Estas son las fotos y videos de la primera parte de la Misión Humanitaria Yauyos Fase II
Empezamos el viernes 16 y terminamos en la madrugada del miercoles 21 de Noviembre 2018 con el retorno a casa del último vehículo y voluntario de U4x4A.
Dale doble click a las fotos para verlas más grandes.
La historia de la Misión la contamos abajo, al final de esta página.
These are the photos and videos of the first part (Huarmicocha) of Yauyos Humanitarian Mission Phase II.
We departed on friday Nov 16th and the last volunteer with his truck returned on wednesday Nov 21st.
Double click on the pictures for larger view.
The story of the Mission is below, at the bottom of this page.
Compra de los primeros materiales donados. Shopping the first donated materials |
Compra de los primeros materiales donados Shopping the first donated materials |
Compra de los primeros materiales donados Shopping the first donated materials |
Compra de los primeros materiales donados Shopping the first donated materials |
Compra de los primeros materiales donados Shopping the first donated materials |
Compra de los primeros materiales donados por los trabajadores de la empresa Concyssa Industrial SAC Shopping the first donated materials by the workers of Concyssa Industrila SAC company. |
Cocina a leña mejorada Enhanced wood stove |
Chimeneas para la cocina a leña mejorada fabricadas a pedido Chimneys made by order for the enhanced wood stoves |
Rollo de tela arpillera para el aislamiento térmico de las casas, donada por John Sotomayor, Rool of burlap fabric for thermal insulation of the houses, donated by John Sotomayor |
Compra de materiales Shopping of materials |
Voluntarios U4x4A seleccionando los materiales que se compraron. U4x4A volunteers selecting the ,materials to purchase |
Voluntarios U4x4A seleccionando los materiales que se compraron U4x4A volunteers selecting the ,materials to purchase |
Camión con la carga de los materiales rumbo al almacén U4x4A Truck loaded with materials going to U4x4A storage |
Materiales en el almacén U4x4A Materials at U4x4A storage |
Materiales en el almacén U4x4A Materials at U4x4A storage |
Empezamos el operativo. Viernes 16 Noviembre The operations begin. Friday Nov 16th |
Empezamos el operativo. Viernes 16 Noviembre Friday Nov 16th, the operation begins |
Empezamos el operativo. Viernes 16 Noviembre Friday Nov 16th, the operation begins |
Equipos y herramientas para las instalaciones Tools and equipment for the installations |
Equipos y herramientas para las instalaciones Tools and equipment for the installations |
Jen y Cris, listas para partir Jen and Cris ready to go |
Unidad 4x4 de Ayuda. Somo los buenos muchachos Unidad 4x4 de Ayuda. We are the good guys.. |
Listas las tres camionetas para partir rumbo a Huarmicocha, Yauyos Ready three trucks to go to Huarmicocha, Yauyos |
La ruta a Huarmicocha. Parada, descanso y pernoctación en Villafranca. Retomamos la ruta a las 3am The route to Huarmicocha. Rest stop and sleep at Villafranca. Departure will be at 3am |
Comunicación por radio desde Villafranca, malas noticias: la Land Rover se malogró Radio-communication from Villafranca > not good news, the Land Rover is broken |
Land Rover de voluntario U4x4A, se quedó averiada en Villafranca. The Land Rover got broken and stayed parked in Villafranca |
La ruta a Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m The route to Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m |
La ruta a Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
The route to Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
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La ruta a Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
The route to Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
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La ruta a Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
The route to Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
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La ruta a Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
The route to Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
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La ruta a Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
The route to Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
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La ruta a Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
The route to Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
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La ruta a Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
The route to Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m
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Tipicocha |
Tipicocha |
Parada, descanso en Tipicocha, último lugar donde hay tienda y comida Rest stop at Tipicocha, the last spot with a store, food and supplies |
Parada, descanso en Tipicocha, último lugar donde hay tienda y comida Rest stop at Tipicocha, the last spot with a store, food and supplies |
Parada, descanso en Tipicocha, último lugar donde hay tienda y comida Rest stop at Tipicocha, the last spot with a store, food and supplies |
Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m. Primer intento de trepar el cerro hasta la estancia de Jeremías
Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m. First attempt to climb the hill to reach Jeremias' house
Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m. First attempt to climb the hill to reach Jeremias' house
Trepada del cerro hasta la estancia de Jeremías
Climbing the hill off-road to reach Jeremias' house
Climbing the hill off-road to reach Jeremias' house
En la estancia de Jeremías, Huarmicocha Yauyos, 4700m At Jeremias'. Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m |
Esta es la casita de Jeremías tal como la hallamos This is the humble house of Jeremias |
Esta es la casita de Jeremías tal como la hallamos This is the humble house of Jeremias |
Manos a la obra. Empezamos con las instalaciones Hands to work. Start the installations |
Transporte e instalación del generador en un lugar alejado de la casa para evitar el ruido Moving the power generator away |
Transporte e instalación del generador en un lugar alejado de la casa para evitar el ruido Moving the power generator away |
Perrito que llegó al lugar a acompañarnos en las instalaciones Friendly Puppy showed up and stayed with us all day long |
Interior de la casita de Jeremías. Así viven los más pobres en nuestro país.
Interior of the Jeremias house. This is how poor people live in our country
Interior of the Jeremias house. This is how poor people live in our country
Voluntarios U4x4A instalando la cocina a leña mejorada en la casita de Jeremías U4x4A volunteers installing the stove in Jeremias house |
Voluntarios U4x4A instalando la cocina a leña mejorada en la casita de Jeremías U4x4A volunteers installing the stove in Jeremias house |
Encendido de la cocina
Starting the enhanced firewood stove
Starting the enhanced firewood stove
Fin del primer día de trabajo. Casi listo Almost done |
Descanso en Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m Rest in Huarmicocha, Yauyos, 4700m |
Bakta Eddy, voluntario U4x4A afectado por la hipoxia de la altura en Huarmicocha, Bakta Eddy U4x4A volunteer affected by HAS -high altitude sickness |
El local comunal de Huarmicocha, nuestro refugio esa noche Our refuge in Huarmicocha. |
Percy, el hijo de Jeremías recibe la donación Percy, Jeremias' son receiving the donation |
Alistando la partida Getting ready for departure |
Viaje de regreso a Lima On the way back to Lima |
Viaje de regreso a Lima On the way back to Lima |
Viaje de regreso a Lima On the way back to Lima |
Parada, descanso y cena como Dios manda antes de llegar a Lima On the way back to Lima. Rest stop and a decent dinner before getting home. |
The story.
After the first Yauyos Humanitarian Mission operation happened in early August 2018 -we brought humanitarian aid: food, warm clothing, blankets, medical care and medicines to the people of the highlands in Yauyos, we the U4x4A volunteers learned about the poor living conditions of the people in those humble villages: Huarmicocha, Betania, Poroche and Yuracpunco suffering the bad effects of extreme low temperature during winter time at 4700m elevation.
Back in Lima we started the survey and research about the most appropiate means to help improve the bad living conditions in Yauyos: no heating and toxic smoke inside the houses -they cook with firewood in an open flame stove inside their houses.
We found the Muro Trombe -solar heating system, and the Improved Firewood Stove as the solution for the Yauyos houses. The estimated cost per house is S/1100 soles (U$338).
The Yauyos Humanitarian Mission Phase II was conceived.
The plan is to get and bring the materials to build and install the heating system and stove in the Yauyos houses.
The plan includes the four villages:
Huarmicocha: 26 houses
Betania: 52 houses
Poroche: 32 houses
Yuracpunco: 49 houses
Total: 159
The numbers were provided by the local Major, the operations start with Huarmicocha (26 houses) on November 16th, 17th and 18th.
The campaign to raise funds to get the materials needed started. All available means were used to call for help: internet, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, etc.
Very little or almost no response was received.
Volunteers from abroad.
Six months ago this year we were contacted by Jen and Cris, they are two nurses from Spain working in a hospital in England, they said to be interested in volunteering with us since they found information about Unidad 4x4 de Ayuda on the internet. In the first on-line interview they were informed about the Yauyos Humanitarian Mission and they decided to come to help in the Mission.
The first donation.
On October 30th the workers of Concyssa Industrial SAC, a company from Lima, offered the first donation for one Yauyos house. All the materials were purchased together with them in a local warehouse.
Jen and Cris arrived.
On November 9th the girls arrived together with some donations they had raised from their friends, colleagues and family from Europe.
On the following days we all were pushing the campaign to raise funds as the date for departure was approaching.
Two days before departure we got funds combined enough to buy material for 7 houses of the 26 houses in Huarmicocha.
The materials were purchased and deposited in our storage.
November 16th
Departure date. 7am the operation begun with loading the three 4x4 trucks available to go to Huarmicocha, Yauyos. It took quiet a while, about 5 hours!
Finally we left to Huarmicocha.
Two fast trucks runned away. The classic Land Rover at its slow motion pace.
On the way we were all in contact, reporting locations as the trip progress.
David (Diablo) Ferrari, a U4x4A volunteer, joined the mission on his motorcycle and met the first two trucks.
Good news!
On the way we received a phone call from a donor saying they had deposited in our bank account the money to buy the materials for the remaining 19 houses of Huarmicocha, Wow!! these are good news! Now we have materials for the 26 houses in Huarmicocha. This happened during the journey up to Yuayos, so the logistics for this will be organized after this first trip to Yauyos.
On the final section of the road without cellphone service VHF radio communication was used between the trucks.
The fast trucks arrived Villafranca, the village for rest stop and overnight at 2000m elevation.
One hour later the Land Rover on the dirt road up to Villafranca got injured, the left rear suspension broke. Hummm... bad, bad, bad. Slowly, very slowly continued until Villafranca. No possibility to continue any further with the Land Rover. It stayed parked here.
Radio communication with our base in Lima using the portable Barrett PRC-2090 HF transceiver donated by Barrett Communication, to report about the bad news of the Land Rover, no immediate solution was possible. We got help from the local Major wo provided his truck to carry the load from the Land Rover up to Huarmicocha.
November 17th
3am departure to Huarmicocha. Three trucks again carrying the materials and traveling along the dirt road across the superb scenic beauty of the Peruvian Andes at elevations ranging 4500m.
On the way the oxygen lack in the air started making the effects on us, so the auxiliary oxygen tanks taken with us were used.
Some little villages on the way were passed until Huarmicocha was reached at 10am.
There we met Jeremías one of the local peasants listed to install the heating and cooking systems in his little house.
We drove 20 more minutes along the Huarmicocha lagoon shore to reach the spot where Jeremia's is. To get there the trucks had to climb off road the challenging hill.
Arrived, observed the place, the house. Studied the situation and decided what to do: where to install the Muro Trombe and the stove.
Setup. Downloaded all materials and equipment needed. We brought a power generator, electric tools, drills, cutters, screwdrivers, hand tools, etc.
Work started, we organized ourselves in two groups: one dedicated to install the stove inside the house, the other to build the wooden structure to install the Muro Trombe.
Working at 4700m elevation is not easy, so we were moving at slow motion trying to breath deeply and to keep balance as much as possible.
The generator was moved away from the workplace to reduce the noise of the engine and started supplying energy for the electric tools.
After few hours working the stove was ready and was succesfully started by Jeremías who was greatly surprised with what was happening in his humble house. The fire started beautifully and the smoke flowed by the chimney out of the house, no more smoke inside the house!
The Muro Trombe took some more time due the duties involved in the process: drilling holes in the wall, cut and install PVC pipes as air ducts, the upper ones for the warm air flow from outside to inside the house and the ones near the bottom for the cold air flow from inside to outside the house. Build up the wooden frame, painting with black paint the interior of the heating chamber: wall and ground covered with stones. Install the polycarbonate sheets and seal all the joints, etc.
It was the late afternoon already, the work was not finished, so we moved to Huarmicocha village to rest, eat and sleep.
The lack of oxygen effects on some of us were worse, we have been working all day exposed to the thin air. Nausea, terrible headache, vomiting and dizziness. Two volunteers: Luz and Manuel were forced to go back to lower altitude to Villafranca to recover, staying here overnight would have been very bad for them, even breathing continuosly from the oxygen tanks they couldn't recover. They left on the truck provided by the Major.
Bad night.
The ones whom stayed overnight passed the worse night of their lives. They were sharing the unique oxygen tank left, we had three, during the day one was left with the valve open by one of us -not informed how to operate it, and the oxygen was all lost, the other tank was used entirely by Luz and taken away to Villafranca. So we managed as good as possible with the one left. Definetively it was not enough, finally got empty.
Bad night (it was not a Good night)
November 18th
It was a very long, almost endless night.
Early wake up. Some of us had some sleep, the others didn't sleep at all. Headache was like a hitting hammer all night long.
Breakfast was prepared with the supplies we had. Very little hunger for all of us. But we needed to re-supply energy to get up and finish the work.
Breakfast was a slow and long process followed by downloading the materials from the trucks into the storage room provided by the local people. The materials will stay here until we return on a not defined yet date to finish the installations in the remaining houses.
We returned to Jeremia's, the final tasks were done, and finally the Muro Trombe finished.
The installation donation was formally given to Jeremia's son who signed the reception of the donation.
Finally the group of volunteers: Jen, Cris, Piero, Ananda, Bakta Eddy and Anibal left Huarmicocha to Villafranca to meet the other two on the way back to Lima.
The way back to Villafranca is confusing up in the altiplano highlands, lots of detours without any sign, we were navigating following back the GPS track traced and recorded the day before but even so we got lost two times, it seems in this area are some spots with geomagnetic properties making the GPS compass get altered and leaded us the wrong direction.
Finally the group of U4x4A volunteers got reunited in Villafranca and continued the way back to Lima.
The Land Rover recovery.
The Land Rover stayed in Villafranca, on monday Nov 19th in Lima was organized the recovery by getting the spare parts needed and the mechanic to fix it.
On tuesday Nov 20th early morning, the recovery team left to Villafranca, arrived in the afternoon, fixed the truck and returned to Lima. Arrival was at 1am wednesday Nov 21st.
End of the story.
CONCLUSIONS.
1. The installation of the Muro Trombe and Enhanced Firewood Stove demands time and work of a team of trained people.
2. Volunteers not acclimatized to the low oxygen conditions of the 4700m elevation of Huarmicocha will be affected by the HAS - high altitude sickness.
3. To efficiently complete the Yauyos Humanitarian Mission Phase II is required the participation of the local people as handwork and the technical support of the U4x4A volunteers together with their equipment and tools.
AGRADECIMIENTO
Agradecimiento eterno a todas las personas que con sus donaciones hicieron posible realizar la primera parte de la Misión Humanitaria Yauyos Fase II:
- Los trabajadores de la empresa Concyssa Industrial SAC
- Coco Limo
- De Corazón a Corazón
- Amigos anónimos de Carlos Macedo (voluntario U4x4A)
- Amigos en Europa de Jen y Cris (voluntarias españolas de U4x4A)
- Voluntarios y amigos que compraron los sombreros, polos y stickers de U4x4A
- Barrett Communications
AKNOWLEDGEMENT
- The workers of Concyssa Industrial SAC.
- Coco Limo
- De Corazón a Corazón
- Friends of Carlos Macedo (U4x4A volunteer)
- Friends and family in Europe of Jen and Cris (U4x4A volunteers from Spain)
- Volunteers and friends whom purchased the U4x4A hats, t-shirts and stickers sold to raise funds
- Barrett Communications (Australia)
AHORA CONTINUAREMOS CON LA MISIÓN HUMANITARIA YAUYOS FASE II HASTA COMPLETAR TODAS LAS CASAS DE HUARMICOCHA GRACIAS A LA DONACIÓN DE:
NOW THE MISSION CONTINUES TO THE END THANKS TO THE GENEROSITY AND DONATION OF:
Alejandro Garzaro
and Desarrollos Terrestres S.A.