Our Site Selection Trip to Puerto Maldonado (Day 1)

30 March 2017

Our site selection team sets off again on another car journey – this time to Puerto Maldonado which is about 590km from Curahuasi and takes us some 11 hours.  This road takes us over a 4,725 meter highest mountain pass (Abra Pirhuayani) on the Panamericana highway in Peru, having seemingly countless hairpin bends before descending to 180 meters above sea level and completely flat terrain at the edge of the Amazon rainforest where temperatures are typically 30°C and 75% humidity.

Below is a picture montage with descriptions of our journey;

 

There is commonly snow, ice and/or heavy mist at these high altitudes making Abra Pirhuayani one of the most dangerous passes in Peru.

Amazing mountain vistas at over 4,500m in the South American Cordillera range on the road to Puerto Maldonado.

Some of the many roadside Catholic monuments to fatalities on this highway.

We drive nearby 5,500 meter permanently snow-capped mountain peaks and two glaciers.

Here we are descending from the mountains and into the "selva" (jungle) region of Perú as we approach the Amazon – about 840m above sea level and some 250 km from Puerto Maldonado.

Toll gates 241 km before Puerto Maldonado.

A not uncommon sight in Perú as a semi-trailer load is lost on a corner (due to a lack of standards and/or lack of enforcement).

We finally cross into the state of Madre de Dios – we are about 400 m above sea level and about 180 km from Puerto Maldonado at this point.

Gender equality at work in Perú 😏

We refuel before Puerto Maldonado – I put this photo in for my father in law Eric! 😁

The geography has changed substantially from the mountains as we approach the jungle region – here is a typical roadside house with still water frontage.

A typical orange painted Peru suspension bridge – this is just outside of Puerto Maldonado.

You see so much rubbish dumped on either side of these roads in these parts. 😢

We finally arrive in Puerto Maldonado at 5pm to observe the most common mode of transport here (sadly including the lack of rider safety!).

We then locate the proposed site owner (formerly a patient of Diospi Suyana hospital and so sympathetic to our cause) who we have been dealing with in advance.  We then head off to the transmitter site which is located on his property at the edge of town and so happens to be in the zone designated for radio towers in Puerto Maldonado.  It is also close to three phase power transformer and due to the flat terrain, has uncompromised coverage of the region for our 50 meter tower.  Bingo!

 

 A main street of Puerto Maldonado heading toward the proposed FM transmitter property.

Here we are marking out the property behind the landowners farm pig shed.

Some adjacent broadcast towers observed as the sun sets.

The owner provides us with some star fruit produce from his farm orchard as the sun is going down and the mosquitoes are coming in to bite us.  After such a long day the fruit is delicious and we pocket another for tomorrow.

In the evening after dinner, Klaus presents the Diospi Suyana story to a prospective building contractor for our transmission site (i.e. on top of our already 11 hour drive and site visit). 

The building contractor (second from the right) listens to the story of Diospi Suyana.  In the previous few days Doris Manco (left), head of our media centre, had dialled so many numbers on her phone that her fingers were sore.  Building engineer Udo Klemenz explains the foundation work.  Dr Klaus John (right) relaxes after having driven all day.

Despite the hot humid night in Puerto Maldonado with no air conditioning in the hotel – we all sleep well! J

Regards,

Chris

A Brief Update on Andahuylas Site Construction

28 March 2017

Our Andahuylas FM transmission FM transmission site construction is progressing nicely – here is a brief photo report.

All the civil foundations have been poured into place, backfilled and levelled off.

The backfilled tower foundations in Andahuaylas – these are 2 meters deep underground.

The enclosing wall is now almost complete and if everything goes according to plan, the 36 meter free standing tower itself will start to be built next Monday by the Lima based supplier ICESE.

Conventional clinker bricks are used for the compound wall (as opposed to concrete blocks).

Regards,

Chris

My Remote Monitoring and Control Proposal

27 March 2017

Apologies in advance, as this post is a bit technically slanted and intended for those with knowledge about such communication systems.

I complete and send out my Request for Proposal (RFP) for a remote monitoring and control (telemetry) system for our transmission sites.  This telemetry system is necessary to have accurate and timely information about the integrity of our remote FM transmission equipment and our sites including security.

My proposed system makes use of our satellite links to return site data back to our studios in Curahuasi.  All our remote dish antennas were intentionally purchased as transmit and receive capable for this to be possible.

 

Our General Dynamics 2.4m C-Band receive and transmit satellite antennas.

This equipment includes equipment from;

• ·         ND Satcom SKYWAN modems for the satellite link (from ND Satcom in Germany) utilising a single TDMA carrier to save an appreciable amount of money on satellite bandwidth
• ·         T-Box LT2 telemetry data gathering units for the sites and the T-Box central monitoring solution (from Maximation in Australia)

Our ND Satcom SKYWAN solution using a single TDMA carrier technology.

 

The T-Box LT2 unit used for collecting site data.

Most importantly when operational this solution will save many unnecessary (viz. long and hazardous) journeys to our most distant remote sites and with very few staff to attend to transmission matters (i.e. right now it’s only me!).  Not to mention unnecessary time away from the family.  And also to deploy local security personnel in the event that a break in has been committed as we are in some cases at least 12 hours away (if not more considering the need for daytime travel) from responding to our furthest sites.

I now hope that this new telemetry equipment can be quoted to Diospi Suyana at the right price to enable us to implement this most important solution.  Otherwise we will be essentially running blind at our remote sites.

Regards,

Chris

Another Miraculous Recovery for Me

22 March 2017

My Emergency British Passport issued for my access into Rio, Brazil

Continuing on with my passport thread from my last blog post…

The week after I returned from Rio de Janeiro, I followed up with Her Majesties Passport Office (known as the HMPO) to see if there was any possibility of reactivating my British Passport after I was told in Lima that it was cancelled and I would have to reapply for a new one.  I had my original passport returned from Cusco and in my hands by this time (as it never made a flight to Lima).  This renewal process would cost me time and money – including the usual delays and sometimes missing mail in the Peru postal system.

So on the Tuesday I initially email and then call to speak to a nice natured customer support person who with a thick Irish accent told me this was a highly unlikely outcome as he had never heard of this happening before.  However at my insistence he would follow up internally to ask in any case.

I had no answer by the following day – Wednesday, and so I called the HMPO again.  I got a different customer representative this time and as requested I again provided my two relevant passport numbers.  But to my surprise upon the agent verifying these numbers, I receive the incredible news that my original British passport was active and my Emergency Passport was cancelled despite being stamped “Date of Expiry: 21 September 2017”!!!

As this is highly irregular, it is one I can only put down to another miraculous recovery in answer to prayer (not unlike my wallet recovery in Lima – see my 2016 blog post: http://welchesinperu.blogspot.pe/2016/06/a-miraculous-recovery-in-lima.html).

Be encouraged by this, as we read Psalm 57:10 “For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”

Bendiciones,

Chris

A visit to Hispamar in Rio de Janeiro

16 to 18 March 2017

A satellite launch rocket model in the foyer of Hispamar offices, Rio de Janeiro

Dr Klaus and I head off to Rio de Janeiro to visit South American satellite operator Hispamar.  We depart from Curahuasi at 5:30 AM for Cusco (about 2 ½ hours’ drive) where we then fly to Lima airport (just over an hours’ flight) to then catch our flight to Rio de Janeiro.  But firstly Klaus makes a Diospi Suyana presentation in Lima in the afternoon before our early evening flight to Brazil.  

Then came a clanger when I try to get my Rio flight boarding pass - I find that neither my Australian passport nor my Peru Extranjeria Carné is sufficient to enter Brazil!  I am told I would need a visitors’ visa with my Australian passport (despite our Australian trade agreement).  With the time I have available whilst Klaus makes his presentation, I head off to the Brazil embassy in Lima.  But I am told there that a visitor’s visa will take 3 days and there is no way to expedite it! 

So I try for my second option – I have a British passport and I am informed at the airport that this requires no visa to enter Brazil (due to EU relations).  However my British passport is in Curahuasi.  So I go for a two pronged approach – firstly (a long shot) I get Sandi to drop it into Diospi Suyana and they put it in the next taxi to Cusco.  Then there is a plan to get it on the next flight to Lima but we are not sure if this is possible. 

The second option is I go to the British embassy in Lima and see if they can issue an emergency passport.  So I arrive at the embassy with a few hours left up my sleeve before I need to make my way back to the airport through highly unpredictable Lima afternoon traffic.  The process normally takes much longer, but I explain my plight and they agree to do this in time as a special favour.  I rush out to get passport photos and then return in the nick of time.  It was a good thing I pursued this as my original British passport never made it onto a plane in Cusco.

 

The view filling out my Emergency Passport application in the British Embassy, Lima.

But upon leaving the embassy I am told the Emergency Passport has cancelled my original British passport so I would need to reapply for a new one after my trip.  This was a clanger – but I will pick up this story again in a later post.

So back to the airport – Klaus is stuck in Lima traffic jam for over 2 hours but makes it in time to get our flight to Brazil.  We land in Rio at 4:35 AM on Friday 17 March and catch a cab into town with a very talkative driver with the sun rising over the city.  There is no hotel for us on this schedule for us as there is no time.  Klaus must leave for Germany this evening.

 

Flying into Rio at dawn is impressive in size and features (stock photo).

We fill in time with breakfast in a small café and arrive to meet the Hispamar management team at 9:00 AM.  Hispamar are the South American division of the Spanish satellite operator Hispasat.  They operate seven satellites and lease capacity to public and private institutions.  Klaus makes his Diospi Suyana presentation.  This turns out to be successful when the Director of Negotiations for South America, Sergio Chavez asserts was so impressed that he wants to make Diospi Suyana their company’s corporate responsibility!  Albeit subject to head office approval in Madrid, Spain so we don’t know the final outcome for sure yet. 

 

Klaus presenting to the Hispamar management team with Sergio Chavez on the left.

We are then given a tour of their facility.  During the tour we are introduced to all the staff.  The satellite control centre is well presented and equipped with the right monitoring equipment (with a number of high end digital spectrum analysers).  The seaside view on one side, city on the other and mountains on the other from the office windows is compelling.

The amazing view from Hispamar offices with famous Rio sights.

The Hispamar satellite control room and customer centre.

We enjoy a classic Brazilian “Rodízio” lunch with Sergio and some of his team.  I had not had anything like this since I left Australia!  We depart ways with the Hispamar team and then at 2:00 PM Klaus presents to a German journalist with offices and studios in Rio.

At 3:30 PM we drive back to the airport, avoiding the temptation to use the rest of the daylight in Rio to visit some sights whilst driving past Sugarloaf Mountain with cable cars running to and fro, or climb up to the famous “Christ the Redeemer”.  Rio is a risky and unpredictable place at nightfall.  And besides, it would not be enjoyable without our wives and in my case, family.

 

Speeding past Sugarloarf Mountain with its famous cable cars on our way back to Rio airport.

Listening to Portuguese music over the airport speaker system for hours on end – it is a most unusual and almost enticing sounding language to my ears.  It sounds nothing like Spanish to me despite what some have said about similarities.

As Klaus summaries, three days go without hotel accommodation but filled with a thousand impressions.

Regards,

Chris

What a good thing that Radio Diospi Suyana exists!

14 March 2017

Doris Manco, head of our Diospi Suyana Media Centre, writes:

“Quechua-pastor Antonio Pacheco and his wife Ignasia visited us yesterday.  Their friendly words really encouraged the team of our media centre.  They told us that they had been praying for years for a Christian radio station which broadcasts an encouraging message.  At times they feel lonely, forgotten and forsaken in their village.  Diospi Suyana’s radio programme which also broadcasts its songs and talks in the Quechua language was a real answer to prayer and a lovely surprise…”

They listen to us with their battery powered transistor radios.

Such visits motivate us no end.  They show how people living in the countryside yearn for the Gospel of Faith.  Pastor Pacheco put the first financial contribution into the donation box of our radio and TV station.  Both of them said it was only a small seed.  But they had no idea what their donation meant for us.  It was a powerfully moving token of appreciation of our work.

For us it is a privilege to be part of the team of Diospi Suyana Radio & TV.

Doris Manco

The guests are given a private tour of the studios.

Here is the link to the original Diospi Suyana post (in English);

http://www.diospi-suyana.de/quechua-ehepaar-spendet-fuer-das-medienzentrum-von-diospi-suyana/?lang=en

Return to Chincheros (Day 3 & 4) – my additional sights of interest and the road back to Curahuasi

11 & 12 March 2017

Saturday 11 March – in the morning we go looking for other site options in case our preferred site encounters issues with the purchase.  And then around midday we pull into a fuel station to fill up, but see no adults attending.  We only see an 8 year old at the payment register but he does not acknowledge our arrival.  Then we notice why – the fuel register computer has internet access and he is immersed in a video game – we all could not help but have a good laugh at this!

Our 8 year old fuel station attendant in Uripa immersed in his video game!

Then we head into town to talk to find our Uripa community president.  It turns out she runs a stall in the market during the day.  From here we arrange our meeting with the Uripa community leaders in the night so we can discuss purchasing our preferred allotment. 

The Uripa Quechua community president in her stall (with black hat facing the camera).

We hold two meetings, the first with the Uripa community members at a local school.  This meeting was scheduled to start at 5:00 PM but starts about an hour and a half later (normal in Quechua culture).  Klaus spoke to present Diospi Suyana and our request.  Then it seemed most wanted to have their say as is their customary right of reply, each with repeated lengthy welcoming formalities.  All this making us late for the second meeting down town.

The second meeting was with in a community room which was accessed via side alley door down a pitch dark muddy pooled and urine smelling alleyway.  It led to a set of concrete stairs of varying step heights and without any railings, up to the first floor past some exposed electrical cables.  It broke every work health and safety rule I know.  But once inside the room was small and cosy with a single glowing bulb hanging from a ceiling which just cleared my head by a few centimetres.   There were paper files piled up high on desks and on shelves.  Seats were arranged facing the president’s desk for the group of about 15 Quechua leaders who were attentive our Klaus’s presentation and then wanted to hear from each of us (my contribution was very short due to my lack in Spanish).  It was a surreal experience for me, as I felt like I was in a scene from an Indiana Jones or similar adventure movie.  I later mentioned this to Klaus over a late dinner that evening, and he jokes it is a page out of a missionary novel and I laugh, as it is probably very true.

The Uripa community meeting with the president front and centre (in grey jumper and black hat).

Sunday 12 March - after our late night, we are all awoken at 5:30 AM with unsolicited high volume church bells followed by three blaring songs emanating from the Catholic Church from across the Uripa Plaza de Armes, calling all Catholics to attend mass.  A presumptuous legacy for 50% of the population in Uripa that are no longer Catholic, or who may do night work and don’t need the early morning mass attendance call.

 

The Uripa Catholic church blaring out bells and songs for about 20 minutes at 5:30 AM.!

After a snooze, we arise again for our team (Klaus, Udo, Doris and me) to embark at 7:00 AM on our road journey back to Curahuasi.  This trip presented the usual beautiful scenery but also flaunt with the many Peruvian Andes road hazards.  Landslides over the national highway are common at this time of year due to heavy rains washing away soil to bring down rocks and boulders.  The following is a photo montage of some highlights of our trip.

 

We pass some beautiful patchwork quilt mountaintop farms (about 4,000 m above sea level).

Landslides like the ones pictured here are common along the Panamericana highway in these parts – especially after heavy rain like that experienced in March

This landslide blocks the alternative route to Abancay

We find an alternative dirt road which takes us through some poor adobe villages with sights such as this one.

We finally arrive in Abancay with one more mountain pass to go (this one 4,000 m).  But on our descent to Curahuasi we catch up with a tour bus.  It was one of the scariest things you will see on the roads in Peru, as most of these drivers assume the right to be wherever they want on the road with no regard for anybody else (including their passengers!).  Time and time again I photo him on the wrong side of the road, crossing double yellow lines including on blind corners with no knowledge of oncoming traffic.   Not to mention the speed he was doing, the lack of roadside railings and unforgiving steep mountainous drop-offs are no deterrent.

The above photos are repeated insane and inconsiderate death defying manoeuvres for this bus on our road down to Curahuasi – tragically a common sight which is almost never apprehended with the almost complete absence of any police on the road. 

Klaus posted a 2014 link to the online “La Primera Digital” site which refers to an earlier study from the Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones (MTC) of Peru, instigated after a string of bad accidents.  The study found 40% of bus drivers in Peru had psychopathic traits!  Also that in 72% of cases, drivers are responsible for road accidents in Peru.  Further 33% of accidents are caused by speeding and 28% by dangerous manoeuvres.  Then a subsequent study by the same author now explains the unscrupulous behaviour of many public transport drivers.  According to the research, drivers who have had one or more accident reflect more negative behaviours than those who have never had one. They become more aggressive and the chances of them colliding again are greater.

There is more too of course, but I think the most tragic realisation is that it appears nothing has ever been done in Peru to address such findings.

As for our family, we pray for safety, we take special care on our journeys and we stand on the promise we were given before we came to Peru from Psalm 121 versus 1 to 3 which reminds me of this;

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains –

    where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip –

    he who watches over you will not slumber.

Regards,

Chris