That's a wrap

The maps are now all in the hands of the communities. On Thursday and Friday, I went to the three communities with the technical team to present them with the maps and talk about other Yanapuma projects. It was really nice to hear the maps are appreciated and there was even some pretty high praise; a man from Peripa called it a ‘historic’ act.

El Poste

I finished up the last of my work at the office this afternoon, making data accessible, preparing maps for extra prints and adding a final bit to my project report. The director thanked me for my work and said that this project opened channels for Yanapuma with the communities that they hadn’t had before. Peripa and Poste have never worked with the NGO before and are both very interested in other endeavors.

Overall, this has been a really great experience. As the only volunteer on the project, I’ve worked on all aspects of the mapping process. Splitting my time between Quito and Santo Domingo gave me a look at the daily life of a completely different culture and of a non-profit organization. If you’re looking for an internship/ volunteer position, I’d recommend this one.

Molly gets in tomorrow night and then we’re off to explore the country!

The Last Map

I've ordered the prints for the last community map. I'm now a familiar face at the print shop up the street from the Yanapuma office and have a regular order now: one size-A1 and two size-A2 maps printed on a plastic canvas material, then 20 A4 maps printed on normal paper.
Here it is:

The Last Comuna

Comuna La Peripa: two full days. My visits are getting shorter and shorter. At this pace, I could have easily finished the six unmapped Tsachila communities if I had a full semester instead of the Dartmouth quarter. Still, I’m happy with the three we managed and I’m glad I got to squeeze in Peripa. In this last comuna I had some good conversations, saw some beautiful countryside and finally got to ride a motorcycle without straddling another man. Friday afternoon I took out Eddie’s (short for Edison, the 28 year-old president of the community) Suzuki to mark roads. Although it took me a good 5 minutes to start the bike on an uphill (after pushing it across a river), I still felt pretty damn cool riding home with a backdrop of banana palms against a sunset.

Walking the boundary in Peripa

I was pushed to an interesting conclusion recently (no, not about my vanity as I set up a tripod to pose with the motorcycle). The Dickey Center, benevolent providers of funding for this internship/adventure, sent me a short check-up including a seemingly mundane question; “What kinds of daily/weekly routines have you established? How are these helping or hindering your experience of the local culture and customs?” After writing the obvious, “I wake up around 8:30 and go to the office…”, I got stuck on the second part. I had been pleased with the routine I’d established and the efficiency I accomplished, but pondering it more, I couldn’t help thinking there was some negative correlation between efficiency and ‘experience of culture.’ Work in Naranjos was anything but efficient, but the extra time allowed me to get to know the family and learn about daily life in the comuna. Peripa may have been a deviation from the rule; during my short stay I engaged in more social activity than my four days in El Poste, though I wouldn’t say it was an exception. Saturday night I attended a huge graduation party for the son of the vice president. I was dropped off early, got to help set up, and then was fed the famous guanta while I talked about mapping with a member of another community. It was fun, but I probably would have stayed for the raucous later party if I had known more than one face in the crowd, that is, if I had been in town for more than 48 hours.
So in my philosophical musing I decided efficiency might not be all it’s cut out to be. We hold efficiency as a synonymous virtue with productivity, but maybe productivity, with some necessary redefinition, is a more appropriate goal. If ‘product’ is broadened to include the intangibles, correctly weighted above physical goods, then we have a more useful metric. Judging by this standard, I was as productive in Los Naranjos as in El Poste, where I mapped twice the area in half the time, because I made friends and learned a ton.