In Central America and, hell, many parts of the world, clean safe drinking water is hard to come by. It's estimated that 1 in 3 people suffer 'water scarcity' - and it's getting worse. The World Health Organization released this article in 2009 - '10 Facts About Water Scarcity'. Give it a read next time you're letting the tap in the kitchen run and run and run, waiting for just the right water temperature. Oops, sorry - soapbox is put away.
But... check out the article anyway - it's a quick read.
We assumed that at some point on our adventure we would run into a situation where unsafe drinking water would be an issue, so we brought along a water sterilizing device made by a company called SteriPEN. In fact, water filtration and sterilization is all they do. It's a cool little gadget we bought a few years back when we visited my son, David, and his family in Honduras. I won't go into great detail about how it works - ultraviolet light kills the bacteria in the water - but I will tell you that it works very well.
We used it many times on our trip to Honduras. The apartment where my son lived had regular deliveries of those big 5 gallon water cooler-type bottles. But having guests (us) increased usage which caused a water outage a time or two. Enter magic water! We used the SteriPEN traveling about Honduras and Guatemala and the locals would stare at the strange glowing light in the water bottle, as we stirred it around for the requisite 90 seconds. After treatment, we had one liter of safe drinking water! Tada!
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| "Use the Force, Luke" |
The company makes several models. They make one designed for business travelers, with a device that charges off a USB port on a laptop or computer. They make combination units that filter AND sterilize. My brother, Jim, has one of these. The model we bought came in a hard plastic carry case that doubles as a solar charger for the batteries that power the wand. It also has an AC adapter to plug into the wall. We figured that with our lifestyle and the types of travel destinations that interest us, the ability to set it out in the sun or clip it to a backpack to get enough charge to insure clean water was a great feature. You can find out much more about SteriPEN and the variety of sterilization and filtration systems they offer on their website.
Now, let's recap where we've been on our journey thus far and y'all guess where you think we've needed to use our SteriPEN:
A - seven days in San Juan del Sur, a small beach town on the Pacific coast
B - six weeks in Merida - in the jungle on an island in the middle of a lake in Nicaragua
C - twelve more days in San Juan del Sur
D - Escazu, Costa Rica, a modern suburb of San Jose, this country's capital; a thriving metropolis with every amenity we have back home
If you guessed 'D', you'd be correct! In none of these places is it recommended to drink the water. Here in Escazu, the locals drink the tap water and if we stay here, we'll gradually switch over, as well. But in SJdS and Merida, we had easy access to inexpensive/free bottled water so never needed to break out the 'light saber'. Here in Escazu, we don't have water coolers or a store right close by. Yes, there is a grocery store about a 20-25 minute walk but as much water as we drink/use, lugging bottled water home isn't an option. So we've been lighting up our water these last two weeks and we're happy to report we've had no issues.
These devices are the real deal. You can read a review about the specific model we have here. It's from a couple of years back, published in 'Snowshoe Magazine'.
These devices are the real deal. You can read a review about the specific model we have here. It's from a couple of years back, published in 'Snowshoe Magazine'.
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| Our SteriPEN, shown with cover and solar charger/carry case |
One cool feature of ours (not sure about other models) is that if you push and hold the button for three seconds, the wand lights up and can be used as a flashlight. Never used it as such but it's nice to know. After all this bragging, I'm sad to say, SteriPEN no longer makes the all-inclusive package that includes the solar charging case we have. They do, however, make a model that can be plugged in and charged with pretty much any of the small portable solar panels on the market today, like these products sold at REI.
I would recommend one of these to anyone who travels because, well, you never know. And if you drive a lot in sparsely populated areas or in extreme weather, get one to stash in the glovebox. You may find yourself near a source but drinking unsafe water could make a bad situation worse.
Anyhoo, that's all, folks!
(Honey, did my check from SteriPEN show up yet?)
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