Do something significant

Greetings subscribers (aka former Chiapanecos, parents/relatives, and a few select friends ;) )
Here is a quick n dirty of our week. The others will fill in significant details later. I am back in San Cristobal and leaving tomorrow to get back to the States in the nick of time for my dad's birthday (Hi dad!)

Saturday: Arrived in San Cristobal. We did not lose any equipment, but got searched by airport security as if we were carrying detonated weapons of mass destruction. Note to self: Check in suspicious looking equipment for air sampling. OR don't pack it in a suspicious looking brown cardboard box. We ran errands and went out on the town, as it was our last official night as a group in San Cris.

Sunday: We left for Quexalhukum as normal and set up camp in the botiquin. Unfortunately, "no hay luz", which means we had to invade Antonio & Maura's house to charge all of our pumps for particulate matter measurement. They were really wonderful about it this week. We gave them a gift of an ornament, religious DVDs, and these adorable heart earrings. She later put them on display between two stuffed animals (heart breaking), and wore them with a traditional blouse (with hearts on it). That night we prepared for a week of fun and hell at the same time, taking obscene amounts of measurements, waking up before the sun would rise, and unexpected obstacles. We are basically re-doing our project of 5 weeks in 10 days, sans stove installation.

Monday: 1st day in Q was a success....quizas. Anna and I went to hang filters in the first house, and they were using 2 stoves and a fogon (are there papers with protocols for this?) The next house had a fogon blazing strong, and their beautiful ONIL was off...they said it was because of the cold weather. I fervently hoped that that was the case. Farah and Cristobal completed the rest of the houses, with one stove left to "armar" aka build. As for spirometry, we got pretty good tests done for 4/6 women. One woman even came who we didn't have a baseline measurement for. SWEET...hopefully we can conjure up some significant findings with our spirometry data...

Tuesday: We begin Colonia Puebla, our largest town/sample size. It was so wonderful to see Tomas and his family again. One word to describe them is "smiley". His wife cooks the most wonderful food (we got huevos revueltas con salsa!) and his daughters are so playful and loveable. The particulate matter sampling was done by Anna y Cristobal. Farah and I were anticipating a long day of spirometry. To our surprise, 12(out of 24) women showed up, half of whom were sick (what can you do?). We looked at Tomas and asked him if any other women were going to show up for spirometry. He glanced back at us and said quickly, "Hay detalles." We later found out that there is some scandal within the town (perhaps later to be discussed...or not at all). Basically, there is a political dispute within Las Abejas, and since Colonia Puebla has not chosen a side, they are currently excluded from much of the conversation going on among factions. Tomas said something important, "Salud is para todos." It put into perspective the selflessness of the job of the health promoters. It also solidifes the frame of mind that health is a human right. You can argue economics and politics and pragmatism (stuff I love) yada yada but it does not negate the fact that when you strip the human life to its core, the most important things are one's health and one's loved ones.

Another interesting thing happened. We ran into extranjeros! There were students from Mexico City that had formed a group that encompassed estufas, human rights, and more. It was really strange to run into other students, but they are an interesting prospect for collaboration. We wonder if they are working with the communities in solidarity, as our model of work revolves around.

Wednesday: We woke up at 8am and it felt amazing, since the previous days we were waking up before the roosters crooned at 5:30am. More air sampling was done in PC, and 1 spirometry measurement was accompished (current n = 9 out of 36). Crap happens right?

Thursday: We arrived in Chuchtik at 8am. The first thing Balentina says to us is, "nobody will come because a woman has died". This is horrific news to us in every sense. Later on, women trickle in and we complete 6 spirometry measurements. We have never been around for a death, and I am curious as to what the mourning process is. I returned to San Cristobal today. It was strange to spend time alone after being with my chiapas family for the entire time. I ate a Falafel (best falafel in Mexico) and drank some wine at this tapas place on Real de Guadalupe. I love San Cris, it's a small city, bien tranquilo (peaceful) and full of hippies that I had the opportunity of conversating with earlier. Anyway, I have many thoughts running through my head, philosophical ponderings that I will leave until tomorrow or the day after. Our Chiapas project has been a really heartening and amazing experience that I cannot put into words until I think it for awhile. Te extrano, Chiapas.