Guatemala Trip Report #3

the group left antigua in the morning heading to the solola traditional market. this was our very first chance to do some market research- finding out what was being sold, at what price, and how they were marketed. this was an amazing time- really got a good sense of the mayans and their culture. i was wow-ed by the vibrancy of it all.

things sold: lots of food, poultry, distinct textiles/fabric, produce, etc. everything under the sun. when we went, the market was extremely packed- lots of hustle and bustle- my goal was to look for local honey being sold- or other food related products that required honey as an ingredient. it was also interesting to see how things were marketed, and how it was run

lots of fresh fruits and vegetables sold in large baskets

food/snacks were sold everywhere- we tried some fresh black corn tortillas, and also a very colorful set of candy that i think was dairy/sugar based.

chickens sold for approx one us dollar

ladies making fresh tortillas- note their outfit and patterns- i think luzmi mentioned that each village had their own distinct design. all the textiles sold were hand loomed and immensely gorgeous

honey find #1: i couldn't find any honey in the outdoor stalls, but i was lucky enough to stumble across someone who owned a small stall inside the indoor market- which was a conglomerate of small groceries, meat stands, and shoe sales. the local honey he had was packaged in a red label johnny walker bottle- which seems to be what small bee-keepers use to package their honey. they sold for around 40Q, however, the store owner mentioned that the honey bear bottles were sold more frequently due to its small size and also, its cheaper price. Also, during the summer time, the beekeepers from pasajquim come the the market themselves to sell their honey- without need for a middle man. He also mentioned that the honey was used for medicinal and cooking purposes.

this was the nice store owner and his son who let us take some pictures, and also helped us a bit with our research.

this meat stall is part of the indoor meat market- which is a long line of various stalls which sells different kinds of meat.

this is the second market we attended after solola- which was a bit smaller- however, just as diverse and interesting. We went to various stalls and stands to look for this elusive local honey

what we found was a consistent stock of "honey bear" which sold for 10-15Q. the "honey bear" is such a nostalgic icon- people usually tend to stick to what they know- therefore it sells more.

A storeowner mentioned to us that they saw local honey being sold in front of the village church. Stefano, mallika, diana and i ventured into that direction in hopes to make a find...

after the second market research- we arrived to pana, a beautiful beautiful city where we had lunch. this is where we would evenutually take the boat to luzmi's house.

the centrifuge has been everywhere and seen so many things

beautiful and amazing boatride- we had some trouble with lack of gas and weight issues from all the baggage, but i didn't mind. in fact, i was quite oblivious. the view was amazing

arrival! docked! and centrifuge set into several pieces.

we had a long day. luzmi's place was incredible. the weather was perfect, the volcanoes were beautiful, and the view was unbelievable. we set camp and headed out to dinner- where i found some local honey being sold in a small store....

Guatemala Trip Report #2

day 2- the caltech, art center students spent the night at their partner's home. Stefano's mom prepared us a lovely breakfast of oatmeal, pancakes, coffee, and papayas in the morning. his family was so inviting and super sweet

After tying the centrifuge to stefano's pick up truck, we drove through guatemala city en route to landivar university to meet the other students and also to pick up gaby's centrifuge to use as our second prototype.

our first stop today was at the brick/tile maker (group: diego, mallika, orlando). the owner was generous enough to show the entire process of "brick making"- allowing the group to observe and realize various opportunities in not only the technicalities of the process but also its marketing and business plan.

this is part of the preparation of the clay. with the combination of the mud and water, the bricklayers must knead (via stomping) for several hours to get the material to its proper consistency. afterwards, it is stored underneath a tarp to contain its moisture.

after the bricks are molded (usually from a pre-made wood or metal frame), hundreds of bricks are placed into this large kiln. the kiln is not temperature controlled, and so the bricklayers must constantly be "on guard" during the firing process. also, the inconsistent heat distribution and the weight forces many to break during the firing.

a sweet kid we met, who we tried interviewing- the kneading is a long and laborious process. its hard work and takes several hours.

after visiting the brick makers, we headed to tecnologia para la salud (tps) where they make stoves, latrines, water pumps, and other devices to improve the lives of those living in smaller rural villages. this is julio, the owner, giving the team an introduction

the stoves at tps were sometimes utilized by the women living nearby. they were making tortillas when we arrived, and we had to chance to have a taste. they were fresh off the stove and delicious.

this is the dry-composting latrine that julio introduced to us. it is still going through re-iterations.

molds for the latrine

more explanation on the latrine- its usage, and also thoughts on how to create a cheaper, more simplified version

after, we headed towards a small shoe company (shoe team: giuseppe, irene). we got to see how the business was run- how things were produced, the machines they utilized etc. it was amazing to see.

giving the team a demonstration on one of their industrial machines. shoe-making requires multiple steps- very complex. the shoes made here had beautiful craftsmanship. i think the owners were looking for ways to expand their business

quite possibly the last process of "shoemaking"- which is burning off the loose ended threads with fire.

after a long day of research- we arrived in beautiful antigua! i think that day 2 was definitely a great segway into the week. i think everyone learned a bit of something from the places that we visited and collected a good amount of information for us to start thinking critically about our projects and the necessary "needs."

Guatemala Trip Report #1

en route to guatemala

we were greeted by the landivar students at the airport gate, and headed directly to "pollo campero" where the landivar students graciously bought us breakfast. a typical guatemalan breakfast consists of: eggs, refried beans, creme or cheese, fried plantains and tortillas.

after breakfast, we headed towards the textile museum, which had various examples of looming techniques, material/color choices. it was interesting to see how these textiles slowly evolved in conjunction to the evolution of their history

our first official group shot at the beginning of the trip. subsequently, we headed towards landivar campus to do introductions and our first official "meeting" which consisted of our itinerary, and things we should focus on for our research for the upcoming days- i also got to check out gaby's centrifuge at the landivar woodshop

Stefano (my landivar partner) and I spent a good chunk of the night in his backyard, putting together the honey centrifuge that we brought over from Cal Tech. I brought a print out of multiple images for instructional references from the states. It took awhile- but we figured it out, and i really learned from the process. (here's orlando -on the brick/tile team- helping us put together the device)

Here's the device as a whole. obviously, there were kinks and dinks- but in general, "it worked." this centrifuge is headed towards the beekeeping family in pasajquim (which i will discuss in the later posts)

took awhile for me to gather all my information from the trip to compile into the blog. im going to do my best to write steadily and sequentially during the next week about our trip to guatemala. i have to say, it was an amazing amazing trip. a beautiful country, lots of energy, color, and truly generous people. the landivar students were such gracious hosts and crucial to the understanding of our whereabouts, not to mention their translation skills. i learned so much from having first hand primary experience- being in guatemala, and having the luck to interact with the people involved in our project- it was definitely a joint effort and collaboration. I think we brought back with us lots of research to jumpstart our project, and also a feeling of connection with our guatemalan counterparts- which makes this a more personal project. i really feel immensely grateful for being able to partake in this experience.

In preparation for our trip

Make a stakeholder diagram: list all stakeholders in your project and rate their interest (on a scale of 1-3) and their influence on the project's success or failure.
Beekeepers: The success of this project is highly dependent on the beekeepers adapting and sustaining the proposed solution, as well as utilizing the business plan. (The success is also reflective on our abilities, as engineers and designers to find out what their primary needs are)
Middlemen/Distributors: Their influence is vital when thinking about the growth of the beekeeping business, and transferring to a bigger honey industry. This group is aware of what the distributors are looking for in “honey,” and may be a bigger asset when assessing what a “final” honey product should resemble (filtering, packaging, product, etc)
Local Community: For small businesses, such as beekeeping, the local community can be a primary source of income, therefore extremely important to the project and its success. It is dependent on how much honey they consume, the competing prices and their view of rural beekeepers (in terms of purity of honey)
General Public: The general public can be a stakeholder when we think in terms of trends, our environment, and the economy. With the onset of the “green revolution,” there may be a bigger consumer section in need of “organic” products- and the usage of natural resources

What are the 5 greatest challenges to your success? Consider all angles: technical, social, economic, educational, political challenges.
Technical: The difficulty lies in creating a “simplified” product using cheap resources. It is also about editing a pre-existing structure of “bee-keeping” and using new innovative ways for extraction- or a simpler way of “keeping-bee”
Social: Having pre-conceived notions of bee-keeping and having specific habits and methods may prevent the sustainability of a new product. The introduction of something novel is initially always hard and difficult to accept.
Economic: Keeping products cheap and low priced is a challenge, but also trying to gauge the consumers and their selling price.
Educational: Keeping things easy to understand, or creating a thoughtful “training” system that encourages further training, critical thinking, and also sustainability.
Political: Venturing into bigger business in a wider honeybee industry may be more difficult depending on political structures and the ease of entering into a bigger market.

Research to find similar projects others have done, and what they foretell about yours.
The Small Beekeepers’ Development and Research Association Project in Malawi combined the efforts of over 100 beekeeping groups to improve their incomes. They began by legitimizing the trade to create an honest outlet- and also provided capital for storage and transport. (The legitimization of their business created less cheating between traders and beekeepers). They also approached their local district assembly for support to implement more beekeeping within the area- and created a stronger organization of beekeepers for further structure and continual promotion. The three different things to consider were: taking the environment into account, taking the needs of the people into account, and also taking existing technical knowledge into account.Research into the honey market is just as crucial as the devices for beekeeping.

Write down 5 going-in hypotheses about your project.
• The inefficiency in “bee-keeping” may not rest on primarily the honey extractor, but perhaps a dismissed detail within the entirety of the process
• The project and its success will depend largely on the beekeepers need for improvement and change
• A new honey extractor must combine: training of sustaining the product and creating a thoughtful business plan
• Bee keeping is not a business based on just the individual. Creating a strong “community” of bee-keepers is vital for creative exchange – and also physical labor.
• Success is dependent on how well we deduce the problems through our observations on-site

Write down 10-25 questions you hope to answer in Guatemala that will test these hypotheses. What kind of people or places will you visit to answer them? How many interviews will you seek to get credible data?
The large majority of our research would be on-site with the beekeepers and the community of beekeepers who share extractors, and various devices. I think researching/interviewing at least 5-7 beekeepers within that local area will help condense the basic needs of creating a more efficient system. Would also like to interview a honey/product distributor- and also observe the various markets we attend to conduct small interviews with the competitors.
1. What is the step-by-step process of their beekeeping
2. How many people utilizes the extraction device
3. How many hives do each beekeeper own and how much productivity is produced from each hive
4. How and where do they sell their honey?
5. Who are its competitors? How much do they charge for honey
6. How do you measure the purity of the honey?
7. What is the bigger honey market like? Are they in contact with distributors?
8. Where did they learn the technicalities of bee-keeping?
9. How does the local market perceive their honey?
10. How long does the entire process take?
11. How many people are involved in extracting honey
12. Where did they buy their pre-existing structures? How much? And how do they maintain them?
13. How much income do they make with honey
14. Does productivity change by seasons?
15. What are other products that can be made from honey
16. What have they learned through beekeeping (in terms of efficiency)
17. How much would they spend on a new device

2008 honey centrifuge project

2008 project
two weeks ago, I went to go see the pre-existing honey centrifuge project that was worked on by the 2008 team. its a pretty complex yet well-thought out structure. improvements are needed in the "gearing elements" and how the cylindrical and cone shaped structure are held together. i'll go back and take a better look before we head to guatemala. also, one of my main goals in guatemala, is to research and observe the actual needs. maybe its just a filtering problem.

what is "product design for the developing world" ?
"product design for the developing world" is a collaborative course amongst caltech, the art center college of design, and universidad rafael landivar, being taught in by ken pickar and luzmi delgado in the fall of 2009. this class is focused on designed products for the 2 billion people in the world who exist on less than $2/day. our area of interest is the rural mayan community of guatemala.

updates
for the past several months, the caltech, artcenter and landivar students have been meeting regularly, discussing various project interests and also preparing for our trip to guatemala in august.

honey extractor & export business
problem:
can small scale honey production be a viable export business? beekeeping provides great value to agriculture and the environment, but small scale beekeepers lack appropriate tools and infrastructure to tap into the export market

history:
in 2008 a highly motivated beekeeper in pasajquim asked us to help him make a more efficient honey centrifuge and explore export mechanisms.