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Monday June 28th started a very productive week. I jumped on the colectivo and headed to Akumal pueblo to find community members to interview. I found 5! With my effed up Spanish I managed to explain the research I'm doing, the reason I want to interview them and setting up appointments. I admit, I need to work on my grammar skills. I always fuck up verb tenses so my sentences sound so odd. Perfecting my Spanish and starting a 3rd language, possibly Polish, German or Mayan, are some of my big plans after grad school is finished. Back to my exciting day.........My volunteers were: one woman who worked at a laudrymat, a man who worked at the internet cafe, a woman just sitting in front of her home and 2 wonderful ladies chatting it up in their front yard. I set appointments to return the following day so that I could have one of my bilingual buddies accompany me.

Tuesday June 27th I ran into some problems getting someone to join me for the interviewig process because extra help was needed at the place I'm staying. It all worked out and the wonderful lady I'm staying with allowed her worker to join me. His name is Antonio, a Mayan from Yucatan state who has migrated to Akumal for work in the tourist sector. He is also an interviewee of mine and his story is a good one. We arrived at the pueblo and I was right on time (very un-Mexican of me), and the 2 women I was set to interview as a focus group, became hesitant. Antonio went on to explain that this is not political, all results are confidential, and I am not working with the government. This is just for my studies and their identities will not be revealed. They were hesitant about signing my consent forms but once he explained all of this plus the fact that he knows me and we work for the same woman, not to mention he is Mayan also, they welcomed us into their home. That moment was amazing to me. All of the hard work that I have been doing to start this research began at that very moment. I was sitting in the home of Mayan people! People whose cultural identity is being altered by the infestation of tourism development! A people who don't have to pay hundreds of dollars to walk on the ruins of Chichen Itza because they live this life everyday. Their ancestors built them. These people have all the oral histories that you could imagine. No book, no Latin American studies class, could ever replace the feeling that I had at that very moment. I cannot reveal the information from the interview but I can say that I heard one very, very important fact that I was looking for: the hotels exploit the people (workers). For that, I am grateful. Mine and Antonio's walk back home was filled with him teaching me Mayan vocab. Ni is nose, balam is jaguar......

Wednesday June 30th
Today I plan to return to Akumal pueblo to hopefully interview 2 more people. The woman at the laundrymat backed out, the woman sitting in front of her home was not there yesterday and the internet cafe was closed. Antonio gets off of work soon and he's coming back with me again. I owe him the world! We shall see what the day brings. In the meantime, I am posting a pic I took of some beautiful Mayan women. More to come my readers...................

Stay tuned to find out what my research uncovers.

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