Week 14

On Monday, I went to ECOSUR and finished writing the ‘results’ section of my thesis. I analyzed the section of my survey that I had administered to pregnant women. Unfortunately, because my research study was a population-based study with a relatively small sample size, there were only five pregnant women in my sample. However, I still found some helpful information. I learned that all of the pregnant women wanted a partera (traditional midwife) to assist them during the birth and that they wanted to give birth at home. The women said that they wanted to give birth at home instead of at a clinic/hospital were “custom”, it is not necessary to give birth in a clinic/hospital”, “the health worker is a man”, and “the clinic/hospital is far away / there is no money for the transport”. Although all five women had attended prenatal care, only two of the women said they had received information about obstetric complications from health personnel, and only one woman said that she had understood the information because the information was delivered in Spanish instead of the local language (tseltal). After I returned from ECOSUR, I went to salsa class and then my friend Romeo came with me to go hear Oliver play guitar in the café. When Oliver had finished playing, we went to go get some empanadas and arroz con leche with Oliver’s cousins.

On Tuesday, I started working on my ECOSUR presentation of my research project. I mainly worked on translating into Spanish all the bar graphs and pie charts I had made depicting my data. That night, I met up with my friend Romeo from my salsa class and we went to go buy a Christmas tree for my apartment. We also bought colored paper and I taught Romeo how to make paper snowflakes so we could decorate my tree. After salsa class, we stayed late at Zirko and practiced the moves we had learned.

On Wednesday, I went to ECOSUR and worked more on my presentation for Monday. I created slides for background information, study objectives, study population, and study instruments. In the afternoon, I went to a café and started working on the discussion section of my thesis. I heard a siren and when I looked out the window of the café, I saw an ambulance, police cars, and a procession of cabs decorated with red, white, and green balloons. At first, I thought it was a funeral procession. Then, I considered it might be a wedding. Finally, I thought “maybe someone important/famous is in town.

Later that night, my friend Romeo explained to me that all of the festivities were in honor of the Virgen de Guadalupe. Despite the continuous rain on Wednesday night, Romeo and I marched with other people from ECOSUR to the top of a hill where the Iglesia de Guadalupe was located. We carried balloons, red poinsettia plants, and a large painted frame of the Virgen. As we processed up the hill, a band played behind us and I saw carnival rides, stands selling churros, and a bunch of foosball tables in front of the church. After entering the church and listening to the service, we were invited to celebrate at the home of one of the people who works at ECOSUR. It was encouraging to see a lot of familiar faces from ECOSUR at the gathering, and I listened as a guitarist sang to the Virgen de Guadalupe and the people around me prayed. Even though I am not a particularly religious person, it was a beautiful event and I was happy to be so accepted.

On Thursday, I worked more on the discussion section of my thesis and started the ‘limitations’ section. I am hoping that by the time I go home, I will have finished a draft of my thesis so that when I go home, I can just edit. In the afternoon, I went to go watch two of my friends from the salsa class play in a volleyball tournament at ECOSUR. It's nice how people here get together after work (at their workplace) and play a game of volleyball. I also met a really nice girl from Mexico City and we talked about how we are both going to miss Chiapas and San Cristóbal when we leave.

On Friday, I went to ECOSUR and met with Rosario. She asked me to write a summary of my research project and the final results in Spanish. That afternoon, I worked on translating part of my thesis into Spanish for the summary. At the end of the day, I went back to the volleyball court to watch one of my friends play in the finale. That night, I went to go hear my friend Oliver play guitar in a café and he convinced me to sing while he played guitar. Somehow, I ended up singing “Rayando el sol” (Mana) in Spanish in front of a café filled with people! That night, we went to eat dinner at a restaurant where a tango group was performing and then went out salsa dancing.

Unfortunately, my purse got stolen on Friday night L When I woke up on Saturday morning, I had to figure out a place where I could change my traveler’s checks (very hard to find), as well as a place to make a copy of Rahul’s keys. When I had finished my errands, I met up with Rahul at one of our favorite café’s. I ate some chilaquiles (tortilla chips with tomato sauce) and worked on the discussion section of my thesis and the summary of my project in Spanish for the rest of the afternoon. That night, I went to go hear Oliver play guitar at the café and was convinced (again) to sing while he played guitar. After he had finished playing, we went to go meet up with a few of our friends from the salsa class to go to karaoke and then for some more salsa dancing.

On Sunday, I woke up early and went to go meet my friend Oliver in the main square to go to the Lagos de Colón near the border of Guatemala. We took a combi to the city of Comitán (about an hour and a half from San Cristóbal) and then another combi to the municipality of La Trinitaria (another hour) and then a taxi to the lakes. It was definitely worth the journey: the lakes were blue and crystal clear. We were able to swim and because the climate was much warmer in La Trinitaria, the water was warm. We headed back in the afternoon and on the ride back, we saw people running and carrying torches, while others were waiting in trucks along the road for the torch to be passed to them so they could run and celebrate the Virgen de Guadalupe.