Back to "civilization" and reflections about Rio Negro

The fieldwork in Rio Negro went quite good. Although, as Dimitris said in the previous post, the women were less open than men, so it took me a while to gain the respect and friendship of them (which was essential to interview them and get some information!). Therefore, I spent the first week cooking with them, trying to make tortillas (not an easy job) and trying to get some words of them, their live, how they make their crafts (they make beautiful textiles - bags, clothes, etc...), ... and I even tried to saw something (way simpler) in order to get closer to them. Well, it wasn't easy, they were talking in their language (Achí) all the time, and were answering me nearly with monosyllables... I was a little bit frustrated because I tried with all my heart to be closer to them and they were quite rude :( But, little by little I started gaining them, and after that week they decided in assembly that we were welcomed to  do our research with them! :D

An aggresive bitch!!

After that we spent the days walking from one side to the other to talk with people, which was not always easy, some people were living couple of km away from our hut and the heat was unbearable, and finally when we were getting there, the person had left for some days... oh shit!
But we finally did it! We even went to the school to interview those little rascals, it was the first time I was standing in from of a classroom to explain something and get something out of them. Just big smiles, lollipops and it went very smoothly :)

For the last day of our staying in Rio Negro we arranged a forest walk with our key informant to collect some plants. That morning we woke up and waited for him... we wait and wait and he doesn't come to us... oh nooo. At midday the chief of the village (who had to arrange our boat and pickup to get out of there the next morning) appears in our hut completely drunk!!! he almost could stay standing! It seems that we won't get out from here... We go to see our key informant at his place and we find him laying down on the floor... he was also completely wasted... we wake him up and with a smile he says, "ahhh, someone invited me.... "
Later that day we found out that the two of them had been drinking since the previous night until midday next day! No bad thoughts, we just postponed our forest walk one day and we got to our meeting in the university later.

Both of us, while emptying a cactus for making aour specimen collection . And it was not easy! We ended up with few spikes in our hands!! 

Finally, we can say that we spent a marvellous time over there, we really got to love the people and the kids... oh the kids were lovely! It was very peaceful to be in the middle of nowhere, without electricity, clock or phones. It was great to have the time to reflect, and we brought all the people we love in mind, childhood friends, teenage friends, netherlands friends, Copenahgen friends and family... and a lot, a lot of stories! And it also makes you realize that in the end the modern world also has it's good parts: music, information access, being able to speak with family and friends...

With my Achi grilfriends!! :P

Family coming back from their fieldwork

Margarita making tortillas!!

A tribute to Rufi...!

He was sad (and horny) for our leaving!!

Finally we hit the water!!

So now here we are, after one month of fieldwork we have arrived to Guatemala city. The city has, in my opinion, an unexpected charm. I heard that is an ugly dangerous place, and that it doesn't deserve even to get in... Maybe it's the lack of expectations and the fact that is quite different to the rest of Guatemala that makes me like it.
We have taken a cheap room at Pension Meza, where the majestic Che Guevara slept once, yes, at our bed :p
We are eating gorgeous vegetarian food, japanese food, italian food... yes, I know we are in Guate and it's time to eat local food, but we have been overloaded of  the invariable diet of rio negro, which included frijoles (beans) and tortillas (maize thing) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We missed veggies and fruits, a lot! :)

So now we are trying to find out where to go next, relax and work peacefully! And next days we will post some new photos!! (Remember that you can click on them to make them bigger :p)

Lots of love to you all!!