One of the surprising facts I’ve learned while volunteering with blueEnergy is how desperate developing nations have become for clean, filtered and pure sources of water. Water is the most basic element key to all human’s survival. Advocates during Earth Day raised awareness, often to the unknown observer, that clean water is not as plentiful that we may think.

From kindergarten through college I learned that conserving water is important to save energy and use less of the Earth’s resources. I did learn, or so I thought, that the Earth has plenty of water for its inhabitants. What I didn’t pick up is that clean sources of water are in a state of depletion.

While living in the jungle, I never thought that communities would have a shortage of water. During the rainy season I was blasting the torrential hourly downpours during my walks to the blueEnergy office. Might I add that the “rainy season” never quite ceases in the jungle. It just depends if it downpours hourly, or simply daily.

One of the main functions of blueEnergy is to build biosand water filtration systems and install them in various communities. We teach each community member how to properly use and maintain his or her system. You can imagine their skepticism when we attempt to explain these Easter Island statue lookalikes actually shoot out clean water, especially through the use of bacteria. Wait… what?? Bacteria! Gross.

“Not to worry,” we say, “these are good bacteria that eat bad bacteria.”

I won’t go into the complexity of these systems, because, lets be honest, I’m the business guy for blueEnergy, not the water technician. But, what I do understand and value is the use of these systems because I’ve used our household biosand water filter for the past six months. I often tell our little system how much I appreciate it helping fight against parasites, bad bacteria and other bad juju. A trip to the Bluefields hospital is not on the top of my list.

I hope that if this post caught your attention, consider learning and supporting blueEnergy and other organizations that provide resources for clean, drinkable water.

If you would like more information, you can follow blueEnergy’s Facebook and Twitter pages. There, you can read about our various water projects and how important this resource is within developing nations.

For more on the environment and other sustainability related issues, check out these other posts from La Vida Idealist bloggers.

Our two-hour panga ride on a recent trip to Monkey Point leaves us still bruised, black and blue on each cheek. I only wish we had a Porsche’s seats.

Why? For two hours we shielded ourselves from raindrops that felt like pebbles, dowses of saltwater and the occasional equipment flying from bow to stern. Worried volunteers looked to me, a fishing captain during the summer, for confidence that we were actually going to make it. I kept optimism painted on my face, even though I was lying through my skin at the top of a few wave crests.

What these boats provide is access to communities such as Monkey Point, Rama Kay and Set Net Point where life is minimal, albeit challenging. Pigs roam the yards of the thatched roof houses, along with chickens, roosters and horses.  It’s simple: no glitz, no glamour.

While there, I studied the community fisheries and one morning woke up at 4 a.m. to meet Edwin, a local, and his 10-year-old son at the beach in front of their house.

I wasn’t entirely clear what boat we were going to use, whether it would be a panga with a motor or a cayuco, a dugout canoe made from one large tree trunk. Our weapon of choice was the latter, and I was thrilled by its simplicity.

We shoved the cayuco into the breaking waves and waded out until we could jump in and paddle to where the gillnet lay all night, trapping any unlucky fish swimming by. This time we left the Porsche behind.

This last trip to Monkey Point created lasting memories, which, I suppose, is why many of us are here at blueEnergy. Everyone wants a great story to tell our grandkids. But, the most tragic and heroic stories came from two community members.

We were asked to bring a pregnant woman and her child to Bluefields because of a severe infection in her eyes. We had just enough gas to handle two extra people, but we couldn’t manage to fit her husband in the panga for the entire trip. The solution: he woke up at 3 a.m. and walked for twelve hours through the dense jungle and sun-baked beaches to the entrance at Bluefields Bay from Monkey Point. Twelve hours, nonstop, in order to meet our panga at the bar entrance and hitch a lift for the last 20 minutes of the panga journey. He held a shell he found for his wife in his hand and hopped onto our boat.

Brett Veerhusen is currently living in Bluefields, Nicaragua as the Controller for the blueEnergy Group. At the moment, Brett lives by the quote “Dream aggressively” from the blueEnergy Group. Even more recently, Brett was profiled in the fantastic website, Escape the City.

Some people look to be alone, others want a base and the rest want something in between. This is valuable information to self assess before setting off.

What attracted me to blueEnergy was I knew there were 15 (now 22) other volunteers in Bluefields. Here, my best friends are from Mexico, Argentina, Canada and the USA. On top of our local connections, my experience is truly international.

Not only do we learn how to work in a developing nation like Nicaragua, but we are exposed how to effectively communicate and collaborate with a myriad of nationalities. We also learn that Americans buy our cheesecake crusts premade while the French scoff at such an idea. Sometimes, it’s the small things we take away.

Take into consideration your time frame. Because you are so focused on what is new and different, shorter stints may be easier to handle alone. Longer programs that completely immerse the volunteer can be a bit tricky.

I encourage those making the leap of faith to make that jump, but beforehand ask yourself the important questions so you put yourself in a situation where you can thrive. All of us want something a little different, and it behooves the volunteer to be placed in an environment where the individual can succeed. Obviously, this is a win-win for the organization and the volunteer.

As for me, I’ll be waiting with the cream cheese… you bring the rest.

Calle 27 de abril - Córdoba

Although summer in this historic city is always warm, we have an added challenge this year.  Cordoba is suffering from an energy shortage due to a faulty transformer.  Electricity is turned off for a few hours per day intermittently across the city.  Check out fellow North American traveler and blogger Raya’s summary of the energy situation here (along with interesting tales of her travel) for proof I am not making this nor the heat up.

I am also struggling with a seriously limited vocabulary while trying to meet other volunteers and project coordinators.  When the only thing I can say without too much effort is “¿Qué postres tiene?” (What desserts do you have?),  I realize I need to make a leap into thinking and being in a new environment QUICKLY.

So fellow travelers and volunteers, I know you have been there before.¡Digame! What is your advice for beating the heat (with the usual electricity and wardrobe limitations)? And while you’re at it, please share a funny story about language challenges.  I could use a laugh.