Exploring the Andes – or so we thought
Second week is off to an early (Sunday) start as we meet up on the busstation in Lima to catch a bus to Jauja.
We are headed for the areas in the Andes where moss is being collected, dried and packaged. Purpose is to understand the fundamentals of the production, and to hopefully try some ideas generated during our design thinking session Friday. We had a great session where everything from drying machines to sling drying was discussed. The trick is to speed up drying, but more importantly to achieve a stable and controllable drying process.
Back to the trip. After 1 hour of driving, we finally departed the megacity of Lima, and upwards we go into the mountains.
On our way to Jauja we will reach 4800m, so we come prepared with altitude sickness medicine and coca chewing gum. My German friend also assures me that he is in posession of most known and unknown drugs to help you cope with the Peruvian climate.
At 2000m, however, we were blocked by a landslide. Initially, the bus driver wanted to turn around.
Then they decided to wait it out. But a few hours later we learned that it will be another 24 hours before we can move on.
With just 18 short days to complete our mission we feel a full 2 days on the road is a bit much. So back we go to Lima. Only question: how is that going to happen?
Not to worry. In Peru there is allways a solution. A minibus appeared out of thin air and took us to a nearby town, where we could get a taxibus onwards to Lima.
Really a shame we couldn’t see the plant. We’ll go after easter. Mean while we will continue looking at the quality issues at Inkamoss and do another brain storming session. This time on effective humidity control.
So back to work tomorrow morning.
