Back in Columbus

Buenos!

We have arrived back in Columbus and have been back for a few weeks. Since then, Christmas and Hanukah came and went, we rang in 2009, and the first week of our winter quarter began. Things have been pretty busy for us all, but now that we are back in the swing, it is time to get down to work and start the next phase of this project. But first, here is a brief wrap-up of what went down during our trip:

Where we were:
We arrived in San Andres Itzapa (or "Itzapa," as it is most commonly referred to) on Saturday, Dec. 13th. There was a sign on the entrance to the town that let us know that our two-hour busride had gotten us to the home of the organization. Walking through town with our back-packs on, we kept receiving directions that Mayapedal was "up the hill." Being from glacier-dominated Ohio, the word "hill" means something different to us than highland Guatemalans, but I won't doddle on that. Itzapa (from the municipality Chimaltenango) is a small-town on the order of ~10,000 people that more or less runs in a line with Guate, Antigua, and Lago Atitlan. I can't say that in our ten-day stay I became fully acquainted with the entire town, but I really enjoyed all of the Itzapans that I got to know.

Where we lived:
The Mayapedal shop becomes both the workplace and home for its volunteers. We had the pleasure of sleeping on the roof of the shop, and some slept indoors on the second floor. The living space is fairly tight-packed with 12 volunteers, and the workshop is far too-crowded for twelve people to all be involved in wrenching at the same time (a more ideal number would be 3-6 people working in the shop with Carlos).


What we did:
+Fixed bicycles
+Visited bicimaquinas in the field and talked to the people that owned and operated them
+Helped Carlos build an order for a mini-bicibomba (a small water-pump)
+Designed and built the mechanical and mounting devices for a mobile generator (an electricity-generating set-up that would create and store electricity during a normal bicycle ride)
+Organized and led a free bike-repair workshop (this idea was experimental and had not been done before at Mayapedal. Carlos and Johanna thought the idea could be really cool, so we tested it out. The feedback was great--a lot of people showed up and a number of Itzapa bikes left in much better riding condition than before!)

(Oh, we also were able to visit the colonial town (and old capital of Guatemala) Antigua and climbed a volcano (Volcan Pacaya, and yes, Joe almost fell into the lava). Those aren't so much Adventures in Service-Engineering, just Adventures in Tourism, so I won't detail those here.)

So, what is the plan for the upcoming quarter??? Good question! There is a lot that the team wants to accomplish:
+Fully document our trip in a complete, but non-traditional way. This blog and the accompanying website are the beginnings of that.
+Digitize all bike machine plans (both pictures and CAD drawings) for easy access and replicability.
+Design more bike machines with the help of Carlos for use in Guatemala, and design bike machines geared (pun intended) towards sustainable-use in Columbus.
+Get our shop-space ready to go for Columbus' own centro de bicitecnologia (Center for Bicycle Technology).
+Expand the people involved in the project (both within and outside of students at Ohio State).

There will be much to come in the way of pictures and videos. Stay tuned! - Ellis

The beginning!

Here marks the start of the OSU-ECOS-Mayapedal blog.

What is:
1. OSU = The Ohio State University
2. ECOS = Engineering for COmmunity Service (student group at OSU)
3. Mayapedal = Guatemalan intermediate technology organization creating and promoting pedal-powered technology

We are six students (5 engineering undergrads and 1 rural sociology doctoral student) interested in sharing technological know-how with others, specifically social groups that might otherwise not have such access. We are visiting the Mayapedal shop in Guatemala to learn about bicycle-machine design and responsible technological diffusion. The goal is to come back better prepared to tackle the technical challenges in this type of design, and start producing prototypes over the rest of the school year. Perhaps more importantly though, we want to learn from a group who has had success in lending engineering prowess to disadvantaged people. This post come at you about 36 hours from take-off. Read about our trip when we come back, and check out the progress of our bike-machine design over the coming months.

Cheers,
-Ellis