31 December 2006

We spent the morning assembling water filtration units for distribution in local schools as part of a program of FUNEDESIN. Several students and the research team worked cleaning and assembling the components into finished products.

In the afternoon, individual research groups met to plan the course of our data gathering and observation which will begin in earnest on 2 January. The sustainable agriculture team met with Miguel, the director of Yachana school. He was very informative concerning the progress as well as setbacks in the school's operation. Miguel is a very straightforward and perceptive individual who is likely to prove a valuable and continued source of information.

In the evening, the research team gathered with local students and teachers at a sandbar in the Rio Napo, where we enjoyed an evening meal and the traditional burning of an effigy representative of the things to be forgotten from the previous year.

Notes: During the night, a pig escaped its pen and damaged the waste biodigester bladder.