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| Younger members of the community helped translate between Q’eqchi and Spanish during my fieldwork evaluations |
July 11, 2016
Today concludes
a tremendously long work week. On Thursday we left for Poptún where I was
tasked with interviewing each head of the household in the villages of La
Compuerta and Poité Centro and surveying
their parcels for future cacao harvests based on previous outputs. Without a
doubt, this required some serious catching-up language wise for me as not every
one of these Q’eqchi farmers actually speaks Spanish. Needless to say, early on
I struggled a bit with communication, but I quickly figured out some words in
my interview script that posed difficulties with comprehension, so I amended
them. Luckily, there were also younger members of the community around to help
translate for their elder family members. These workdays lasted from 6 AM to 7
or 8 PM before an hour drive back to our hotel where I might have just enough
energy left to eat dinner before immediately passing out. Even though I
appreciated the privacy of my own hotel room after living out of a hostel for
the first two weeks of my trip, the bucolic nature of this hotel posed a few
challenges. For one, I was stuck incommunicado as the wi-fi router in the lobby
was knocked out during a torrential thunderstorm where the lightning was right
on top of us, leaving not even a moment between the blinding flashes that would
wake me up and the roar that sounded like a shotgun directly over my head. I was also ready to leave because I did not
enjoy using my bathroom. At this point, I am accustomed to bathing with cold
water, but the shower at this hotel was absolutely frigid, and this did not
make it any easier to get out of bed at 5 AM. On top of all that, my bathroom
seemed to have a cricket infestation, and the crickets here are bigger than
grasshoppers back home.
I
don’t mean to spin this trip negatively. I think I should reflect on it more
when I’m not as sick as I am right now. Overall, it was a really rewarding
experience that culminated in a community-wide ceremony that included a soccer
tournament. For me, this was a frightening proposition as I have not played
soccer competitively since I was six years old. Being thrown out against
villagers who have been playing soccer since they could walk meant throwing my
body around all over a very uneven playing field littered with invisible sink
holes and sudden slopes. To make matters worse, it rained heavily that morning,
completely flooding the field before the sun beat down right before noon,
superheating the muddy water that was trapped in the field’s many pits. In
other words, any time I slipped, which was often, I landed in pools of 90
degree standing water that mixed with the already copious amounts I was
sweating. Obviously, when we drove back to Flores that day the first thing I
did was take the longest, warmest shower possible.
The
next day, I woke up early to meet some of my coworkers for a 6 AM bus to
Sayaxche, where we heard about an incredibly clear stretch of river. After a 2
and a half hour bus ride followed by an hour long boat ride up the river, sure
enough we found Crater Azul where the water was unbelievably pure. Luckily, I
found the underwater camera I purchased the week before the trip, and took some
absolutely stunning photographs. In further fortuitous timing, a torrential
downpour did not start until right after we got off the boat on the return
trip. In a matter of minutes, blue skies turned grey and the temperature
dropped about 15 degrees as it started to pour.
My
good luck seems to have run out though. When I returned to Flores last night,
my stomach began to show effects of a bug, and today I am totally bedridden.
Luckily, Jessica and I got today off from work since we technically worked on
Saturday, but unfortunately I have not been able to use my off-day doing
anything besides running between my bed and the bathroom. My friends who have
volunteered before in Central America have all told me that it’s just a matter
of time before you get sick, and even though I dealt with similar symptoms
earlier on this trip, I think it’s safe to say that now I have officially
fallen victim to the worst effects of turista.
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My boss Eric shows how to properly
clip the trimmings and branches from the trees to give cacao plants the proper
amount of shade.
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Luca Cho Tach passes out a bushel
of bananas he found on his parcel, living up to the Q’eqchi’s reputation for
generosity.
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In between shifts surveying the
community and the surrounding area, we are invited to come inside our
colleague’s homes for lunch of caldo, chile and tortillas.
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