Bio-Dessel

It's been six weeks now that I've been at Pisco Sin Fronteras. I love it here. Every day I am doing something new and exciting, or meeting someone new and exciting. Of course it's very sad when friends leave... you wonder if you'll ever see them again. But amazingly, more awesome people come every day. I can't complain a bit!

Not long after I started learning to make bio-diesel here, the guy who was teaching me left. So I took over as bio-diesel manager. In this project I've worked on making safety guides, editing our bio-diesel manual, writing the trouble-shooting guide and fixing other odds and ends. I also get to drive out to Paracas where there are hotels like Hilton and I pick up their used vegetable oil to make bio-diesel. We use the bio-diesel to run our work truck (on b100 - pure bio-diesel - not a blend) and we also loan it to the fishermen nearby who will pay us for it when their catch comes in around June. In the long term, I hope to help streamline the process, find more good oil sources, and ready PSF for bio-diesel production for other customers. It's a bit tough to do this stuff without knowing Spanish well, but I do get help from other volunteers here.

I also have started a bio-diesel class here. There are many volunteers here who want to learn how to make bio-diesel. Thing is, when I make it I really don't need a lot of help, so other volunteers are usually out on site working when I make a batch. I had my first class last week, which I feel went well, but could have gone better. Now that I know what kinds of questions people were asking, I can do more research and be better prepared for the next one. I was shocked at how many people showed up - there were probably 30 people watching! I was hoping for a smaller class, where we could just all fit inside the bio-shack and just talk about how things worked. Maybe next time (fingers crossed).