Running water in Mineros San Juan might be a reality before the end of 2008. People, mainly women as the men work all day, have been slaving for months now on digging ditches to lay water pipes. The barrio was officially formed in 1995 with people finally having houses instead of living in tents around 2000 (though there are certainly still those that live in tarp covered lean-tos). Water continues to be delivered by big tankards into the used oil drums that everyone has outside their houses. Needless to say this is a huge milestone in the lives of the people and you can sense a certain buzz of excitement in the air. Honestly, I am skeptical of what will come to pass once the water is actually turned out. There has been no education regarding responsible water use and I can imagine people leaving their faucets running all day because they don't have a sense of were the water is coming from or where it is going.
The picture shows one such ditch ready for the water pipes. Those huge rocks along the side are what the ground is made out of in Mineros. It was startling the first time I heard dynamite go off in the neighborhood but now it is just part of the ambient noise as I'm teaching my classes. In a country that was built and sustained on mining, dynamite is easily accessible and readily used. The horrific side of that coin is the history of the Mineros San Juan neighborhood where there were violent confrontations between the land owners and squatters leading to dynamite wars and left many people, including children dead. The opptomistic side is the facilitation of digging ditches for running water. I'm not sure it balances out.
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