Log 18: The last post? K'isib'äl?

This is probably the last post that we are going to release concerning the first research field trip in the field station. We have been back home for one week and I have to confess that I have been postponing this moment. This experience, which was a field work debut for most of us, was intellectually and personally challenging. The rewards that we got though are beyond measure.

The time just went so fast ...

After our presentation at UVG, the day before our departure (6/30/2016), Pedro and Ana invited us for a final dinner with them. There was good food, good drinks, good conversation, good stories, plans for the future, laughter, ...

The farewell next morning was the worst part of the trip.

My host family in Patzún

Omer and Pedro

It was difficult to leave our host families and people who helped us so much. It was also difficult for most of us to express in Spanish or in Kaqchikel how grateful we were to all of them.

I would like to express here my gratitude to all people from whom I learned so much last month. I'm deeply thankful:

- to my host families for the good food, for their hospitality and for letting me enter their lives and learn from them;
- to my Kaqchikel teachers (Ka'i' Kawoq, Ixkamey and Lajuj B'atz ) for the knowledge they shared with us with patience and happiness (ja' ..., manaq ..., takultu ...., tachapa' ...);
- to my informants for sharing their knowledge with us and for their patience;
- to Dr. Canú from Wuku Kawoq who saw me when I was sick in Tecpán;
- to those who so willingly accepted taking part in this blog during this busy trip;
- to my old colleagues and new colleagues, who became all close friends during the trip;
- to my professors (Masha, Omer and Pedro) for taking care of us in so many different ways;
- for the cultural exchange that sometimes came from places far away from Guatemala in a poem by Maiakovisc, or in a song by Jorge Ben Jor or in a song by Ehud Banai, ...;
- for the cultural exchange from Guatemala in a poem by Humberto Ak'abal or in the pages of Luis de Lión.


We all brought a piece of Guatemala back home. Here are some pieces that I brought to remember ...

Ak'abal, Lión, Asturias

Grammar and Mayan literature

I end this post with a poem by the Guatemalan poet Humberto Ak'abal. I provide here both the K'ichee' and the Spanish versions, given by the author, and also an attempt of English translation made by me.


Q'aq'

kinto che k'o jun kach'awik
kintor ri uchi' ja re ri nuk'u'x k'aslemal
xa ne k'ut maj jun kinriqo.

kinna'o che k'o jun petinaq pa ri be,
kinwa'lajik che urilik wene at ri'
xa ne k'ut xuwi kink'ulaj
ri utewal ri kaqiq' re ri chaq'ab
ri kujorjotisaj wa jun q'aq' ri kinnuporoj.

Fiebre

Oigo que llaman,
Abro las puertas de mi corazón
y no encuentro a nadie.

siento que alguien viene en camino,
me levanto a ver si acaso eres tú
y sólo me encuentro
con el frío viento de la noche
que refresca la fiebre que me quema.

[Humberto Ak'bal in "Are Jampa ri abaj kech'awik"/ "Cuando las Piedras Hablan"]


Fever
I hear a call,
I open the doors of my heart
and don't find anyone.

I feel that someone comes on the way
I stand up to see if it is, by any chance, you
and alone I find myself
with the cold wind of the night
that refreshes the fever that burns me.

[English translation by Gesoel Mendes]


I hope this was the first of many field trips to Guatemala. I look forward to learning more about Guatemalan languages and seeing again the volcanoes and the colors of the Guatemalan tejidos all around.

UMD students

Thank you,
Gesoel