This trip has been amazing. Marco Tulio's factory in Guatemala is beautiful and up and running. Those who helped make the Jardin de las Mujeres will be so excited to see the lovely garden filled with tropical plants.

After the recent hurricane, the two Rotary clubs arranged for a distribution of stoves to a group of people in extreme poverty who lost everything. Now Ana Luisa has started a small educational program for those women to teach them how to start small businesses using the new Ecocina stoves. She has had their children checked by a local physician who has complete documentation on their health. There is such extreme need that it's hard to know where to begin, but Ana Luisa has done it.

We are hoping an elementary school in Eugene will agree to partner with Ana Luisa in her efforts to establish a small school for those children who do not even have shoes and thus cannot attend the local school. All she needs is a bit of money for pencils, paper, crayons and a white board. If you are interested in helping, please let us know.

Upon leaving Guatemala, we traveled six hours to Copan Ruinas, Honduras to meet Anibal, the owner of the new factory. He is utterly amazing. The money from Rotary was delayed for two months, but in that time he just started with whatever he could cobble together. The local Rotary loaned him money to begin, when he didn't have tile-saws, he just used a wooden cable spool with an electric hand saw to make one. The local tile makers had not previously made baldosa tiles, so he taught them how to make them. The women wanted the stoves in pretty colors, so he found cement dye and now the stoves are available in light rose, green, and yellow as well as in grey.

Yesterday Gerry demonstrated the stove factory software to Anibal's son, Eduardo, who was first in his class in sixth grade. I watched Eduardo learn the program and he really understood it all, including depreciation tables, the stove cost calculator and all that's necessary to run a factory. When Gerry finished, Anibal asked if the program would be available for other applications in the valley. We were all thrilled!

Today we are off to meet with the owner of a coffee finca who wants to purchase a large number of stoves, but although the Rotary grant money only arrived yesterday, Anibal has already sold 100 and calls for stoves are coming in at about ten a day.

We're anxious to bring the group here in November as Don Udo's hotel is so beautiful and comfortable, and Rhina's hotel is as well.

If anyone wants to stay after the team, there are language schools, a natural hot springs, horseback trips, archaelogical tours, and much more.

I hope to see you here in November. You're going to love it!

Oh Boy! I have just met Carlos, my Rotarian host, and am as excited as can be! I decided to come to Iquitos totally out of the blue as I received an e-mail inquiry about stoves for the Amazon, and here I am.

Tomorrow I will meet with the director of the environmental organization in the morning and then have a driver and moto-taxi to take me around Iquitos to see the market and the zoo. There is a Rotary meeting starting at 9pm and I'll be showing the video that Tom took of the stove recipients in Guatemala, and then we'll try to figure out how to design a stove appropriate for grilling fish.

This club has done many projects with the six villages near Heliconia Lodge, so the following day I'll be staying there and visiting the local villages to investigate local cooking practices.

I can hardly wait!

I'm in the Lima airport again, this time waiting for my flight to Iquitos on the Amazon. I'm not sure what to expect other than a large port city, and I am wondering if I booked too many Amazon adventures and not enough of the other options in Peru, but the opportunity to be hosted just seemed too good to pass up.

Last night I was sitting on the steps of the airport with a mob other travelers awaiting a flight out of Santiago. We entered through a big white tent, and everything went smoothly despite the earthquake, however there was no air conditioning and insufficient seats, so most of us sat on the tile steps awaiting our flights.

The lovely Chilean/American woman next to me said, "This was the worst trip of my life." She and her husband flew to Santiago because their formerly active 27 year old son was suddenly admitted to intensive care with an infection. He spent six weeks there while doctors removed more than three feet of his intestine and told them they didn't think their son would live. Luckily, he improved, but his return flight cost $88,000.00.

Now I know why I have been purchasing travel insurance and making sure that all of our volunteers do the same.

My hostel was amazingly well equipped for $35/night, but I was by myself. I investigated taking a taxi to central Lima, but it would have taken half an hour in each direction, so I walked. I stayed in Miraflores, the area close to the Pacific coast, but my morning walk included such amazing sites as Burger King, Starbucks, TGI Friday's, car dealerships (again), and the Adventist University.

Taxis present a problem in South America because they aren't regulated carefully. In Argentina we were told to take a "remis" as the remises are more reliable and will probably get you directly to your destination for a set price. We took a few, but also took "Radio Taxis" as Mary's school said they were reliable. The problem is to know which is a REAL Radio Taxi and which is a fake one. Here in Peru, you can take any taxi, although Taxi Green seems to be the most reliable. Again, you have to make sure that the taxi has a taxi sign on top of the car, and not just in the window, and you have to make sure it has a reliable business phone number visible. This is all well and good, except how do you know all of that BEFORE you flag down a car? (Mary and I took a few that were obviously NOT Radio Taxis, but we're still alive and don't think we got ripped off...)

The next post will be from Iquitos where I'll be met by my Rotarian host

Hi all,
You wouldn't think an airport would be all that interesting, but the Santiago airport is. Due to the earthquake, we checked in through a huge white tent outside. There was nothing special for Business Class, we all just stood in line in the heat and it was first come, first served. Everything was very efficient and then we were ushered in to the airport which has no air conditioning or special amenities. It's about 90 degrees and of course none of the few cafes have ice, so everything is either lukewarm or hot! It's a good thing I splurged on an ice cream before I came.

Although I vowed to take a vacation, I've still been talking stoves and found that Southern Chile has areas of need for our little Ecocina. My contact person also says that the Chilean Rotarians are very active and will certainly help. The new government may also be amenable to starting a program. All good news!

In the meantime, I have heard that the government of Mexico is also interested in our project, so if any of you are Rotarians in a Pilot District, we'd love to connect with you as our local Rotary district has money to contribute as soon as we have a Pilot District to use as our conduit for funds.

Keep the faith! This project is going up like a rocket!!!!

There was tons of work done at the dental clinic as they did over 1,250 fluoride varnishes and taught the local people how to do them. The three dentists did exams and pulled lots of teeth, but considering that we couldn't bring things through customs to Guatemala and that we had only two week's notice, we did a great job. Now that we have made contact with the Dental School, who requires 8 months of free social service of all dentists prior to practicing, we'll include a "health fair" as part of stove distribution throughout the country. The Guatemalan dentist was named VELVET. Interesting, eh?

LA 422 BUENOS AIRES 12-Mar-10 10:25 llegada 12:40 Santiago
LA 600 SANTIAGO 15-Mar-10 20:10 llegada 22:55 Lima
LP 394 LIMA 16-Mar-10 16:10 llegada 17:56 Iquitos
LP 375 IQUITOS 20-Mar-10 7:10 llegada 8:45 Lima
LA 2567 LIMA 20-Mar-10 12:10 llegada 17:40 LaPaz
LA 2567 LAP 25-Mar-10 18:10 llegada 19:10 Lima
LP 17 LIMA 26-Mar-10 9:55 llegada 11:10 Cuzco
LP 38 CUZCO 30-Mar-10 16:45 llegada 18:00 Lima
LA 600 LIMA 31-Mar-10 00:05 llegada 6:50 Los Angeles
AS 2318 LOS ANGELES 03-Apr-10 llegada 22:50 Eugene

Hi all,
I am very excited to have had communication from a Rotarian in Iquitos, Peru as well as someone in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. As my flight on LAN was changed on the way to Buenos Aires I was given a $1,000 credit for use on other LAN flights this month. So...why not visit the people who need stoves the most?

We spent the last few days in Iguazu Falls being tourists and enjoying ourselves immensely. This morning was spent in Buenos Aires at the LAN office, and this afternoon we will go to the bookstore in a colonial theater where they serve lunch on the stage! Tonight we'll be treated to an asado at Santi's parents home, and tomorrow we're off to an estancia and then the following day we'll be going to Colonia, Uruguay. Of course, there is much more of Argentina to explore, but it can't be done on this trip, so I'll be back to drink white wine in Salta, malbec in Mendoza and visit Patagonia and the glaciers.

I have reservations both in Santiago and Lima and I've just heard from my host in Iquitos that he will meet me at the airport, show me the communities along the river that need stoves, and take me to their Rotary meeting on the following evening. It certainly won't be a normal way to experience the river.

Our trip to the delta near Tigre was fascinating, the tango show was wonderful, and I've eaten enough Argentinian beef to last a lifetime. The liquados are wonderful - my favorite being peach, orange juice, and basil flowers!

Good news keeps flowing in by e-mail. Don is in Fiji and feels he has a good stove project in the works there, and Gerry and Susie are home working on Rotary grants and legal issues. Gail returns from Australia at the end of the month and is on her way to getting the November volunteer trip organized. Larry Winiarski is traveling to El Salvador and Guatemala to check on the stove molds to make sure they are all quality controlled, and Ana Luisa has begun the process of designing outreach health programs to go along with stove distribution in Guatemala.

Life is good!
Nancy

Hi all,
I'm sitting in LAX awaiting a flight that was supposed to go to Buenos Aires, but because of the earthquake in Chile, I guess I'm going to Lima! They can't guarantee anything from there, so it's a bit like hitchhiking...show up and see what shows up.

Before the trip to Guatemala and Honduras is lost, I thought I'd let you know how it all played out.

We started in Antigua and worked quite a bit with Marco Tulio at his factory just outside of San Antonio Aguas Calientes. What an impressive site and how impressive Maco was in showing us his complete business plans. Gerry was delighted to see that Maco understood the accounting issues and the two of them worked on that at some length.

The other issue was that of legal registration of the design and the ownership of it. Frank, Gerry, Bob and I met with attorneys and drafted various documents that now have to be signed and certified in various countries.

Gustavo, Gustavito, Elvira and Luisa came and again we talked about design specifications for the molds, legal registration issues and general factory development issues. In addition, we arranged a dental mission with Jay Lamb as the US dentist, Gustavito as the Salvadoran dentist, and Violet as the Guatemalan dentist. Exciting, especially since we were on the second floor of the municipal building overlooking the first procession of Semana Santa.

Mid-week we traveled with Amilcar in his van to Copan Ruinas. Marco Tulio joined us so that meant time in the car to talk business along the way.

Copan Ruinas was lovely, Don Udo and the other Rotarians were extremely welcoming, so we spent most of our time talking with Don Udo and David about the new factory possibilities. I know the team would love to visit as Copan Ruinas has such interesting surroundings. We're just not sure where/if a factory will be built, but by the end we left it up to the Rotary to figure out the site and the factory owner, but they now have most of their questions answered.

By the end of our stay we had visited the architectural site, learned about the production of noni, met some wonderful people, and visited a natural spa. I bought two fabulous paintings, we overate as usual, and had an incredible journey!

We'll plan a volunteer trip soon, but we want everything in place before we do so.

Keep posted!
Nancy

What a day!

This was the second day of dental work, and when we arrived at San Antonio Aguas Calientes there were signs announcing a "Health Fair". University students in green t-shirts with the SANA logo were gathered in the plaza and we were ushered upstairs where our team began setting the process in motion for dental examinations and giving fluoride varnish to children.

Why is StoveTeam doing dental work? When Gustavo Peña started his factory in El Salvador, it was to earn enough to help his son complete dental school. Gustavito has now nearly finished orthodonture studies and continues with a mobile dental unit provided by Dental Care for Children and the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club to offer services to those in need. Yesterday Gustavito was here working not only with our team but with a local Guatemalan dentist who is completing her studies. It was wonderful to see dentists and volunteers from three countries working together, and we hope to have this continue as at StoveTeam we work with many types of health and environmental initiatives throughout the developing world.

I'd write more, but this morning we're off to work on business development issues with Marco Tulio and then talk to some of the families who have received stoves to see what they think. I'm hoping for a very productive afternoon as the comments I heard from patients yesterday was that the stoves are in high demand and everyone is just waiting for fatory production to get up to speed.

Just an aside...one of the Mayan community leaders told me that a woman told him that she was so excited to have used only TWO STICKS to cook her entire pot of beans on the Ecocina. I asked him how much it normally took to cook that same pot of beans, and he said, "Oh, at least TEN sticks!" That made my day.

Hi all,
Here we are in Guatemala again with a very small group who has come to do some legal and accounting work and get two new grants going. We will be here for a few days meeting with lawyers and accountants and then go off to Copan Ruinas, Honduras to meet with a new group of people interested in starting another stove factory.

Central America is such a beautiful place, and there is so much to be proud of when we see what Marco Tulio has accomplished with his new factory. Yes, the "Jardin de las Mujeres" is up and going and the women who helped with its construction will be amazed at how things look now. The huge production gallery with metal roof that so many volunteer welders worked on is filled with local employees now welding stove parts together for three separate types of stoves. The little bathroom which made everyone giggle when it was without walls is now connected to the local sewer line, and its walls are of brightly painted metal. We took a tour of the factory, checked the quality of the molds, spoke with Marco Tulio about his ideas of how to change a few things, and then retired to a local Chapin-Mexican restaurant to talk about the types of accounting Marco Tulio needs to be developed with the new Business Development Grant.

This morning, while a few of us met with our Guatemalan lawyers, Jay Lamb went with Marco Tulio's wife, Ana Luisa, to a school in Jocotenango to teach the teachers and others how to put fluoride varnish on the teeth of the school children. There were 142 recipients of fluoride varnish and many of the teachers learned how to put on the varnish in the future. We expect to return within six months with more fluoride varnish, but although volunteers from the U.S. will be valuable, the varnish can now be administered by the school teachers.

Gustavito, the son of the factory owners in El Salvador, is now only eight months away from becoming an orthodontist, and he not only helped in today's venture, but will be coming in the future to do this type of outreach. All of this is thanks to some very nice Rotarians from the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club who provided many of the items needed to start Gustavito's mobile dental practice.

Tomorrow we'll be going to the Mayan community where the first Ecocina stoves from Marco Tulio's factory were distributed. They are very anxious to learn how to do fluoride varnish as well, but in the meantime, they have been selling more and more Ecocina stoves to the members of their community. Guatemala Sur Rotary and Irvine Spectrum Rotary were also responsible for the grant that provided the start-up monies for this program. Again, without their help this would not have been possible.

While more stove distribution continues in Guatemala, some of us will be working on the Business Development side of things. As I write this, Gustavo Peña of El Salvador Jay Lamb and Gerry Reicher from Eugene Southtowne Rotary Club are meeting to discuss accounting practice.

Yesterday, when Gerry met with Marco Tulio, and today while Gerry and Jay meet with Gustavo, their mission is to learn what the factory owners feel is necessary with regard to business development, and tomorrow they will be presenting the information back to them as an accounting package specifically developed for exactly what they need.

So, to wrap this up, we're working intensely and hope to get back to you about what we're up to, but it may not be for a bit. We're all well, we're all having a great time, and yes, the volcano is spewing ash, but the only problem is that the chairs around the swimming pool have to be cleaned off every morning before you can relax in the sun!

I know you'll enjoy this video made by Gustavo Peña, our factory owner in El Salvador. It's in both Spanish and English.

Nancy