To collect data for Horatia’s project, we traveled to Los Altos. Hearing the name I thought, “Oh it’ll probably be cold. Let’s wear the warmest sweater you brought, Soph.” Big mistake. Huge. Apparently, Los Altos is located further down the mountain, so it is pretty toasty. If you don’t believe me, here is a pic of some chickens taking shelter from the sun (and I’m pretty sure their sun tolerance is quite high).

We visited 3 families to observe their cup washing habits and take samples of rinsed and unrinsed cups to test for growth of E.Coli and presence of other coliforms. The families’ native language was Tselta, so questions were subject to a multi-stage translation from English to Spanish to Tselta, obviously making the survey portion hard to follow. Anyway, even if I didn’t understand most of it, it was interesting to hear the different languages basically explaining the same thing and made me think about the necessity of communication when trying to implement new ideas.

The rural communities themselves were less rural than I expected. Each family had access to a piped water supply as well as electricity. I also enjoyed observing the different roles each family member appeared to have within the family unit. While visiting the first family, their daughters bustled around washing clothes, weaving blouses, or taking care of the other children. Typically the women were in charge of washing the dishes, but when answering the survey questions the men usually spoke for them after a short discussion on how to answer. Gender roles are pretty obvious here and it was explained that machismo is very much still present, which would probably horrify most millennials.

The trip ended with warm caldo in one of the town squares. We could’ve eaten at the restaurant, but the music they were playing was unbelievably loud and apparently “impossible to lower because it was Mother’s Day and they were in the middle of a celebration.” Ironically, the only woman in the restaurant was a woman in the kitchen, so…you can form your own opinion about that.

While the roads were rocky, the views were beautiful and the overall excursion was an enlightening experience. The design of a prototype very much depends on environmental factors, which in this case is availability of water supply and use behaviors. The effectiveness of help is relative and it is important to educate yourself on the culture and environment you are trying to “improve.”

-Sophia