Three days. Three short days left in Mexico: a country rich in culture, abundant in delicious foods, and never lacking in diversity or character. The modern hustle-and-bustle of the city shocks us each time we return from the relaxed and simple way of el campo living. The screeching metro, non-stop traffic, and computer work at the office don’t exactly flow into the dirt roads, street vendors, and chirping crickets of the rural communities. Yet, there are commonalities between each place: the close ties to family and friends, the passion for Mexican heritage, and the ability to have a good time.

Sitting on La Pirámide de la Luna, Teotihuacan

Our last month here has flown by. Our week spent in Mexico City (between trips to Campeche and Oaxaca) was a blur of interpreting survey data and visiting tourist destinations. We then took an 8-hour bus ride to Oaxaca on the curviest road I’ve ever had the “pleasure” of driving on. The little town of Huautla de Jiménez, situated in the clouds of the mountainous Oaxaca region (known for the magical mushrooms of María Sabina), served as our home base for the two weeks we were there.

   Trekking to the communities

The legendary María Sabina

Unlike Campeche, where we surveyed customers by going from house to house in the beautiful sun and humidity, we held meetings in the shade in Oaxaca. This was because Iluméxico clients live so far from each other, in areas only accessible by climbing steep slopes of stair-like rocks, that we were not able to visit them in their houses. While this made surveying a lot easier for us, we faced another challenge: we did not speak the language. While the majority who live in larger cities speak Spanish, many who were raised in rural communities speak indigenous languages. Our translator, Lety, became our communication line between Mazateco and Spanish. While we learned how to say things like “Hello,” “Goodbye” and “Thank you” in Mazateco, we definitely could not have done it without her help and the help of the other Iluméxico community engineers.

Conducting surveys

Clients waiting to receive their panel

With that being said, I definitely think that Huautla spoiled us a bit. Surrounded by lush green scenery, we encountered friendly smiles and delicious meals. Our days were never shy on indulgences of mole and chocolate caliente, and the town’s unique culture showed through in every aspect: from the embroidery work of the street vendors, to the traditional garments of the older women, to the European tourists who continue to seek out the powerful healing of the local curanderas. Our two weeks quickly came to a close, but not before we took another bus ride to visit a friend in the city of Oaxaca (just in time for the annual Oaxacan celebration of La Guelaguetza) and then another bus to enjoy some surf lessons on the beach at Puerto Escondido before heading back to work.

Just in time for the parade!

Beach bumming at Puerto Escondido

The last week and a half in el D.F. has been filled with goodbyes to summer interns and even some Iluméxico veterans, including our mentor, María. While we prepare a final presentation to the big-wigs of the company, much of our journey is still sinking in. We must simultaneously analyze our findings while thinking about the deeper meaning of what we have found. How will these results help improve the lives of those who we talked to in the field? Will the few questions we asked in our survey translate into improvements in the company and communities? We can only hope that the couple weeks we spent in each community will have lasting impacts. With everything we have seen and experienced, I know that it has had a lasting impact on us.

First time with light in 40 years

Number of:
–encuestas completed: 173
– SPF in the sunblock that doesn’t last as long as it promises: +55
– tortas eaten in the past two weeks: 8
– glasses of suspicious-looking water: 5
– rides home in the bed of a truck: 2
– cockroaches successfully killed: 1
-memorable experiences: it depends on which one of us you ask!

Gran Acropolis, Edzna Ruins, Campeche

And here we are, back in Mexico City and out of Escárcega, a place that Lonely Planet travel guide considers “a quick truck stop for bathroom breaks,” but what we found to be much more. The communities surrounding the area, whether they are 30 minutes or 2 hours and 30 minutes away, are each unique. We visited a total of 11 pueblos in Campeche: some were built on hillsides overlooking a lake, others bordered the main highway; some had a detached kitchen from the rest of the house, others had all rooms combined in one large bungalow. We have experienced rough roads at 10:30pm, motorcycle rides through thick jungles, murky lakes, miscommunications with indigenous peoples, and some of the skinniest stray dogs I’ve ever seen. But more than anything, we learned something knew each day.

Balancax, Campeche

    The small wonders that never cross our minds back home astound us for hours. And the little cultural differences that seem to separate us, only draw us together. Here are some of examples of things that kept us in awe:

1) The people of Campeche look marvelous in a 90˚F with 70% humidity climate. While we slugged from house to house, wiping our brows with damp washcloths and drinking a bottle of water an hour, the people in each community barley had a drop of sweat on their bodies. They women looked seamlessly natural and fresh in their summer skirts, even though they labor in the fields with a machete, or over a hot wood stove making tortillas. While families offered us everything from cold drinks, to mango slices, to coconut dulces, I think the secret of staying sweat-free while working in the sun will forever be a campechano secret.
*Click here for a sneak peek of our daily travels: Kiara, the Wild Survey Taker

2) ‘Twas a sad day this past Sunday, as Kiara and I sat in our favorite restaurant down the block, Mi Ranchito, and watched as the Mexican National Fútbol Team suffered a close defeat to The Netherlands. I watched as tears streamed down players’ faces on tv. People quickly paid their check and left, trying to hide the disappointment in their faces. Although I have only been in México for 3 weeks, the attachment which I formed to El Tri surprised me. The patriotism and near-obsession with fútbol swept me off my feet faster than any Brazilian soccer player could. When Rafa Marquez scored a goal, my heart skipped a beat. When Memo Ochoa missed a block, I felt disheartened. And when that last Netherlandian ball went flying into Mexico’s goal in the last few minutes of the game, I felt the pain of the Mexican nation. The dreams of the players, the face paint that had been saved for the play-offs, the cheers that would never be shouted, were all swallowed up into the net along with the last goal.

Fútbol Fever!

3) Most importantly, we had the chance to experience the beauty of Campeche. We witnessed the daily lives of those living on the outskirts of society: the hardship, the simplicity, and the generosity that was always shown. We talked to one man who explained that he was thankful for clean water and light in his community, which they had lacked for 40 years. We ate dinner at a government-funded boarding school for indigenous students ages 5-18, where we felt like local celebrities, even though the kids could not remember our names. We held numerous baby chicks, puppies, and kittens as they scrambled around clients’ backyards and kitchens during interviews. We heard the grievances of low employment opportunities, little access to primary and secondary education, and the scarcity of fresh water and financial resources. At the same time, we also listened to the many simple joys which we often take for granted. Many families were grateful for having just one light bulb in their house, just one. One of our survey questions asked what other products the users would be interested in, such as refrigerators, fans, stoves, blenders, or washers. It surprised me that many people said nothing; they were happy with just light.

El Centro Histórico de Campeche

Campeche “La novia del Mar”

The trip really put things into perspective for me. Society tells us we need the latest electronics, fashions, and toys. We demand so much from ourselves, and often forget that the simplest things can make us happy. The people we interviewed have very few material possessions, but I would consider them happy, if not happier, than the people I am surrounded by back home. Satisfied with the serenity of the jungle, the simple rituals of daily life, and the closeness of family, many would choose this lifestyle over the fast-paced, often over-worked lives which signify “success” back home. So what is success? Is it the amount of friends, fame, or fortune collected over a lifetime? Or is it simply the fact that the señora who sells ice-cold paletas just happened to pass in front of your porch during the hottest time of the day? It’s the little things that make the biggest difference.

Our first week flashed before my eyes faster than the bolts of lightning that have been striking the city since we arrived. With a flexible daily schedule of working at the office in preparation for the field, attempting to try food from every single comida corrida truck in the local vicinity, and sprinkling-in typical tourist activities (museums, historic castles, and a performance of the Ballet Folklorico), we stayed busy and tried our best to keep dry. After spending a week in our posh, comfortable hostel in the heart of the “hipster” colonia of Mexico City, Kiara and I boarded our two-hour flight to Campeche, a Mexican state located in the Yucatán Peninsula.

We flew into the airport, which sat alongside Campeche’s beautiful tropical beaches. For just a second, it felt as if we were going on a relaxing honeymoon. This quickly changed as we exited the plane and the humidity smacked us in the face like a damp dish towel. Even as I opened my mouth to speak, the air felt thick and I sensed that I was eating very small, hot water droplets. Gaspar, one of the local Iluméxico engineers, picked us up from the airport in what we would come to consider Mexico Time (MT= 30 minutes late is still early). As soon as he began to speak, I knew the language barrier would be more like a brick wall; and while Kiara was armed with a ladder and a rope, I felt as though I was left with a small step stool. We hopped into the Iluméxico truck and headed on our way “home” to Escárcega for the next couple weeks. After reaching for the seatbelt and finding that there was none, I sensed it was about to be an interesting adventure.

Home sweet home

I seem to remember as much about our first day in the field as I do about my co-worker’s lesson on Mexican slang: everything seems jumbled and I’m not sure if anything will come out sounding normal. The three muchachos that represent Iluméxico-Campeche came for us at 8am. The five of us crammed into the small truck, and we drove…and drove…and drove…until almost two hours later, we had left all signs of civilization except for the fences made of wooden posts and barbed wire that divided various properties along the dirt road. As we approached a dead end into the jungle, we saw a one-room school house, recently constructed by the federal government (as the sign read), and a scattering of about seven dwellings a few hundred yards back from the road. I would say houses, but if I did, you would imagine the wrong kind of building. These homes weren’t like anything I had seen in person; they reminded me of the pictures of developing countries that we see in the media, or maybe even the grass huts on the beach that appear in Sandals commercials (minus the romantic couple lying in lounge chairs). And here, in the middle of who-knows-where, with the sweltering sunlight, the humidity that soaked my clothes as I stood, and the lack of any kind of familiar bathroom system or English-speaking guide, they left us. With other clients to attend to that lived close by, they said they would return in a couple hours after we had finished our surveying.

First day on the job

Home is where the heart is

So, off we went. That day, much like the day after, and the day after that, was like nothing I had ever experienced before. Walking through high shrubbery (with hopes that nothing that rubs against us is poisonous), three-inch thick mud, up cerros, half-walking, half-sliding down rocky hillsides, we go from home to home, introducing ourselves, our purpose, and asking customers  about their Iluméxico experience. Some families live in huts constructed of palm leaves and misfit wooden planks, with small children playing with the cochinitos (piglets) and pollitos (chicks) outside, while the older children help with household chores like cooking, washing clothes, and even dragging large branches from the jungle for firewood. Other families live in government-built homes made of brick and cement, fit with a television, a house phone, and sometimes, we can even hear the rhythmic beats of a stereo bass inside. No matter the house, every household has at least one maca (hammock), at least two kinds of animals (whether they be turkeys, a litter of dogs, or parrots), and will offer us to come stand in the shade or take a seat inside.

The view

A day on the job

While I would like to say that these first few days have gone better than anything I could have imagined, I would be lying. In fact, as I sit here typing this blog, I have a cold washcloth on the back of my neck to soothe the sunburn, and Cortizone cream on my arms to calm the bug bites. We wake early, go to bed late, and sweat more than I ever have in any of my water polo workouts. While we have been testing ways to better communicate our questions to Iluméxico users, we also face the chance that people may not like us simply because of our nationality. With no wifi, cellphone service, or local contacts, we also feel more distant from the world we are familiar with than we ever have before.

Finding comfort in friendly faces, familiar and delicious foods, and the idea that our work will be a great benefit to Iluméxico, we look forward to each day with a renewed energy (that, in all honesty, starts to fade after we’ve surveyed about 15 houses and Kiara’s stomach starts to growl). BUT, this does not stop us, and we continue to be thankful for the opportunity to travel to new communities, meet the people who live there, and make a greater impact on the world we live in. Stay tuned for more stories on Alex’s newest bug bites, Kiara’s search for the perfect mole, and developments on our research!

Taxi Ride to Chicbul

My name is Alex Cabral I am a rising senior at Santa Clara University. My partner-in-crime, Kiara, and I have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to complete a 9-month fellowship through SCU’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society’s Global Social Benefit Institute.

If you’d like to find out more about how we got involved with the fellowship and where we came from, check out our personal blogs!
Alex Cabral: http://blogs.scu.edu/alexcabral/
Kiara Machuca: http://blogs.scu.edu/kmachuca/

After three months of intensive research surrounding topics such as social entrepreneurship, base-of-the-pyramid customers, last-mile distribution, micro-finance institutions, and all the good stuff, we have departed on the second part of our journey.

Heading to the airport.

We had the good fortune of being paired with Iluméxico, a social enterprise based out of Mexico that aims to provide light to the energy-impoverished populations of Mexico through solar power technologies and community development programs. We will be conducting a customer service analysis and marketing and communication analysis in a couple rural communities where Iluméxico works in order to give the company a clearer idea of what they can do in order to improve their product line and customer satisfaction levels. After completing our two-month research plan abroad, we will return to SCU to piece together the parts of our research which will benefit the enterprise most.

First, we will be spending a week in Mexico City to get to know the ins-and-outs of the enterprise before we set out to visit more rural areas.

My impressions of my first day in Mexico City:
1. Traffic is scary. Cars will turn wherever, whenever they want. I saw my life flash before my eyes more than a few times, which may or may not have been due to the cautiously-aggressive driving of María, our mentor here at Iluméxico. Speed limits? Cameras at stoplights? Staying in your own lane? These phrases don’t exist here. Crossing the street is a do-or-die mission.

2. Plans in a start-up company can switch in another direction almost as fast as María’s lane changes. On our way between the airport and breakfast, she filled us in on many major changes currently happening in Iluméxico that we will get to witness this summer. All of them will have a large impact on Iluméxico. Who knew we would be so lucky? Or are we…

3. We grabbed breakfast at an awesome café that sold books, food, and hosts a slew of concerts throughout the week. The Omelette Juliette I ordered, filled with spinach, goat cheese, and mushrooms, tasted like the best food I’d ever had, especially since we ate it after a 4-hour plane ride at 5am PST. It was a warm welcome to the colonia where we will be staying for a good part of our journey, which is one of the cultural hubs of the city.

4. After eating, I went to browse through the books while we waited for a suspiciously-young valet to bring María’s car around front. But I could not browse through the books, because every single one was wrapped in plastic. Probably so that no one could sit in the restaurant all day and read an entire book without paying (like they do at Barnes ‘n’ Noble), but I took it as an action that stifled my liberty to flip through the pages before I buy a book.

5. Ilumexico’s office headquarters looked very small from the outside. It was on a very narrow street. with a very skinny building facade, and a little doorway. As we were given the tour, the office continued back further and further, until we reached a patio, a back office, and a make-shift movie theater the team had created in order to get the best World Cup-watching experience possible (which we watched on our first day, of course, because “El Tri” was playing). The employees seemed young, energetic, and close to each other, which I think is very important. Building trust between the team is vital for a company’s success, especially when that company is just completing its start-up stage.

6. Rain is just as unpredictable as a start-up company. Both me and my soaking wet jeans paid that price tonight.

We shall see what more this trip will bring!
Hasta Luego,
Alex

The view from our hostel!