UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

Today was the day that we poured the concrete walls of the reservoir. We were not expecting such a high turnout of volunteers! Members of every household showed up to lend a hand. Todays task required people to gather aggregate and cement and place them inside the concrete mixer. After the everything was mixed, people would carry buckets full of concrete to the top of the reservoir scaffolding and then pour them inside the forms. Contractors with a gas operated vibrator would vibrate the concrete to make sure that there would be no air gaps in the wall as the concrete dried. After we finished pouring all the concrete, we had a big community feast where we ate cuy (guinea pig) with wheat rice and potatoes. A one of the community members brought a speaker so we took turns playing famous American and Peruvian songs. This day was a big milestone in the construction process and we were able to bond with the volunteers and contractors. Concrete being mixed  Pouring concrete into f...

Figure 2: Josh, Olivia, Semaj, and Hannah with local students before parade After meeting with the leaders of the local elementary school, our team was invited to participate in a school parade. In this parade, each grade had a specific theme. We were requested to join the 6th graders who had a “tourist” theme. We were the mascots! We walked around the city following behind a pickup truck that acted as the float for the parade. This was a fun way to bond with the community. After the parade we had the opportunity to tour the school and interact with the students.

Figure 1 : Evan stands on weights to test soil integrity The first week that we have been in Peru has been rather eventful. The build site was changed by the community last minute because the owner of the original land decided he did not want to go through with the deal. This created a challenge because we were not yet able to make any soil tests on the new location to verify if it was sound enough to support the structure. We did not have a penetrometer to test the soil, so after consultation with our mentors back at home, we decided to use a makeshift penetrometer to test the soil using free weights from the gym where we stayed at. We were able to verify the integrity of the soil this way. This is an example of why it is important to be able to think on your feet while implementing these projects because whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.