Jan 9

A well-oiled machine

Today's big day started at 6:15 am with alarms and Zach off to the kitchen cooking eggs in PJ's while others prepared. A few minutes later Dr. Basha and Trevor arrived to make toast with the choice of almond butter or marmalade. After eating our breakfast, we grabbed tools that we pre-packed the previous day and headed out to our taxis. Carrying the 16 ft PVC was a new experience for us all as we strapped the two 2'' pipes against the passenger mirror with Derek and Trevor holding on to the PVC out their respective windows. Today we traveled back to Mercedes' farm at FUPROSOMUNIC to install the French drains and help cultivate edible mushrooms that could be effectively utilized in Nicaragua's humid environment. Once at the farm the team split into two with Basha, Derek, Trevor, and Zach digging drains while Cristian, Giselle, and Josh sterilized soil.

Giselle, Josh, and Cristian first started by digging dirt and placing it on top of a sieve to filter the dirt until a wheelbarrow was filled. After that, we started two fires and began cooking. The process began with shoveling the dirt into a pot and measuring the temperature every ten minutes until the dirt reached 80 degrees Celsius. When the dirt was the perfect temperature, we let it sit for another 30 minutes and then took it off the fire.

For the second fire, we placed a large sheet of aluminum over a fire pit and shoveled a layer of dirt evenly over it. This process helped us reach 80 degrees Celsius faster, but made it very difficult to take the hot sheet off of the pit. We also had to wait a bit longer for the earth to cool down because the sheet was so hot.

Once the sterilized dirt had cooled to a manageable temperature, we filled large sacks with the dirt halfway. We placed these sacks on a tarp while filling them up so they would not get contaminated with uncooked dirt. We repeated each of these processes once more until it was time to go to lunch. But right before we were about to leave, we decided to stay a bit longer so we can plant the seeds for the fungi that we planned to grow. We planted the seeds, watered them and tucked them into the dirt to protect them from birds. Once this was all done, we packed up our things and rode back to Casa Nica.

French drain work started off on the wrong foot when some of our pipe did not match the farm's. It turned out that one of our pipe had been mislabeled during production and was not going to fit anywhere. After making a new gameplan and making a short parts list to meet the new requirements, the team set off digging the hand sink drain. The team made quick work of this excavation and the next drain was marked before Josh and Zach adventured to pick up French Drain supplies.

The french drain projects needed sand, gravel, PVC couplings and cloth to complete the project. Because we were buying 7.5 yards of cloth the shop gave a 30% discount. The toughest parts to find were the PVC couplings which took 4 stops at various hardware shops. At the sand and gravel shop we learned of a new measuring unit, the lata (or a can) which is a traditional measurement system in Latin America. Luckily the employees knew a simple estimation for cubic meters so we could provide our needed volumes. 15 bags later Josh and Zach headed back to FUPROSOMUNIC to deliver much needed supplies. Luckily the holes were finished and the drains were ready to lay cloth barrier down, add sand, and finish with gravel.

Once Zach and Josh left to grab materials, Dr. Basha, Derek, and Trevor dug the two trenches. This involved a lot of pick axing and measuring angles. Since the drains need to have a certain slope for proper draining, we took a lot of time to verify that our slope was correct for each trench. We took frequent water breaks and picked some fresh mandarins off of a tree at the farm.

Once Zach and Josh came back with materials, we were able to continue working on the drains. We cut cloth to lay at the bed of the drains and poured sand and gravel on top. Zach carried the heavy bags of sand and gravel to the drain locations until the drains were filled. Next, Zach and Trevor cut PVC to the appropriate lengths for the two drains. Once the pipes were cut, the drain team decided it was time to head back to the house and eat lunch.

Upon returning to Casa Nica, Dr. Basha and Derek went out to buy smoothies for everyone while Zach and Trevor installed the last piece of the trellis. Once the rest of our group arrived, we went out for lunch. Dr. Basha, Zach, Derek, and Trevor got pizza while Cristian and Giselle went to the cafeteria that we went to yesterday. Before heading back to the house, Zach and Trevor ventured to a market to pick up some of the highly addictive Zambos Plantain Chips with Chile and Lime.

Once we fulfilled all of our food desires, we showered and started to work on planning future projects. Zach designed a third french drain and Dr. Basha and Derek started working on the Bluetooth display for the new weather station.

After a delicious dinner of pupusas, everyone crashed early.