hey guys! We´re back in Managua after an exhausting journey to Kukra River. A lot of information has been discovered and gathered! First off, there actually already exists a strong presence of composting latrines in the communities! This makes our project a whole lot easier, but also leaves a lot more room for additional projects in these communities! We found quite a few possible areas for future projects, but it actually seems like water is the biggest issue (contrary to what Marvin had mentioned). We paid $40 to have water samples tested for the water quality in san sebastian as well as las breñas (the communities that had the biggest water issues). While in Kukra River, we hosted community meetings in each of the three communities and also interviews with family members. San Sebastian was the only community that did not already have composting latrines. Both Caño Azul and Las Breñas had composting, or ´dry´, latrines installed for a fair portion of families thanks to the accion medica christian group. We rode mules a fair portion of the time but due to liability issues, I think our future plans should not encompass this mode of transportation (as one of our team members had fallen off of the mule due to muddy conditions and could easily have been stepped on and severely injured if not killed). We also were able to acquire lots of information on material prices in bluefields (for both the dry latrines as well as a potential water catchment system). Anyways, like I said, a lot of information has been discovered and Warren, Tim, and I plan to discuss it all in detail at this next meeting. Photos will be uploaded shortly.

-Julia

Hey everyone! We made it to Bluefields after a very loud domestic plane ride! Bluefields is a really colorful and vibrant town and we love it! We met up with Marvin, who took us on a 2 hour nature walk into the foresty area where they are to build their future office. We leave tomorrow to travel up Kukra River. We have gathered quite a bit of interesting information regarding comosting latrines in this area. Warren has been taking very good notes and we will fill everyone in when more time permits. Here are a few photos from our trip so far. One is of the patio at the Backpackers Inn. The other is a group picture with Arturo from FUNCOS. He works primarily on the west coast for FUNCOS and is a very nice man who showed us around Managua. The last few are from the outskirts of bluefields and the FUNCOS office in bluefields.

Preparing for site assessment trip

Okay so we recently lost one of our anticipated traveling members, Nick #2 (the Mark Wahlberg Nick) due to personal issues. However, Warren, Tim (one of our mentors), and I are still more than ready to tackle this trip! We have all the forms printed and the medical equipment gathered. Our flight leaves Friday night at Midnight and we will be back on Sunday of the next week. I purchased 3-way walkie talkies and we will hopefully have some money left over from the Alumni Grant to go towards fuel for our motor boat. That's about it for right now.

The Beginning!

Aaaahhh! The UCLA- Engineers Without Borders' blog has been created.

It's gonna feature awesome updates from our project in Bluefields, Nicaragua. More specifically, Kukra River & Kukra Hill.

Here are some links and pictures about the region and Engineers Without Borders, so you can get to know us and our project better:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluefields

http://www.vianica.com/visit/bluefields

http://www.ewb-usa.org/

http://sites.google.com/site/ewbucla/











And here's a video about the area. Its in Spanish, but its the best we found! ;D