Last post from Puerto Penasco

Tomorrow, Fraser and I are leaving our lovely little R&D center here just as this town starts to come alive again. It's spring break so in the past 2 weeks we've seen more tourists and revelers than we have in the past 4 months!  The days are longer, the air is warm and the mood PP, a very tourism reliant town, is on the rise. 

Last week we donated the Phaeton to the local Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Puerto Peñasco. They have an industrial design program and the professor in charge, Rodrigo, is very excited about the opportunity for students to apply their skills to a real world project with social and environmental benefits. The institute sent a truck and some guys to pick the machine up and then we set up the machine together and I ran a little workshop on how to care for the machine, establish a tight focal point, and make new mirror modules. We're going to be in touch and I'll act as a sort of advisor to any students who take an interest. A few already have. While we were setting up the array quite a few students passed by to gawk at the pot of boiling water and the flaming stick. We sure are glad to see the array going to a good cause!




While we'll be sorry to leave, we have a lot to look forward to. We're taking the scenic route home, and by that I mean we'll be driving up the West Coast to Vancouver where we'll spend a few days and then across Canada, visiting relatives along the way! I'll get to see the town where my grandad grew up, and I'll finally meet a lot of family that I haven't yet had the pleasure of getting to know. We're going to take around 3 weeks to drive back and then we're going to build another Phaeton, this one for demonstrations, and then start hitting up international aid, international development and various philanthropic orgs to mount a project.  


I'll update mid trip with pics of our journey! 

Busy little bees

Onward and upward! Fraser and I continue to plug away at our list of tasks... we're very nearly finished our fruit and veggie dehydrating unit and a second Vesta. Once finished they will allow us to really get into some serious gathering of data and experimentation, which we await with great anticipation.

We are going to nixtamalize corn and dry it, we'll dry bananas, onions, pineapple and mangos, we're going to make tamarind jelly, hibiscus jelly and orange marmalade and if we're feeling ambitious we'll roast peanuts with chili and garlic.

Symington Solar

A new chapter in my solar saga is beginning! The originator of the Solar Fire technologies, my grandfather Fraser Symington, has asked that I accompany him to Mexico for the winter so that we might a) escape the Canadian cold (he is 90 years old, after all) and b) establish if/how someone can turn a profit using his Symington Solar Arrays.

The case being thus, my first priority is keeping granddad safe and well and second is to facilitate whatever it is he decides to do. He has been tinkering with and developing the technology for close to 20 years but this is the first time he has been free to really pursue a long term initiative where utilization of the tech would be the central focus.

As evidenced by previous blog posts, essays and websites, I had gone a slightly different direction with the technology than my grandfather advises; he says “Make money with it and the technology will spread automatically.” Fair’s fair and I’m now willing to give his way a shot. Based on our discussions preceding our trip I would most likely do things differently than he plans to, but I really want to see his ideas tested, his theories proved or disproved and I want him to have the satisfaction of seeing his invention fly according to his designs. That being the case I plan to merely act as an extension of his will though I’ll certainly play devil’s advocate when the inclination arises.

Fraser’s plan is to head to Mexico. Reasoning: a) close enough to Canada that should medical problems arise, we’re not pooched, b) we can drive there and so bring down prefab pieces, tools and more gear than we would otherwise be able to c) I speak the language, d) American $. Though we are not married to any idea in particular, we have set our sights on Puerto Peñasco, a town 60 miles from the US Arizona border that is sometimes called “Arizona’s Beach” due to it being the closest seaside to Phoenix and Tuscon.

PP lies near the apex of the Sea of Cortes which is a deep bay formed by the Baja Peninsula. The waters are warm, the tourists and American retirees are numerous and we figure we just might be able to make a buck there.

Off we go in our little Kia Spectra, full to the brim!