Hey everybody,
Trini (leader SLG) had to come to Rurre for a meeting so I took the chance and jumped into the boat. After a day of pushing the peque downriver (hardly any water in the Quiquibey) we finally did arrive... with a square backside and a boiled brain.

What has happened so far:
We had to change the path a little in order to make it more comfortable and so we spent three days chopping down all sorts of plants with machetes and axes. Don't worry, we were careful and did as little damage as possible. Now there's an almost straight highway leading from the football pitch to the spring basin.
Afterwards we started installing the pipe and noticed that the ups and downs on the way still caused problems for the gravitation system. So whilst laying out the pipes the comunarios started digging deep trenches at the most elevated places in order to get the water running. They are doing an awesome job and seemingly we we won't have any serious uphill parts in the end. Right now I wouldn't know where to place air valves. So far we've laid out about half the tubing and for now it seems like we'll have good pressure.
At this time the comunarios are still busy laying out the tubing and digging and will soon start to carry sand to the basin. They do that kind of work much better without me so I thought after 10 days there it certainly would be nice to take a proper shower again and eat some tourist food. SLG is an awesome place, exciting and just so different to what a European is used to know, but long term it's also very challenging.
My plan is to return to SLG together with Frans, taking the next available peque upriver. We'll then transport the cement that's still missing and some adaptors for the tubing system. Unfortunately we noticed that the already available tubing is also 32mm (1") and not 25mm as we were told (well, we noticed after we had removed it only to replace it with the same tubing). So now we have the problem that some of our connection pieces are useless and we'll need to organize some new ones in La Paz.
One big issue left open is the basin itself. It's in a very sad condition and obviously deteriorating. It seems like the students who constructed it didn't use enough cement because there are large chunks already breaking away and I can cause damage just beating the construction with a wooden stick. We could somehow fix it but the comunarios wouldn't agree with that. Too many of them have already seen other potable water spring basins and want a proper installation that will last. So the plan is to construct a new square basin using more cement and none of those huge stones. The comunarios will start cutting boards for the construction of that basin soon.

Okay, that's enough for now, I'll send some pictures soon.
Saludos
Christian


Clearing a path of 1600m for the tube (Photo: Christian Scherer)


18-07-2010: Christian Scherer:
Hey everybody,
we've arrived in Rurrenabaque (freezing cold as well) and if Trini and company also make it here on time then we'll leave for SLG tomorrow. Things are fine except that I'm not prepared to wear so many cloths all the time.
We've done a great deal of our shopping already in La Paz where prices are considerably lower. Frans' Señora was a great help there, unfortunately she couldn't join us on our trip. So far we've spent pretty much exactly 1000 Bs and tomorrow morning when the shops open we'll buy what's still missing. I've noticed that we have forgotten to include the tank into our calculations (apart from a few minor things). A 600l tank here costs about 700Bs, that will have to be added but also that's about the amount we expect to stay below our budget... so we might be just fine. Jorge Steiner is just returning from La Paz, not sure if we'll still meet him, but anyways we've already found what we were looking for.
Concerning the amount of faucetts: After talking again with the guys and Frans (unfortunately Trini hasn't arrived on time) the decision was made to install 2 faucetts in the comunidad and one at the cabañas. This means we'll need to buy one more. That's it for now.

15-07-2010: Francoise Bourzat:

Founder of Circle of Hearts and sanluisgrande.com. She has been working with the people of San Luis Grande for sevaral years with the aim to improve their situation and promote eco tourism. The construction of sevaral convenient cabins for visitors where sucesfully finished in 2009. A new website of her is www.corazonvisits.com