Day 8: I've left my tears on the mercury trail.

Today was a fun, but indescribably disgusting, sampling day.  We were able to sleep in a bit today before we packed up and hit the road, but trust me, we all needed the sleep after five intense sampling days.  So we picked Ruben up at his house, and headed to the river.  We stopped in the middle of the river, where I was the lucky team member to wash a t-shirt in the river.  Allow me to pause here and inform you that Huancavelica does not have a sewage treatment plant.  Everything flows directly into the river.  The hospital waste, especially, since it is discharged directly from the hospital into the river, right around the middle of town where I was wrist deep in the nastiest water I’ve ever seen.

Then we headed upstream to a fairly less populated area for more sampling and more t-shirt washing.  Not quite as bad, but the water was absolutely frigid.  Downstream, on the other hand, was the absolute worst.  It was smelly and gross and cold and disgusting and there aren’t enough negative words in any language to describe it.  My gag reflex has been hyperactive in the last six days here – and I don’t even have a weak stomach.

After the nasty sampling job was done, we drove up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up to the Santa Barbara mine.  You have to look at my pictures to understand my description here.  The small “town” area, if you will, around the mine is smaller than a quarter of a Walmart parking lot.  The mine entrance is smaller than an average garage door.  This area was responsible for the lives of countless miners, refiners, and residents of Huancavelica for hundreds of years.  Hundreds of years.  Standing on that ground literally brought tears to my eyes.  I keep saying I can’t put my experiences into words but I honestly can’t – especially not this one.  The emotions I felt standing at that mining site were fully unexpected and ranged from anger to sadness to guilt to anger again.

After the Santa Barbara mine, we drove Colonial Road a bit and then came back to town.  Nick, Ruben, and I went to the market, which was really like a flea market, but ended up buying a few things.  The evening was spent packing up samples, eating our last meal at El Hotel Presidente, and packing my suitcase.  Tomorrow we’re heading to Ayacucho to do some control sampling.  Adios Huancavelica!