I woke up nervous and hours too early the morning of the hike across the mountains from my community to Sieykin. With my ever-wonderful neighbor Jorge guiding and rain threatening, we departed at six a.m. and spent the next three hours sloshing, climbing, sliding, and chatting our way along gentle rivers and eventually up a mountain nick named pela diente,` tooth peeler`. Elda, a farmer with whom I work, explained that mid-climb up the steep tooth peeler, nose breathing gives way to all out panting which in affect reveals one`s pearly whites. Apparently Jorge and I kept too easy of a pace amidst our chatter and picnicking on boiled eggs so that my teeth didn`t honor the mountain`s legacy.
Once in Sieykin, I found my use pasear-ing: visiting folks in their houses, making small talk, and secretly hoping that they would offer some delicious food or drink. Of course the visiting`s purpose was to discuss the team`s project and to collect census and baseline health data, but my participation was mostly limited to small talk. I butchered the Naso language for their amusement, and expanded my knowledge of the tribe`s very intertwined family trees.
Meanwhile, the brave souls of the group went with community guides in search of an adequate water source. As the days of searching through the unforgiving muddy mountainous jungle terrain, this illusive water source soon became known as the “ojo de oro”, the spring of gold. The team collected and analyzed water sources and surveyed possible aqueduct routes and returned battle scarred, mud covered, and inexcusably happy at the end of the day. A great group with a well-executed project. I am looking forward to their next visit, implementation, in May or June 2010.
EWB Austin members making sense of their data
In search of the ojo de oro 
Jorge atop pela diente
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