Working 5 to 9

Okay, it wasn’t exactly 5 to 9, but it was close enough. Last Wednesday, we accompanied a loan officer as she visited 8 Centros (loan groups) so that we could interview the women who received AlSol loans. This meant that we had to be up and ready to go by 6:30 (an especially impressive feat for Kayela and Shirin who slept through their alarm and got ready in 10 minutes.) Although Angela or Angelita as her clients affectionately called her seemed wide awake and bubbly, we were out of practice on the whole getting up super early thing since our school schedules never required a wake up time before 7:30 at the very earliest. We spent much of the day conducting in-depth interviews with AlSol clients to find out in which business topics they were most interested.

Poor, poor Joel had to conduct all the interviews and on top of that had to say everything once in English and once in Spanish so that everyone knew what was going on. By mid-afternoon not even three cups of coffee could keep him awake. We turned around and suddenly he was gone. Later we found him in the car (see picture).

Although challenging, our work here has been incredibly interesting and we are all feeling extremely fortunate to have been placed on this project. We have spent the last few weeks researching microfinance education programs and interviewing clients and loan officers in the hope that we will be able to leave AlSol with a solid plan for creating a business skills program that will impact their clients’ lives. It often has us discussing and writing up our findings until late in the evening after spending the day in the field, but the coffee in Chiapas is good, strong, and readily available.

The Misadventures of the Thundercats

Some things you might find amusing from our time here in Chiapas...okay, you might not find them that amusing, but we certainly amused ourselves writing them...

Coke “para llevar” or “to go” as we call it back home comes in a plastic baggie with a knot tied around a straw. This way, the glass bottle gets returned and you get your Coke.

When sidewalks are slippery with rain, James may “take a big spill” but will be back on his feet with reflexes como un gato…we were surprised, too…you’d never expect such coordination from a lanky man of 6’4”. He claims he was distracted by the various taco stands around town (see pictures).

Shirin and Kayela fall for the blue sky every time, despite the fact that they are regularly soaked through and through by torrential rains. Seriously, bring the rain jacket, for the love of God! It’s not like its heavy.

Dachacomb means “I go” in Tzotzil, a Mayan dialect. It’s the only Mayan word we’ve learned and there are 12 different dialects here in Chiapas.

Trudy style tacos down at the NaBolom (house of the jaguar) museum (just steps from our door) are the best breakfast in town. Trudy Blom, a sassy woman who worked to protect the rain forests and the heritage of the Lacandon Mayans and more importantly had impeccable taste in breakfast tacos, lived in the house which is now a museum dedicated to Mayan history. According to Joel, “It’s the bean sauce that makes it so tasty.”

Kayela and Shirin share a bed in our new digs…much to Kayela’s dismay, Shirin insists on ordering large bowls of beans at mealtime. Kayela counters by stealing the covers on most nights to prevent any kind of dutch oven maneuvers.

We went and saw Pirates 3 in one of the nicest movie theaters we’ve ever been in for only $4. Pricing Power Parity live in action folks!

If James and Kayela can agree wholeheartedly on one thing, it’s this: The Goonies is and always will be one of the finest films ever created. So imagine the sheer delight that ensued when Shirin revealed that she not only went to school with Jeff “Chunk” Cohen, but that she and Kieran are friends with him. To celebrate, Kayela and James spoke only in Goonies quotes (in Spanish when possible) for much of the remainder of the evening…causing Shirin and Joel to reconsider their original assessment that they had been places on a cool team.

Palenque, eh?

The cool mist of the Chiapas highland jungle slowly gave way to abright, sun-filled blue sky. But with the mist went the peace and quietalso shrouding the ancient Mayan ruins of Palenque. Numerous buses(including ours) packed with Mexican and foreign tourists arrived onSaturday to scope out the impressive pyramids, towers, palaces, andgrassy plazas that date back at least as far as the 5th century A.D.(For more on the history of this important site, see the sweet video below.) Having spent the night in town, we walked in as soon as theruins opened and spent the morning touring around while the crowds werelightest and before the mid-day sun pushed the temperature into the 90s.

Before our group of 14 got back in the mini-bus for the curvy,five-hour, vomit-inducing ride back to San Cristobal, we had time tofilm a brief movie about Palenque starring James and Karla (editor’snote: Kayela). The excellent cinematography is courtesy of Joel, whoshot it on full-color, IMAX-quality 70mm film. While the surround soundand 180-degree shots can only be truly experienced when the film has itsfull theatrical release in the Bay Area later this year, he also shot itwith his point-and-shoot digital camera. Now all you blog readers (yes, all five of you) can check out the online version below, which is stillpretty cool despite its highly questionable education value. The workingtitle is “Mayan Mocumentary,” and it was filmed in two parts (totalelapsed time: approximately one minute). If you have seen any of themade-for-TV specials about mysterious ancient cultures (especially theover-dramatized shows on the History Channel), you may appreciate this.