Immersion Part III

When we first met the Mayor, we told him we were Rotarians, community volunteers, and willing to volunteer in his community. He suggested we begin with a tour of Concepcion Batres which is a township the size of a Wisconsin County.

The center city of Concepcion Batres is on the far West border of the township; there are a total of 32 pueblos. The city roads are paved with concrete or cobble stone and a layer of cow plop on top of that. Outside the square mile of the city the roads are dirt, but in very drivable condition. The landscape is a beautiful variety of the color green that we enjoy in Wisconsin.

Heading east towards the Rio Grande, we drive through many streams of clean water. There are a number of natural springs in this area that produce these streams; we stop at one that was built into a park with swimming pool. Further into our drive, we pass through a rushing stream of highly polluted water from a neighboring community. The water contains chemicals, animal and human waste. The high level of pollution is contaminating the water table in Batres Township. The Mayor has a current water project to bring fresh water to every home, but wants to address this issue since it has broad impact in the human, animal and agricultural use of the water.

The primary crop is corn and sugar cane with many grazing cattle. 90% of the land in agriculture is owned by the people living on it. The Mayor would like the people to embrace new agriculture methods like crop diversification and rotation to increase productivity and protect the environment. His goal is to add an agricultural specialist to his staff to help the farmers implement these newer agricultural practices.

We drive through San Diego, La Pancha, Nueva Hacienda, El Guerrero, Canchilla and 9 more as we begin the drive to higher elevation to a “window” for a breath taking panorama of the terrain. The area before us is an environmental preserve. The Mayor is looking to encourage tourism by building an overlook to view this beautiful place with the hope of a restaurant to follow. The national government has a contest to promote tourism. This project will be entered in this contest.

We dead end at a place called Puerto Viejo (Old Port). This is a wilderness river area. There is no apparent access to the opposite side of the river that has the appearance of a tropical jungle. On our return we pass two men headed to Old Port who have new fishing nets they made, hand crafted paddles and a rebar anchor for their dugout. They catch fish to sell from this elevated environmental sanctuary.

Due to the frequent flooding of the major and smaller rivers, the Mayor has a project to relocate 140 families to a stable area. A family needs $1000 to apply for the “sub division”. If it’s $200 or $400 or $1000, it’s beyond their reach. The Mayor knows this but is hopeful that an NGO might help these people.

The mayor has a passion for his people. In a culture where power and leadership are often abusive, we find his sense of protection and service to his people uplifting.

David y Nancy