Feeling Ready

I don’t think that pig helped me at all last year in the marathon, so I have a new mascot this time around.

This explains some things

Mainly like why the volunteers have had such hit-and-miss luck with veterinarians for our adopted pets.

My favorite type of day

Full of good people talking about good things over great food, and I have a new certificate of appreciation for the solar stove and efficient cookstove work.

How to build a combustion chamber

The trickiest portion of the efficient cookstove construction process is assembling the internal combustion chamber. It isn’t difficult, but requires a few sets of hands and understanding how the interior pieces fit together. Two women hold the pieces in place while a third filled in around them with the sand/gravel mixture. This was the fourth […]

Getting out more

From the Sierra Gorda de Guanajuato where I spent the last 2 days working, although it doesn’t feel like work when the setting is so beautiful.      

Gotta get out more

Thank goodness I have secondary projects outside of the office so that I don’t miss when the wildflowers explode into bloom.

Winning is a lot of fun

With trepidation I went to the Festival Internacional Salva el Diente this weekend outside of Guadalajara. After a late arrival, I wasn’t sure how I was going to be feeling for the 10k trail race early on Saturday morning, but I just wanted to run as a part of my marathon training (which is only three weeks away!). I […]

Before and After

The stove installations are actually almost all done. I saw 4 yesterday and 1 today, and I look forward to going back and taking all the “before” and “after” pictures. The installation is a quick process, except for configuring the chimney. The women typically have to drill holes in the walls of their kitchens or […]

Representative food

This weekend is Mexican Independence Day, and the traditional food around this time is a dish called chiles en nogada consisting of stuffed poblano chiles with a cream sauce and pomegranate seeds. So, the colors of the Mexican flag are clearly represented. It’s quite rich, but I have played around with my own versions a […]

Here we go again

Except, this time on my own… However, Mike has now promised to focus on 10k training so that he can goad me into blasting out the last 10k and finish in under 4h. I’m basically quoting him there, and I’m counting on the help. Well, at least I’ll have a few more cans of Corona […]

Burning, burning wood

But now so much less wood. The first few efficient wood-burning stoves from our USAID Small Project Assistance grant have been installed. They seem awesome, and the woman are reporting excellent results. The reduction in wood usage is immediately apparent, but I will wait to take measurements until all the stoves are installed and they […]

Yucatan Peninsula – Day 7 – Cenotes

Woulda, shoulda, coulda. Along with everything else, the Yucatan peninsula is also known for its cenotes, or sort of sinkhole caves, resulting from the limestone geology. There are too many to visit, but we had a hard time picking even one to visit. We were driving by them in the middle of our trip and […]