Water for Life, Royal Tombs - Lord of Sipan, and Puruchuco Ruins

30 July 2017

Our journeys last week took us into northern Peru to a series of tiny villages near the town of Monsefu in order to turn over the first 5 of 18 wells that will provide clean water in remote and impoverished areas outside of town.

Monsefu, located on the Peruvian coast 500 miles north of Lima, is the site for our project of 18 wells.

Wells and Clean Water for Monsefu

If you lived in a village outside the town of Monsefu, this is where you and other villagers would have to go to get your drinking water.

Stream in the village of Amor de Dios near Monsefu, Peru, where villagers used to get their drinking water. The ducks didn't seem to mind sharing their water with the village.

The well projects in villages near Monsefu have been in process since January 2016, and the first wells have just come on line.

When we arrived at the first village, Amor de Dios, eager villagers greeted us. The mayor of Monsefu was also on hand to welcome us to the village. Standing above the little homes in the village was the well tower with the pump house down below.

Residents at the village of Amor de Diois, along with the mayor of Monsefu, greeted us as we arrived (well with pump house and tank tower in the background). These villagers previously pulled their drinking water out of the stream shown in the previous photo.

Gravity from the tank on top provides all the pressure that is needed to provide water to up to 100 families in the area. Each little humble home in this village is now tapped into the well with a small spigot outside their front door - the first time they have ever had running water other than the stream.

Each of the adobe and cement homes in the village now has a small spigot outside the front door where they can get their water (as opposed to scooping it out of the filthy pond like they used to do).

A few miles away was the next village of Pomape Alto. Villagers got their water out of this pond. You can see why they were grateful to get a well.

Farm animals would also drink from this pond that supplied water for dozens of local villagers.

The new well at Pomape Alto was a significant improvement over where they used to get their water.

New well at Pomape Alto

Villagers were eager to show us the water pressure outside their homes. One village had about 200 homes on their network, so they installed two tanks on top. All the spigots we checked had tremendous water pressure, thanks to gravity flow.

Sandy and I, along with the mayor and local church leaders testing the water pressure. Note the gigantic hand-woven hat, typical of this region, that the villagers gave me as a thank you.

This is a joint project between us, the municipality of Monsefu, and each village. We donated all of the materials for the 18 wells (total cost $100,000 USD), the municipality dug the wells and constructed the pump houses and towers using our materials, and the village provided labor to distribute the water and collect small user fees monthly (usually $3) in order to maintain the system. This is truly a sustainable project with lots of buy-in from the end users.

In the village of El Bordo, villagers greeted us below the new pump tower in their village.

Villagers in El Bordo greeted us at their new well.

We hired a hydrologist engineer, Oscar Castro, to inspect each well after construction to ensure water quality and required pressure/flow. He makes the initial inspections and will return over the course of the next year to ensure everything is working properly.

Inside the well pump house is the electrical distribution and water lines for the pump.  Shown here is the simple surface pump, an above-the-ground unit that cost less than $500. While this well uses a surface pump, most of the other wells use submersible pumps that fit inside the well shaft 45 feet below the surface of the ground.

Inside the pump house, the surface pump is the blue unit on the ground that pumps the water to the tank above. Gravity then supplies all the pressure that is needed to send the water for up to 100 homes. This is a simple, maintainable design. (R to L, Sandy Henrie, Oscar Castro - hydrologist, and local villager)

Villagers invited us into their homes and gave us meals at most of the places we visited (which turned into a gut-bursting experience). Here is a shot of Sandy and one of the women who fed us. Her home was very humble with a dirt floor and corrugated fiberglass ceiling, but you could feel her gratitude for the water our wells were going to provide.

Sandy and this tiny village woman who fed us as a thank you. Her home was a humble adobe with dirt floor and fiberglass ceiling, but the warmth we felt from all the villagers made up for their lack of resources.

Amid the commotion of the well delivery ceremonies, I snapped a shot of a little boy and his puppy. Little does he realize how much better his life will be with the well and the clean water that are now part of his village.

Village boy and his puppy, trying to stay out of the way during the delivery ceremony. Clean water will make a significant difference in his and every villager's life.

A Gift I Will Never Forget - A Live Rooster!

I already received an enormous hand-made hat that one village gave me as a thank you. Then, a farmer and his wife presented me with another thank you - a live rooster! I was shocked, but I graciously accepted the gift, wondering what I would do with it. 

After the formal presentation ceremony of the well, I thanked the farmer for the rooster but told him I thought I might have a problem taking it home that afternoon on the plane. Both he and his wife assured me it wouldn't be a problem to take a rooster on a jet - "En Peru, todo es posible" (In Peru, anything is possible).

Thank you gifts - my new hat and a live rooster! I will never forget that live gift!

Our hydrologist, Oscar Castro, could see my dilemma, so he offered a solution in taking the rooster home for his mother to prepare. And just like that, my new pet rooster got turned into their family's dinner!

Our hydrologist, Oscar Castro, taking my pet rooster home for his mother to prepare for dinner.

 Royal Tombs - Lord of Sipan

We had a few hours after the well deliveries to see an amazing site - the Tumbas Real de Sipan. The tomb of this ancient King of the Moche (1,700 years old) was discovered just 30 years ago, untouched by grave robbers. The treasures of this ancient burial were similar to the recovery of King Tut's tomb in terms of magnificence. It has been called the discovery of the century here in the Americas.

Royal Tombs of the Lord of Sipan. This massive museum starts on the top floor and leads downward until you reach the tomb reconstruction.

The museum starts on the third floor and leads past more gold treasures than we could believe. The museum descends floor by floor until it reaches the reconstruction of the tomb. The reconstruction presents the tomb exactly as it was found when the archaeologists unearthed it.

The tomb reconstruction - just the way archaeologists unearthed it after laying buried for 1,700 years. Note the others who were buried with the king at the same time: two women, two men, a boy, a guard, and various animals to help in the afterlife.

The court of the Lord of Sipan using recreations of the artifacts recovered from the tomb.

All the gold objects and other artifacts were recovered from the tomb and brought to the museum

Golden death mask placed over the body of the king. It is hard to believe all the gold objects recovered from the tomb.

Night Out - Time to Unwind

There are several other American and Canadian senior missionary couples in the area office with us (serving in areas such as church legal, member self-reliance, and area medical offices).

We get together occasionally for dinner with these seniors in order to share some English-speaking companionship. Last week we met for dinner at Sarcletti's Restaurant and then walked down the street to the Teatro Nacional for a special folkloric show.

Always a joy to join the other senior missionaries for dinner at Sarcletti's.

Great folkloric shows at the Teatro Nacional - costumes and dances from around Peru.

These live shows are a great deal, especially because I get the senior half-price discount because I am over 60. Hurray for aging!

Puruchuco - Ruins Right Down the Street

Peru is covered with ruins from ancient civilizations. On our day off this week, we visited ruins about 2 miles from our house.  The Puruchuco Ruins were an administrative center of the Ischmay culture and later used by the Incas.

View of the Puruchuco ruins above the museum. These ruins on the hill are closed since they are still under excavation.

Main Puruchuco Ruins - The best part about these ruins is that you could explore them, walk around inside of them, and try to find your way out of the maze.  From this view, it is hard to picture how twisted and hard it was to find our way.

The ruins, with their narrow walkways and twisting corridors, proved to be a challenge to navigate. We were often lost inside.

Unusual triangular niches were designed to hold offerings to the gods.

Peek-a-boo archways - part of the fun of this interesting ruin.

There are over 250 archaeological sites in Lima. So far, this is only the sixth one we have seen.


So, our weekend comes to an end, and it is time to return to our humanitarian work. What new adventures await us?