environmental risks as firewood. Making gas from a resource that is abundant, smoke-less, and free (ANIMAL POOP!) can have a significant impact.

I thought I'd show some photos of the finished product, and hopefully this sheds some light on what it is, and how it's used!

You start with a mix of fresh cow manure and mix it with water in a 20-liter bucket. The ratio is about 1/4 poop to 3/4 water. 

Note: it can be pig manure too, it's actually better, but because families who own pigs generally kill them to sell the meat, it's not a consistent source of manure. Cow manure is more of a sure-thing, since cows are kept for milking. 

You stir this mixture very well, and then add it to the 'entrance' of the biodigester. 

This is the other side of the biodigester, the 'exit', which has a bio-product of organic liquid fertilizer! You collect this liquid in a bucket, as shown, and then dilute it and apply it to the garden to help crops grow! 

The view of the back of the house, the biodigester is right behind it, which it's own fancy roof and fence to keep out animals and protect it from the sun. 

Side angle of the biodigester, with plenty of room to walk around inside. 

The security valve, which connects the tube from the biodigester, to the tube that will connect to the stove-top.  

The biodigester! To understand better, those are two 200-liter barrels at each end, with both ends cut out. The plastic tube is made up of 3 layers of heavy-duty plastic, and is connected by that green hosing to the security valve on the wall. 

Hope that explains things better! At the end of August we will try and see if the gas is sufficient enough to light a flame. It makes about a month for the microorganisms to full decompose the organic matter that is there, and create enough biogas to start a fire. I'll keep you updated on the progress :)

All my love,
Meagan

dreaming of patagonia

Hello lovelies. I write from a quite warm computer in my giant wood oven (i mean bedroom of course) where i have a poor person's air conditioning going (standing fan in front of a big bowl of now melted ice water) and am sipping on some cold terere. I left the oasis of my friend's air-conditioned apartment in the capital to return back to my community today, and I'm already wondering why.  I just decided that I wanted to finally blog about my travels through Patagonia, mostly because it was so cold there and hopefully it will help take my mind off the oppressive heat today :)

Here is a summary of sorts of travels down south:

- I traveled with another PCV Chris to El Calafate, AR by plane from Asuncion to meet two other PCVs, Hunter and Brook who had traveled down 10 days earlier by bus (something like 70 hours travel time). The one downside to flying was spending the night in the Buenos Aires (BA) airport because there are only early morning flights out to El Calafate, none direct from PY.

- The day we arrived in El Calafate we were met with a friend of Brook's - a wonderful Argentine man who took us (speeding the whole way) in his car to the glacier Perito Moreno which was about an hour and half from town in Los Glaciares National Park. You pay an entrance fee (I remember thinking it was expensive, but not terrible), and then can make your way through the walking platforms, vistas, and steps that wind you around the massive and impressive glacier. You could easily spend hours and hours there, many people had mate equipos sipping hot mate and watching giant pieces of ice fall into the glacial water. We ended up meeting our friend after about 2 hours of winding through the manmade pathways and eating one of the BEST alfajores of my life from the gift shop/cafeteria at the park. [These are the best kind of cookie in my opinion, when done right - chewy, slight cookie crunch, sweet, delicious, covered in chocolate...I'm already drooling] We stayed the night at a campground/hostel called El Ovejero where they have a restaurant that does an all-you-can-eat meat buffet that is great for carnivores, and not so great for vegetarians.

- The craziest part (other than the incredible glaciers that stirred within me feelings I've never experienced) of being so far south was how long it stayed light out - I don't think it got dark til close to 10pm! It gave you plenty of time to enjoy the day; many nights camping - I'll get to those - we went to bed when it was still light out.

- We took a 5-hour bus to cross the border into Chile the next day to arrive in Puerto Natales, the jumping off point for the national park Torres del Paine (I heard most commonly pronounced pine-nay, but it's up for debate since it is not a Spanish word..) where we planned to do a 9-day backpacking trek to see glaciers, mountain peaks, and see some of the great expanse that is Patagonia. We arrived in time for the 3pm backpacking talk at Erratic Rock hostel which is incredibly informative and detailed and definitely recommended to go to! The hostel itself has great and experienced staff who are from all over + speak english, it's very popular, and expensive. We much enjoyed our camping/stay at the hostel Josmar II (we stayed at the original Josmar at the end of the trip in comfy warm beds) where the owner, Don Pepe, was spectacular and drove us to and from the bus terminal to get into and back from the park.

- After testing out our tent and camping gear in the comforts of Don Pepe's campground, eating a meal of fresh caught salmon and mashed potatoes, and preparing ourselves the best we could in limited time for 9 days of backpacking meals and snacks, we set out for the park. The loop we were following was the "O" Circuit - which one could possibly do in a week, but because of uncertain and sometimes dangerous weather (think: white-out, trail markers no longer visible, 100mph winds..) it's nice to give yourself the extra cushion of time in case you have to spend an extra night in a campground, which we ended up having to do the day of the mountain pass. You can do a shorter, more manageable especially for first time backpackers (me!) in the park which is the "W" circuit and is more like 4-5 days.

In terms of camping/gear, we had 2 two-person tents and a mishmash of sleeping pads and a yoga mat for sleeping - you definitely need something to keep you off the ground, it's like sleeping on an ice cube! The thing about the Torres is that it is very, very touristy - you can do almost the entire thing with just a day pack and sleep in a bed in these refuges that have dorm style rooms, and cooks to make prepared (expensive) meals. There are also showers at almost every campsite/refuge! Not always hot water, but you can get clean for sure. You can also rent a lot of gear, but it's better to find gear before you get into the park, it's not a guarantee. We rented some gear like rain pants, gloves and a sleeping mat in Puerto Natales the day we did our big food shopping and prep. So, you can build your trip and trek however you want - you can even just do day hikes on the "W" trail and not spend any nights camping. There is at least one hotel close to one of the entrances of the park, with a fancy restaurant and all the accommodations you could think of.

Most days we ended up having incredible weather - cold, but no torrential rain that we had been preparing ourselves for. What I was unprepared for was the freezing rain/snow that we experienced that first mountain pass attempt. If you do the "W" trail, you have nothing to worry about it - you won't go over it. The wind also is brutal - and it changes so quickly. You'll layer on your extra long sleeve, fleece, and rain jacket and within 10 minutes of walking need to stop and take almost all of it off again. I think we got pretty lucky overall on our hikes, the first few days were gorgeous and sunny. The nights got real cold though, and after not having hot water for days in a row we were getting pretty stinky. No way was I going to shower in ice water when it was 30 degrees and windy!

- I ended up injuring my knee from falling, I think, the first day we attempted the mountain pass in conditions not far from what I described above - we were digging our legs and sticks (no poles for us) into the ice-crusted snow to keep from falling down the mountain. I unfortunately did not get to complete the whole "O" loop, but I made it 7 days on the trail and was proud of myself! It was the most difficult and challenging physical thing I have ever done in my life thus far (bathing in PY in the wintertime comes in second). The upside of not walking out of the park was taking this beautiful boat ride to leave the last campground we stayed at and this was the view:

- Torres del Paine was incredible, and also highly recommended is El Chalten and Fitz Roy in AR. I did not get to go to (Fitz Roy are the mountain peaks are the inspiration for the clothing label Patagonia) but Hunter and Brook did, and absolutely loved it. It was FREE and had well-maintained trails and was stunning, they say. In hindsight, I wish we had spent less time in Torres/Chile and more in Argentina, but hey - I was in one of the most remote and beautiful natural places of the world. I can't really complain. Chile is SO expensive though, so just make sure that's on your mind if you are traveling there!

- It all seems like a dream, I felt like I had transported to a completely new and foreign world. Drinking from glacial streams and rivers, almost crossing a mountain pass in a snow storm, the sun setting after 10pm, spending Thanksgiving with amazing people after actually making it across the mountain pass alive, pushing myself to limits I never thought I could - it was an adventure of a lifetime. We met some great people along the way, and travelers from all over the globe. I feel incredibly lucky to have made one of my dreams a reality :)