Hello again Mesquiters! Thanks for making it this far with us! While my timing is a bit off (I’m two days late) this blog post is very special for two reasons:
1. I’m writing it.
2. It’s all about our final day of work!
Let’s begin.
We all knew that two weeks would go by quickly, but time flew by way faster than we expected it to. It seems like just yesterday we were checking into El Pedregal and shaking hands with the Xuchil team members for the first time. While I wish I could say our last day was a relaxing experience, I think my whole team would agree that our frantic efforts to finish securing the PSD, finalize pulley dimensions and materials, finish painting the racks (everyone was given full artistic liberty to decorate part of a rack however they wanted), finalize thank you notes, and clean up the worksite left very little time for relaxing.
After lunch I sat down with Ashlen to transcribe all of my thank you notes into Spanish which put me out of commission for about an hour. Meanwhile some team members peacefully painted racks while others ran back and forth to clean and finalize the PSD before 4 PM which was when our guests were scheduled to arrive (shoutout Hannah M. and Ryan). When I finally rejoined the group I was delighted to find Sarahi hanging Papel Picados across the worksite, while Archik and Richard brought the newly painted racks to the roof, and everyone else worked to clean up the worksite. As we were running around our guests slowly started to filter in, and by the time our ceremony began we were surrounded by some of the school children whom we had visited earlier this week, Don Plutarco, Dr. Sadoth, some friends and family of the Xuchil team, a marching band, and two calendas (for those of you who don’t know, calendas are giant human structures that people get inside of and dance around in). Once we took a few group photos and were given hats with the Xuchil team’s logo on them it was officially time to begin the festivities! The ceremony began with mezcal, followed by a qick ribbon cutting ceremony conducted by us and the Xuchil team, followed by more mezcal, and then finally a parade from the worksite to our hotel (but not before we hugged our PSD goodbye one last time).
The walk from the worksite to El Pedregal is normally about 25-30 minutes, but today it took even longer as we danced, laughed, and drank more mezcal through the streets of Suchil. As the calendas led the way to the beat of the band we quickly became curious about what it must be like to be the person dancing under them, so we all gave it a try! Personally, I think it is way more fun to watch them dance around and get smacked in the head by their flailing arms than it is to be inside one of them, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience! Basically once you’re inside one of them you put two fabric straps over your shoulders, hold onto two wooden beams, and look through a peephole located around the calenda’s belly button (a placement that was difficult for David seeing that he’s almost as tall as the calendas themselves- not really, but he’s really freaking tall compared to everyone here). The structures are huge, weigh a ton, and are extremely difficult to control when spinning (which is a lot of what you’re supposed to do when inside of a calenda) or going against the wind. By the time all of us had tried it out we had slowed down the parade significantly and were drenched in sweat— but the show must go on! With our police escorts in tow (because we were disrupting traffic) we drew plenty of attention and even gained a few stray dogs along the way.
When we finally arrived to El Pedregal we were greeted by a delicious ice cream combo of mesquite and mango and more refreshments to cool us down after our strenuous walk. Once everyone had a moment to take a break, the calendas jumped back up again and people joined in as we danced with (and even chased) the calendas around the pavillion. After a lot of dancing, a little more ice cream, and a few more group photos, it was time for everyone to leave. Eventually it was just us, David, the Xuchil team, Richard, Sarahi, Ashlen, Don Carlos and his family (our worksite was located on their property), and Dr. Sadoth and his intern (they’re working with the Xuchil team to research mesquite pod drying methods). Looking around the circle it was crazy to think that the last 9-10 months of our lives could be summed by the wonderful people that surrounded us. It was an extremely heart-warming moment and truly made us realize how far we’ve come over the course of a few months (and more importantly, a few weeks). Once everyone had found their places, everyone involved in the project (other than us) took a moment to reflect on what the project meant to them both before and after we came to Oaxaca. The kind words of gratitude and optimism that every person in that circle expressed was an overwhelmingly beautiful moment for all of us and I’m pretty sure I even saw Archik and Ryan tear up a bit. To top it all off the Xuchil team gifted us with beatiful woven baskets filled with amaranth, mesquite, alibrijes, and beautiful notes that perfectly reflected our time in Suchil and will serve as a wonderful reminder of our friends and memories back in Oaxaca.
We broke up the sob fest for a moment as we all gathered around the table for one final meal in Suchil that consisted of tlayudas. As everyone else finished their food, we ran up to our room to grab thank you notes and gifts for everyone and handed them out at the end of the meal (my favorite part of all, other than the thank you notes that my team patiently and thoughtfully wrote out in Spanish, were the small longhorns that Archik had 3D-printed back home to give to everyone as a reminder of our work together). Once we handed out gifts, my team went around and said a few words about how this project has impacted our lives and how our work over the past few weeks has given the project a whole new meaning. To conclude our sentimental remarks we presented a memory board to the Xuchil team which consisted of post it notes collected from everyone on the Xuchil and UT team, both in English and Spanish, that reflected some of the memories that people found most enjoyable. It’s important to note that we only began collecting these sticky notes 3 days prior to us presenting the memory board, so the fact that our poster board was overflowing with sitcky notes was a wonderful relfection of how many memories one group can create when working as a team to produce a final product.
Once all that was needed to be said was said and all of the tears were dried, it was time to begin a long night of karaoke and dancing. Once everyone had taken a turn at the microphone (my personal favorite was Ryan’s solo rendition of Cher’s “Believe”) the night quickly turned into a giant dance party (seems to be a common theme with us). Eventually the dancing died down (mainly because we ran out of refreshments) and it was time to say our final goodbyes. While our time here was short, saying goodbye wasn’t easy, and it was hard ending such a wonderful day on such a bittersweet moment. Yet everyone’s cheerful goodbyes and comments about keeping in touch and visiting again brought us hope that these friendships were only just beginning.
As Hannah M. mentioned to me later that night, we really did feel loved throughout the entire day, and that love is what’s making the end so hard to accept. Never have we ever been in a situation like this where we were able to collaborate with people from another country, learn from their own inventions, work through problems together, share meals together, dance together, and laugh together. While it’s hard accpeting that we have to leave Suchil tomorrow, I know that we’re all leaving with a newfound apprecition for engineering and social work, stronger ideas of what international collaboration looks like (and the exciting prospects it holds), and even stronger friendships (both new and old)— that’s why getting involved in experiences like these makes going through the hard parts (like saying goodbye) worth the pain.
Peace, love, sunscreen,
-Hannah Ilan y Team Mexico