4-10 October 2013
I turned up to work on Monday, thinking that I will be
training a number of BESIK staff in how to set up the EPANET models on their
computers using the same data and processes as I described in last week’s
post. Well that did not eventuate as I
found out that I will be heading to Hatuodu in the Ainaro district to survey for
another water supply system scheduled for construction in 2014.
That is the way it seems to work here, which is completely
different to back home where my schedule is planned up to three weeks ahead
including the lunch breaks on Saturday and Sunday! Fortunately I do not have a lot to pack in
the bag although I do consistently have the heaviest bag out of the group I travel
with. But I am carrying important things
such as a Sudoku puzzle book, Ulysses (I am persevering with it), laptop, first
aid kit, a variety of plugs and power boards for Aus/NZ, European/Indonesian
power plugs and a few clothes. The
technologically simple days are long past…
The drive to the Ainaro District is similar to the other
week’s trip to Suai, except we turned at Aituto onto another road, where some
road construction is underway. This time
I was also wishing for a jumper as it was getting really cold driving 1700
metres above sea level. Have I now
acclimatised to TL? What does this mean
when I return to Aus/Ballarat next year, will I cope with following winter?!?
Lukas and I completed the survey in 1.5 days where we walked
about 7 kms to get about 100 survey points in the blazing sun - the heat felt
manageable this time. Hatuodo already
has a number of wells with what appears to be clear and reliable water. I was dismayed that I had only just noticed
that many locals reuse 2 litre oil bottles to store their water. Apparently they rinse these bottles with
stones but I would imagine an oily aftertaste remains let alone the likely
health problems from repeated ingestion of the contaminated water from these
bottles. Large empty bottles of all
sizes and previous uses/lives are a feature on all buses that head to the
districts from Dili, so the demand is high but the supply of appropriate
bottles is low. Sounds like yet another development
issue to overcome.
One of the other guys, Luis spent all of Wednesday
completing a pump test at the well site.
The pump test is pretty is easy to complete:
1. measure the well’s height, width and length to determine total volume of well,
2. then pump as much water out of the well and,
3. watch and measure the time it takes to refill the well every 1 cm height increment.
The above numbers are then used to determine the maximum
volume that can be sustainably extracted (pumped) from the well. Fortunately there was no need for me to break
out the water divining rods this time.
Imagine my surprise to find out the owner of the guest house
I was staying in Same was from Glenloth near Charlton, Victoria. Bruce and I spent some time chatting about
all manner of things and I found out that Bruce came here as a volunteer to improve
farming practices and has never really left and that was 12 years ago. Is this where I am heading? It is too early to say.
The drive back was just as painless as the journey there
with the exception of waiting near Aituto due to road works. It was impressive to see the works in action,
there was one excavator with a rock breaker hammering away at the side of the
hill (about 70-80 degree slope), while another was rapidly making a temporary
road suitable for 4WDs to pass through the work site later. I thought that we would be waiting for about
3 hours, it turned out to be half an hour.
Ramos the driver thought it would be prudent set the 4WD before going up
the hill. That turned out to be a wise
move - Ramos’ brother who happened to be in the ute in front of us did not and
failed in his first attempt up the hill.
We made really good time back to Dili after surmounting that obstacle.
It was nice to return to have a weekend just pottering
around town doing things such as getting the motorbike fixed (new oil seals for
the suspension, bargain at $6.50), haircut (another bargain at $3.00), lunch with
a friend and a farewell party (see sunset below). I might put my feet up and read a book
(another thriller) before heading to bed before it starts again on Monday…
Ate amanya.
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