Working 5 to 9

Okay, it wasn’t exactly 5 to 9, but it was close enough. Last Wednesday, we accompanied a loan officer as she visited 8 Centros (loan groups) so that we could interview the women who received AlSol loans. This meant that we had to be up and ready to go by 6:30 (an especially impressive feat for Kayela and Shirin who slept through their alarm and got ready in 10 minutes.) Although Angela or Angelita as her clients affectionately called her seemed wide awake and bubbly, we were out of practice on the whole getting up super early thing since our school schedules never required a wake up time before 7:30 at the very earliest. We spent much of the day conducting in-depth interviews with AlSol clients to find out in which business topics they were most interested.

Poor, poor Joel had to conduct all the interviews and on top of that had to say everything once in English and once in Spanish so that everyone knew what was going on. By mid-afternoon not even three cups of coffee could keep him awake. We turned around and suddenly he was gone. Later we found him in the car (see picture).

Although challenging, our work here has been incredibly interesting and we are all feeling extremely fortunate to have been placed on this project. We have spent the last few weeks researching microfinance education programs and interviewing clients and loan officers in the hope that we will be able to leave AlSol with a solid plan for creating a business skills program that will impact their clients’ lives. It often has us discussing and writing up our findings until late in the evening after spending the day in the field, but the coffee in Chiapas is good, strong, and readily available.

The Misadventures of the Thundercats

Some things you might find amusing from our time here in Chiapas...okay, you might not find them that amusing, but we certainly amused ourselves writing them...

Coke “para llevar” or “to go” as we call it back home comes in a plastic baggie with a knot tied around a straw. This way, the glass bottle gets returned and you get your Coke.

When sidewalks are slippery with rain, James may “take a big spill” but will be back on his feet with reflexes como un gato…we were surprised, too…you’d never expect such coordination from a lanky man of 6’4”. He claims he was distracted by the various taco stands around town (see pictures).

Shirin and Kayela fall for the blue sky every time, despite the fact that they are regularly soaked through and through by torrential rains. Seriously, bring the rain jacket, for the love of God! It’s not like its heavy.

Dachacomb means “I go” in Tzotzil, a Mayan dialect. It’s the only Mayan word we’ve learned and there are 12 different dialects here in Chiapas.

Trudy style tacos down at the NaBolom (house of the jaguar) museum (just steps from our door) are the best breakfast in town. Trudy Blom, a sassy woman who worked to protect the rain forests and the heritage of the Lacandon Mayans and more importantly had impeccable taste in breakfast tacos, lived in the house which is now a museum dedicated to Mayan history. According to Joel, “It’s the bean sauce that makes it so tasty.”

Kayela and Shirin share a bed in our new digs…much to Kayela’s dismay, Shirin insists on ordering large bowls of beans at mealtime. Kayela counters by stealing the covers on most nights to prevent any kind of dutch oven maneuvers.

We went and saw Pirates 3 in one of the nicest movie theaters we’ve ever been in for only $4. Pricing Power Parity live in action folks!

If James and Kayela can agree wholeheartedly on one thing, it’s this: The Goonies is and always will be one of the finest films ever created. So imagine the sheer delight that ensued when Shirin revealed that she not only went to school with Jeff “Chunk” Cohen, but that she and Kieran are friends with him. To celebrate, Kayela and James spoke only in Goonies quotes (in Spanish when possible) for much of the remainder of the evening…causing Shirin and Joel to reconsider their original assessment that they had been places on a cool team.

Palenque, eh?

The cool mist of the Chiapas highland jungle slowly gave way to abright, sun-filled blue sky. But with the mist went the peace and quietalso shrouding the ancient Mayan ruins of Palenque. Numerous buses(including ours) packed with Mexican and foreign tourists arrived onSaturday to scope out the impressive pyramids, towers, palaces, andgrassy plazas that date back at least as far as the 5th century A.D.(For more on the history of this important site, see the sweet video below.) Having spent the night in town, we walked in as soon as theruins opened and spent the morning touring around while the crowds werelightest and before the mid-day sun pushed the temperature into the 90s.

Before our group of 14 got back in the mini-bus for the curvy,five-hour, vomit-inducing ride back to San Cristobal, we had time tofilm a brief movie about Palenque starring James and Karla (editor’snote: Kayela). The excellent cinematography is courtesy of Joel, whoshot it on full-color, IMAX-quality 70mm film. While the surround soundand 180-degree shots can only be truly experienced when the film has itsfull theatrical release in the Bay Area later this year, he also shot itwith his point-and-shoot digital camera. Now all you blog readers (yes, all five of you) can check out the online version below, which is stillpretty cool despite its highly questionable education value. The workingtitle is “Mayan Mocumentary,” and it was filmed in two parts (totalelapsed time: approximately one minute). If you have seen any of themade-for-TV specials about mysterious ancient cultures (especially theover-dramatized shows on the History Channel), you may appreciate this.

Dance Dance Revolution

In between meetings with female Mayan entrepreneurs and the professionals who have dedicated their lives to helping these women, we, being the hedonistic American tourists that we are, have found some time for fun! Salsa anyone? Not your cup of tea? Not to worry, this fantabulous city also has reggaeton, ska, meregue, durangense and if that doesn’t float your boat you can do some crazy version of the electric slide to Billy Ray Cyrus’ Achy Breaky Heart, known here are “Mi Pobre Corazon.”
Our adventures on the dance floor quickly revealed our true personalities. Joel, affectionately coined as “the dark horse,” was the trooper of the bunch, dancing until 3 am, outlasting people 10 years his junior! Kayela, with her sex kitten dance moves attracted all kinds, from 5’2” Chiapan men to 5’5” Texan undergrads who watched one too many Rico Suave videos. James, oh James! When he was not busy ducking to avoid the low ceilings, he tried his hand at Salsa, oh wait maybe that was swing. I guess it doesn’t really matter when you’re a 6’4” “gringo” in a town full of 5’4” dancing machines! As for me, let’s just say that my adventures were limited to a 15 minute toe stepping debacle over an awkward exchange of Spanglish. “Me ayudas bailar?” was all I could think to say. Thankfully, the Mexican culture of politeness extends far beyond the workplace. Luckily, our newly discovered talents, or lack there-of, have only brought us closer together. Watch out Haas dance team, here come the Thundercats!

Junax...Biz-natch!

As the clear stand out for the most high maintenance member of our group here in Chiapas, I (Kayela) feel most qualified to describe the horrors of our first night without the donor group. After a week in the lovely Casa Mexicana hotel complete with lunches and dinners at San Cristobol's nicer restaurants and visits to Aqua Azules and the amazing ruins at Palenque, the honeymoon officially came to a crashing finale on Sunday as the donors took the chauffered vehicle along with them to the airport. At the new hostel, we were shown to our single room complete with 2 bunk beds, which according to the label on the mattress were for "Kids Only" I have to believe it, as they were made of metal in primary colors and the entire stuctures creaked with even small movements of our adult weight. Having just finished a camping trip in Peru, I was definitely prepared to live without the comforts of home, but dirty sheets and a pillow case that smelled of BO, I can do without. The one shower for 20 people came complete with a giant pile of hair in the corner and the sink in the bathroom had a lugee in it that I can only assume had been drying there for several weeks...Not wanting to be a whiner, I was prepared to suck it up and stay there. (The slumber party rooming style was certainly appealing.) However, I have to admit, I was not sad when the other members of the group agreed that the late night partying of our other housemates at Junax made it very difficult to get enough sleep to be fresh for our workdays. (paper thin walls + blaring music and shouting until 4am = losts of coffee (albeit good coffee) and head nodding in our morning meetings)

Through a connection with a friend of a friend of a friend on the Stanford alumni network, we are now staying at la casa de Don Chip Morris who makes us feel as if we are back home in Berkeley. He is an author, a speaker at the local museum, and an expert on Mayan artisania. He's also what you might call "a bit to the left." (James' thoughts:) His house occupies a sizeable chunk of land -- most of it gardens -- next to the well-known Na-Bolom museum on the northeast side of town. The house's five rustic bedrooms are occupied by a motley crew of passersby: a young woman in her mid-20s who has stayed more than a year, a family of traveling artisans and musicians, various other characters who would occasionally surface in the communal kitchen, and now our four-person Berkeley group. The whole house is decorated in art made by either Chip or local Mayan artists, including many fantastic mobiles and light fixtures made from old baskets and gourds. Best of all, the cost is about $4-per-person-per-night, a bargain despite the close quarters, lack of pillows, and occasional water outages. It's hard to think of a more authentic place to stay in San Cristobal, and Chip's vast knowledge of the local Mayan villages and workers helps us further understand the communities that AlSol and microcredit are trying to help in Chiapas.

Micro-Credit in Chiapas

The magic of San Cristobal does not stop inside the city walls. Hidden in the mountains surrounding the city are thousands of tiny Mayan villages where the local culture, food, dress and religion are all preserved. During the first three days of our trip we had an opportunity to visit these hidden gems with an organization called Namaste-Direct. Namaste-Direct (www.Namaste-Direct.org) is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco whose mission is to support the work of micro-finance organizations in Central America and also to educate young people about micro-finance. We, along with a group of donors, staff and board members visited the Mayan "centros" funded by Namaste, witnessing first hand how micro-credit is working to alleviate poverty in Chiapas. The hand made shawls, shirts, scarves, belts and other beautiful works of art were inspiring to see. We will be spending the remainder of our time here helping Al Sol, Namaste's partner MFI, to add a business education program to their current offering. Very cool project!

San Cristobal in da house!

Well, close enough. It's technically known as San Cristobal de las Casas -- but what we do know is that our home for the next three weeks is arguably Mexico's coolest city. And once we recovered from the rocky start of our trip, we started discovering all that makes San Cristobal a truly magical town! It's a colonial town full of rich history, charming narrow streets, gallerias, live music, and great restaurants and cafes. It's difficult to capture the beauty of this town on camera, but here are a few of our attempts...