Day 16

By elissam

This morning we met with Angel to start digging up the intersections of the three piping systems. We have a map of the Foncodes system, but not of the parochial or old systems, and the community seems to only have a rough idea of where all of the pipelines actually are. We are hoping to eventually repair or replace the pipelines, and will need an accurate map of all three systems. We may also connect some of the existing pipes if they are undamaged. 

We started an excavation on the side of the road in front of the medical post, where Angel had said the Old and Foncodes systems crossed. The Foncodes system follows the current road down to the town, while the old system follows the old road leading from the medical post down to the town. It took a good hour and a half to dig up the segment of pipe, and we were not able to find the intersection- Angel estimated that we had dug too far up the road by about 15 or 20 feet. We saw Ciro while we were digging, and he brought us oranges. There are orange and plantain trees everywhere here, and we have seen Ciro out collecting them several ties so far. He seems to do several odd jobs around the town- we see him outside working on the gardens in the Plaza almost every day as well.