Hello All,
I have switched my blogging website because this new one allows me to upload pics. As soon as i can I will I promise. Here is the new address: bryaninbolivia.wordpress.com.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
What a trip - Uyuni -
Sorry in advance for the lengt of this Blog, we covered a lot of ground since Friday.
The trip to Uynui started with a 3.5 hour bus ride to a town called Oruro, where we caught a 7 hour train ride to Uyuni. We were so priveldged on the train to watch/listen to reat 80s hits, with the likes of Rod Stewart, The Village People, and much much more. We arrived in Uyuni around 10:00pm. We booked our tour that night and got a room at a local hotel. The tour started the next day at 11:00am. Our tour consisted of us three UD students and two girls from England. We first went to a train graveyard, and then headed on our way to the Salt Flatts. We are talking miles and miles and miles of just salt. Pretty sweet, and don´t worry, one of the girls on our tour licked the ground just to make sure. We drove to fish Island in the middle of the Salt Flatts, where we took a little hike, wich included lots of Cactus and rock that resembled coral. The whole area including the Salt Flatts was like being on a different planet. Again I promise as soon as I can upload photos I will. We ate lunch at Fish Island and then took a bunch the Salt Flatt type pictures. If you don´t know what I am talking about, google "Uyuni Salt Flatt pictures."
Next we continued our journey in our Range Rover across the rest of the Salt Flatts. Mind you, once we left the city of Uyuni, that was the last time we were on paved road. We drove until around dusk at which we reached the hostel we were to be staying at,in te middle of no where. The hostel floors were salt, just salt. We ate dinner and slept there. The next morning we were out the door by around 7am. We traveled across more dirt road and rock until we reached the Rock Tree, here is a good link to a photo of the rock http://image55.webshots.com/55/0/76/31/410607631XCVNII_fs.jpg. On that day of the trip we visitd many different lakes in the area with different colors, yellow, red, and blue. We ate lunc at one of the lakes or lagunas in spanish. On this particular lake there were flamingos, which are much more pink in the wild. That night again we stayed in a hostel.
The next morning we were up at 5am and out the door by 5:30am. Our first stop was the natural geysers. We had a long ride to our next stop, which was the laguna verde (green lake). This lake borders Chili and is next to a large Volcano. Our next stop was to the hot springs. We spent a good amount of time at the hot springs; one because it was very warm and it was freezing, and two because it was the first "bath" we had since we left for the trip. The hot spring wasthe last stop on our trip. Now we had to travel all the way back to the city Uyuni. The trip was long, but went well, except for having to change a tire.
When we got back to Uyuni we had to wait to buy our trai tickets until midnigt and then the train left at 2am. We caught the train and then te bus back to La Paz. When I finally arried back to my house I was awake for a little bit, but passed out around 5 and didn´t wake up until this mornin for work at 7:30am.
At work today I helped Mirco install some fans in the wood dryer and then paint and seal the wood holding the fans. This Friday I am to have a one page progress report on how my project is coming along. So that is what I will be working on for the rest of this week.
If you have any questions about this post or any other just let me know.
Until Next time.
Go USA, for any soccer fans out there.
The trip to Uynui started with a 3.5 hour bus ride to a town called Oruro, where we caught a 7 hour train ride to Uyuni. We were so priveldged on the train to watch/listen to reat 80s hits, with the likes of Rod Stewart, The Village People, and much much more. We arrived in Uyuni around 10:00pm. We booked our tour that night and got a room at a local hotel. The tour started the next day at 11:00am. Our tour consisted of us three UD students and two girls from England. We first went to a train graveyard, and then headed on our way to the Salt Flatts. We are talking miles and miles and miles of just salt. Pretty sweet, and don´t worry, one of the girls on our tour licked the ground just to make sure. We drove to fish Island in the middle of the Salt Flatts, where we took a little hike, wich included lots of Cactus and rock that resembled coral. The whole area including the Salt Flatts was like being on a different planet. Again I promise as soon as I can upload photos I will. We ate lunch at Fish Island and then took a bunch the Salt Flatt type pictures. If you don´t know what I am talking about, google "Uyuni Salt Flatt pictures."
Next we continued our journey in our Range Rover across the rest of the Salt Flatts. Mind you, once we left the city of Uyuni, that was the last time we were on paved road. We drove until around dusk at which we reached the hostel we were to be staying at,in te middle of no where. The hostel floors were salt, just salt. We ate dinner and slept there. The next morning we were out the door by around 7am. We traveled across more dirt road and rock until we reached the Rock Tree, here is a good link to a photo of the rock http://image55.webshots.com/55/0/76/31/410607631XCVNII_fs.jpg. On that day of the trip we visitd many different lakes in the area with different colors, yellow, red, and blue. We ate lunc at one of the lakes or lagunas in spanish. On this particular lake there were flamingos, which are much more pink in the wild. That night again we stayed in a hostel.
The next morning we were up at 5am and out the door by 5:30am. Our first stop was the natural geysers. We had a long ride to our next stop, which was the laguna verde (green lake). This lake borders Chili and is next to a large Volcano. Our next stop was to the hot springs. We spent a good amount of time at the hot springs; one because it was very warm and it was freezing, and two because it was the first "bath" we had since we left for the trip. The hot spring wasthe last stop on our trip. Now we had to travel all the way back to the city Uyuni. The trip was long, but went well, except for having to change a tire.
When we got back to Uyuni we had to wait to buy our trai tickets until midnigt and then the train left at 2am. We caught the train and then te bus back to La Paz. When I finally arried back to my house I was awake for a little bit, but passed out around 5 and didn´t wake up until this mornin for work at 7:30am.
At work today I helped Mirco install some fans in the wood dryer and then paint and seal the wood holding the fans. This Friday I am to have a one page progress report on how my project is coming along. So that is what I will be working on for the rest of this week.
If you have any questions about this post or any other just let me know.
Until Next time.
Go USA, for any soccer fans out there.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Leave tomorrow for Uyuni Salt Flatts
Hello All,
Sorry this is going to be kind of a short blog post because i need to get home and back for my trip tomorrow for Uyuni. Ï leave tomorrow at 7. There are pictures online of the salt flatts so if you are interested you can view them, but I will be sure to write a long descriptive post on the trip. We should get back around Tuesday so look for a post next weel. This week at work I continued work on this detailed gasification technology. I am in the process right now of creating a powerpoint in which I include a step by step process of how to build a gasifier, with pictures, and a list of parts need and materials. It is proving to be somewhat challenging, but a challenge is always good right. I also helped Peter and Mirco with the wood dryer. We had to cut some wood panels in order to accomodate some fans, I´m sorry I cant upload pictures right now, but when I get my camera fixed and can find a way to upload them I will. Until next time.
Ciao.
Sorry this is going to be kind of a short blog post because i need to get home and back for my trip tomorrow for Uyuni. Ï leave tomorrow at 7. There are pictures online of the salt flatts so if you are interested you can view them, but I will be sure to write a long descriptive post on the trip. We should get back around Tuesday so look for a post next weel. This week at work I continued work on this detailed gasification technology. I am in the process right now of creating a powerpoint in which I include a step by step process of how to build a gasifier, with pictures, and a list of parts need and materials. It is proving to be somewhat challenging, but a challenge is always good right. I also helped Peter and Mirco with the wood dryer. We had to cut some wood panels in order to accomodate some fans, I´m sorry I cant upload pictures right now, but when I get my camera fixed and can find a way to upload them I will. Until next time.
Ciao.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tango and World Cup
Well after work on Friday I went back with Sara and Peter to Peter´s house. The plan for that evening was to attend Peter´s brother and sister´s tango performance at a cafe in the center of the city. Peter´s brother Ishmael is 17 and his sister Carolina is 16. We went to downtown La Paz to a small cafe, Cafe Berlin. How this tango night worked was Ishmael teaches tango and also takes classes so tonight was a kind of get together for everyone in the classes and you were welcome to bring friends. The night started off by people casually dancing tango. When I say casually I mean they all were really really good. I couldn´t believe how good of dancers everyone was. Needless to say I neither Peter nor I were dancing. Then about 3/4 a way through the night everyone cleared the dance floor so that Ishael and Carolina could do their tango performance . . . WOW. They did two dances and they were incredible. After that the dancing between everyone continued with more tango and salsa. Now I know how salso a little so by the very last song I did a little salsa with Carolina. I´m sure everyone was thinking, "look at that gringo trying to dance." Peter and I decided that Ishmael is going to have to teach us some tango so that we can impress some people when we get back to the states.
On Saturday Peter´s mom and sister made us some delicious pancakes, but insteadof syrup they use this sweet type of thick condensed milk that comes out of a can. It was delicious, and I also used some jam on my pancakes. We kind of hung around his house until around 1:00 until we went to the Mega Center, a type of mall, where there is a movie theater. We were going to the movie theater because they televise some of the World Cup games on the big screen. And we weren´t going to miss seeing England and the US play. The game was awesome to see on the big screen even with that goal by Clint Demsey, hey a goal is a goal. We decided after the game that we needed to go downstairs to a grocery store and buy a relatively cheap soccer ball in spirit of the world cup. We walked home from the mega center to Peter´s house, kicking and juggling the ball the entire way, its a pretty good hike.
I forgot to metion that Peter had met a guy on the plane around 26, who was also going to Bolivia for 10 weeks to learn the language and culture. Fred met up with us to see the game and while we were waiting we got to talking about what we are doing here in Bolivia. Surprisingly enough he is also interested in renewable energy and has even heard of this gasification process we are working on. So I think he is going to come to work with us sometime to see what exactly we are doing and maybe give some input.
This Sunday was pretty uneventful, just watched some of the world cup, and Julio had some of his family over for a late lunch, in which we pulled the tv closer to the table and all crowded around one side to watch Germany and Austrailia play. That should give you an idea of just how much they love soccer (football) down here.
A little bit of bad news, my camera has stopped working. I can still view all of my pictures, but it won´t allow me to take any. Julio´s son, Ricardo mentioned that his cousin is pretty good with cameras, so hopefully I can get in touch with him and get it fixed.
Until next time,
Bryan
On Saturday Peter´s mom and sister made us some delicious pancakes, but insteadof syrup they use this sweet type of thick condensed milk that comes out of a can. It was delicious, and I also used some jam on my pancakes. We kind of hung around his house until around 1:00 until we went to the Mega Center, a type of mall, where there is a movie theater. We were going to the movie theater because they televise some of the World Cup games on the big screen. And we weren´t going to miss seeing England and the US play. The game was awesome to see on the big screen even with that goal by Clint Demsey, hey a goal is a goal. We decided after the game that we needed to go downstairs to a grocery store and buy a relatively cheap soccer ball in spirit of the world cup. We walked home from the mega center to Peter´s house, kicking and juggling the ball the entire way, its a pretty good hike.
I forgot to metion that Peter had met a guy on the plane around 26, who was also going to Bolivia for 10 weeks to learn the language and culture. Fred met up with us to see the game and while we were waiting we got to talking about what we are doing here in Bolivia. Surprisingly enough he is also interested in renewable energy and has even heard of this gasification process we are working on. So I think he is going to come to work with us sometime to see what exactly we are doing and maybe give some input.
This Sunday was pretty uneventful, just watched some of the world cup, and Julio had some of his family over for a late lunch, in which we pulled the tv closer to the table and all crowded around one side to watch Germany and Austrailia play. That should give you an idea of just how much they love soccer (football) down here.
A little bit of bad news, my camera has stopped working. I can still view all of my pictures, but it won´t allow me to take any. Julio´s son, Ricardo mentioned that his cousin is pretty good with cameras, so hopefully I can get in touch with him and get it fixed.
Until next time,
Bryan
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Gasification is Coming Along
I don´t think I explained what gasification was in earlier post so I will explain now so you have a better idea of what exactly I am working on. Gasification is the process of taking a biomass material like wood and converting it into a more efficient and usable gas. My job this summer is to desin and build a gasifier to accomplish this. So far I have found some pretty good designs on the internet and tomorrow we are going to have a meeting to determine what design we want to go with. If we can accomplish building a successfull gasifier it would be incredible, thats not to say that it will be easy though.
Tonight Julio, my host dad invited me to come to have tea and pastries with some of his family and friends who live directly below us. When he said pastries, he wasn´t kidding. There were tea cookies, an assortment of differnt kinds of bread, and some bread with guacamole that was delicious. My favorite out of everything was the banana nut bread. We all sat and talked, or I should say they all talked and I listened because I am still learning spanish. I was able to answer certain questions and laugh when I knew a joke was at my expense. I am getting there though. Julio said that his son either teaches a class or knows of a class that is fairly inexpensive that I could take to help further with my learning of the language. I think I am going to take him up on this because the class would only be 1 or 2 times a week. Julio and I practice every night our vocabulary; my spanish and his english.
Tonight Julio, my host dad invited me to come to have tea and pastries with some of his family and friends who live directly below us. When he said pastries, he wasn´t kidding. There were tea cookies, an assortment of differnt kinds of bread, and some bread with guacamole that was delicious. My favorite out of everything was the banana nut bread. We all sat and talked, or I should say they all talked and I listened because I am still learning spanish. I was able to answer certain questions and laugh when I knew a joke was at my expense. I am getting there though. Julio said that his son either teaches a class or knows of a class that is fairly inexpensive that I could take to help further with my learning of the language. I think I am going to take him up on this because the class would only be 1 or 2 times a week. Julio and I practice every night our vocabulary; my spanish and his english.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Friday I had my frist experince of riding in a mini-bus by myself. In order to get back to my district, Villa Fatima, I have to take two mini-buses. The first ride was successfull but the second, not so much. I had a little trouble catching the second bus, I had to walk a little while, but eventually found the right bus to take. On Saturday I had lunch with Julio and his son and grandson. His grandson invited me to his house later that night to watch Lord of the Rings with him and some friends.
Sunday I had the opportunity to go to a Bolivian soccer game in the La Paz stadium. Boliviar, which was the favored team to win ended up losing 1 to 0, but still it was quite an experience. The seats were only 20 Bolivianos and were not bad at all because the seats were not assigned. We sat at centerfield. If I didn´t mention this earlier, there are a lot of stray dogs in Bolivia, and one ended up in the stadium, and then later on in the game we saw it on the field.
Monday at work, was pretty uneventful, still researching and designing the plans for the gasifier that we are going to build this summer (winter in Bolivia). For lunch we went to Eli´s a restaurant close by and got fried chicken, fires, and something I wasn´t expecting, fried banana slices - delicious. I finally have gotten down how to use the mini-buses to get back to where I live, Villa Fatima.
Today, Tuesday, at work we have found a good site to help with dimensions for the gasifier specific to how much power you want to output. I know i have said it already but I can´t stress enough how beautiful the view is from our shop. As soon as I can upload photos I will. For lunch we went to a restaurant that specialized in these pot pie type things called saltiñas, I had four, two chicken (pollo) and two of some kind of meat (carne). They were delicious as well, and that was probably my favorite lunch here so far. We decided to treat ourselves after lunch to a little ice cream. We found an ice cream place that sold gelato. Of course I got my favorite, pistattio. Mom you would have loved it.
I would say that I am getting pretty comforatable now with getting around using the mini-buses. I hope all is well back in the states.
Sunday I had the opportunity to go to a Bolivian soccer game in the La Paz stadium. Boliviar, which was the favored team to win ended up losing 1 to 0, but still it was quite an experience. The seats were only 20 Bolivianos and were not bad at all because the seats were not assigned. We sat at centerfield. If I didn´t mention this earlier, there are a lot of stray dogs in Bolivia, and one ended up in the stadium, and then later on in the game we saw it on the field.
Monday at work, was pretty uneventful, still researching and designing the plans for the gasifier that we are going to build this summer (winter in Bolivia). For lunch we went to Eli´s a restaurant close by and got fried chicken, fires, and something I wasn´t expecting, fried banana slices - delicious. I finally have gotten down how to use the mini-buses to get back to where I live, Villa Fatima.
Today, Tuesday, at work we have found a good site to help with dimensions for the gasifier specific to how much power you want to output. I know i have said it already but I can´t stress enough how beautiful the view is from our shop. As soon as I can upload photos I will. For lunch we went to a restaurant that specialized in these pot pie type things called saltiñas, I had four, two chicken (pollo) and two of some kind of meat (carne). They were delicious as well, and that was probably my favorite lunch here so far. We decided to treat ourselves after lunch to a little ice cream. We found an ice cream place that sold gelato. Of course I got my favorite, pistattio. Mom you would have loved it.
I would say that I am getting pretty comforatable now with getting around using the mini-buses. I hope all is well back in the states.
Friday, June 4, 2010
First Day of Work
I am almost finished with my first day of work at Prolena, in which I have continued to resarch the gasification technology that I will be working on. My host family is extremelly nice. I am staying with an older man and his sister in the northeast section of La Paz. There really isn´t a bad view from anywhere, the city is gorgeous, and you can always see their large mountain in the background. I have seen some of the city, but will see more this weekend. It took a little bit getting used to the altitude, I literally get winded walking up the steps to my house. Getting to and from work is going to prove to be a little difficult because I have to take these mini busses, which should fit about 10 people, but they will cram about 15 in them. I have to get on at one block, off at another, and then get on another one to finally get dropped off at work, oh and there are barely any steet signs. Luckily I have not had any kind of illness yet (knock on wood), and most of my meals have consisted of pork and potatoes. My family has this papay soda, which is delicious. I still am nervous about some things, but I´m sure that will wear off with time. I will wirte again soon.
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