Hola!

So, I’ve been in Guatemala for a little over two weeks now (sorry for those of you who have been waiting for an update email, internet access/free time has been a little scarce), and it feels really great to be back. I spent about 3 days in Cobán visiting la familia before meeting up with the research team in Antigua. It was so wonderful to spend time with the girls and relax a bit before diving into the work portion of the trip. They were as silly and beautiful as ever and Cobán hasn’t changed a bit; it almost felt like I had never left.

On Sunday (8/1) I said goodbye to Cobán after a short but sweet visit and headed to Antigua where we quickly got started on plans for the week. (Quick recap of what we are actually doing: A non-profit indigenous women’s reproductive health organization, FESIRGUA, invited us to come to Guatemala to conduct the formative research for a weaving cooperative that they are hoping to start. Our research includes in-depth interviews with young women who have participated in an adolescent pregnancy prevention program and also analyses of artisan markets, existing weaving cooperatives, and fair trade stores. The hope is that this cooperative will give the women the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned in the program while also generating an income.) Monday morning we (Genevieve, Tilly, and I) left for a four day excursion to the Quetzaltenango/Totonicapán area. We conducted ten interviews and stopped in to a number of markets to get some ideas for potential products. Thursday we left for Lago Atitlan (maybe one of the most beautiful places in the world, I think) where we did some more market studies and had a little R&R. We stayed in La Iguana Perdida which is a funky little hostel in Santa Cruz la Laguna- I would definitely recommend it. We visited markets in Sololá, Panajachel, San Juan la Laguna, and Chichicastenango. I bartered with a girl for a mask in Chichi but when I got her down to a good price I decided I didn’t want it and she called me loca. Our main finding was that those markets were completely saturated with souvenirs and artisan products so being creative in product development is going to be big. The markets were extremely hectic and rather pushy and we were tired from a long week of traveling and interviewing so we reserved some time on Saturday to relax. We did yoga on a patio overlooking the lake and then later enjoyed the hotel’s tuj, a traditional Mayan sauna.

Monday morning we came back to Antigua where we met up with Erica and Kelly, two more girls from GW who have graciously volunteered to help us with the research. We did some more interviewing in the communities around Chilmaltenango this week and have really collected a lot of interesting and rich information. Word to the wise- chicken buses, mountains, and motion sickness are not a good combo. This weekend will be dedicated to more market studies, organizing findings, and getting ready for an entrepreneurship workshop that we are putting on for the participants next week. A group of business students from Oregon State University got here Wednesday and are going to help us put on the workshop. So far, my role in the workshop is to present a summary of the interview findings- so I have a lot of work cut out for me this weekend listening to 20 three-hour interviews! A filmmaker also came with OSU to make a documentary of our project (completely awesome!) and we decided that it would be great for me to be her little assistant so I can get even more experience in global health communications. I know nothing about filmmaking but I’m really excited to learn!

That’s what I’ve been up to in a nutshell. We still have three interviews next week along with the four day workshop so we’ll be really busy but I’ll definitely make time to have some non-work-related fun before coming home! I’m pretty sure I’ll be transcribing interviews every day until November but this has really been an incredible learning experience.

Hasta pronto!