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I found it especially heartwarming that the family I stayed with gave up two of their three beds so that Matt and I would have a place to sleep. No matter how much or how little our host family had, they would give us what they could. Their generosity was juxtaposed to much corruption, in particular amidst the coup, and it made me think about the possible futility of our work if our designs never get built. I am curious to see how Agua Clara will grow and face these challenges in the coming years to become a pervasive technology in the global south.

Art Shull's Honduras Journal

Today we worked in Marcala. We spent half of the day working at the Marcala Agua Clara plant, which was great. I really appreciated not only seeing an Agua Clara plant in action, but getting to work on it and learn its quirks a little better. Seeing the plant operators clean out one of the sedimentation tanks was very educational and I feel like I could learn so much more about the plants by spending more time there working with the Hondurans in their typical routines. Its so hard to see and address problems from the outside without understanding the full picture.
Vanish and I also drank water from the Marcala plant, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was pretty cool to be drinking water that our technology was treating. We also climbed up to a waterfall in the afternoon, which was a very powerful experience (literally). That is an experience I'll always remember.
Tonight we had our final reflection meeting, and we tried to really put into words how this trip has effected each of us. I know that I personally had a hard time with this because it is difficult to see how this experience will trickle down into my future experiences. I do know, however, that this trip has provided me with a great deal of motivation and it is going to be crucial to maintain that focus upon returning to the States with the other distractions provided by life.