Guatemala Field Station Blog

Yet another fiesta in Patz ún – a wedding. Many of our host families are related to either the bride’s or the groom’s side, and by extension – as their ‘kids’ now - we were invited as well. We know Guatemalans like to celebrate in style so were very excited to see what a big deal a wedding is. We were not wrong. The wedding was planned for Saturday but preparations started way ahead of time – Thursday morning. The majority of tasks are done by the groom’s side and those of us who fell in that group were expected to help out just as any other member of the family. We polished leaves for chuchitos, wrapped tamalitos, stirred estofado (tested them all too) and hanged decorations together. The Patzuners welcomed us very warmly, shared all their how-to’s and occasionally laughed at our Kaqchikel attempts. It felt like a very important social bonding experience with a good deal of friendly gossiping, teasing and story-telling.   The day of the wedding was very hectic ...

¡Xseqër! This blog post is about my host mother. I think it makes sense to talk about her and her wonderful family because there’s no doubt that the success of this field station goes hand in hand with the exceptional quality of the families that welcome us into their homes.  My host mom is a superhero. Mother of three beautiful and (almost all the time) well-behaved children, she holds various different jobs, multitasks practically everything, and is devoted to many political and sociocultural issues related to indigenous women’s rights, Mayan identity, and culture in Guatemala and Patzún. Gilda (who agreed to have her name published in this blog post) is a very active person. Every week, she helps her mother at the family business, which makes the best chiles rellenos in town. She also spends a lot of time and energy working for a cooperative of indigenous women called Ajsu’m. This cooperative not only provides a community of women with work, but also aims to offer works...

Recently, I came down with a stomach bug and had to go to the doctor. I'm alright now, but when I needed medical care, it was really easy to get, especially with the help of Pedro and my host-mom. Pedro took me to my first doctor's appointment, and after a simple test, they prescribed me a mountain of medicine, which I was able to buy several minutes later in the same building, for way cheaper than in the U.S. Fast forward two days, and I have been feeling better, but I seemed to be having a different problem, so I went to the doctor again. This time my host-mom took me. We had to go to a different doctor than my first visit because it was Saturday, and very few doctors were seeing patients, but luckily for me, the doctor we went to was close by and only had one patient ahead of me. My host mom took a picture of me waiting in the office: I made sure to bring my Spanish-English dictionary because Pedro wasn't there to help me and my Spanish concerning medical terms ...

This morning we convened at 6:30 a.m. and drove to Tecp á n, where we listened to a brief presentation on some of the work that Wuqu’ Kawoq does in the region. From there we boarded a bus that took us up into the mountains to view Wuqu’ Kawoq in action. The bus snaked up narrow, unpaved roads that had us leaning away from the cliffs in an effort to keep the bus on the road. There was a collective gasp when we rounded a curve and caught our first glimpse of blue mountains rolling out into the distance. The clouds above them were active and playful, changing shape by the second, revealing and hiding every new formation of earth.             My ears popped as we ascended. The scenery was simultaneously dazzling and puzzling, with greens and blues softening the tops of the ridges, a seemingly impossible sight at such high altitude. Most mountains I’ve been on have had a tree line somewhere before 6000 feet, and here we were a...

On Saturday the 4 th , the group headed up to the altiplano campus of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG). The campus is located in a vast terrain of protected land in Sololá, midway from the highway to the state capital. According to my host mom Doña Nati, the area was used as a military base during the civil war, until the land was abandoned and given to UVG following the signing of the Peace Accords, in order to establish the satellite campus. The university offers classes throughout the week, focusing on education, tourism, and environmental engineering. Solol á  on a clear day The most important task of the day involved presenting our plans for the field station to UVG faculty and students. The activity began with some much needed coffee, after which Pedro gave a talk on the basic structure and goals of the field station, emphasizing in particular the collaborative nature of the endeavor, within linguistics proper and beyond. One of the special aspects of t...