First Week in San Cristobal de las Casas

 

 

This last Sunday we flew from Mexico City to San Cristobal de las Casas! To the left is a photo of the center area of our villa! It is a super pretty and very comfortable home! Almost everyday this week we all met up for class in our dinning room and learned more about manufacturing methods and water purification!

 

 

 

 

Part of our big project for CEVE 314 is to collect large quantities of water from a lagoon in a park here San Cris. This lagoon is a 20 min walk from our Villa. To see where this lagoon was and start planning out our collection method, Tuesday we had a field trip to the park. Unfortunately, mid way to the park it started pouring rain! We all got completely drenched in water, but it was overall a bonding experience and pretty funny!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday during our EDES 350 lecture we visited a Non-profit called Cantaro Azul. Cantaro Azul’s goal is to give people access to clean water in marginalized areas of Mexico. Some with the most need in Chiapas. They created a water filtration system with the use of UV light. In the photo on the left is two of their systems. One is for a house hold, la Mesita Azul, whereas the other can be used for larger buildings such as schools. From visited Isla Urbana and Cantaro Azul I have learned that the most valuable way to improve a device is by taking feedback from communities who are using them, and observing how they are used. I have also noticed how both non-profits create most of their devices with materials from Mexico.

 

This week, we got into groups for EDES 350 to reverse-engineering a water filtering device. My groups device is elite Britta filter for kitchen faucets. This filter uses various materials such as activated carbon, and a nonwoven filter to trap sediment.

 

 

 

Throughout my time in Mexico I have learned that I have really enjoyed learning about ngos and I would love to help them out in the future. In addition, I have learned that the manufacturing of each product is very clever and quite fun to decipher. I truly hope to take a deeper dive into an ngo I find passion in in the future, and can come up with my own cleaver manufacturing plans for an impactful device.

 

Adventuring