Peanut Presentation

Today was the final day with Carlos and Robert in Zacapa, and this afternoon they drove back to the Mani+ headquarters in Guatemala City.  This morning before they left, we prepared a powerpoint presentation in Spanish for Carlos to give to the major farmers and government officials in Estanzuela.  The presentation included detailed descriptions of the different types of technology used for peanut production, as well as crop yields and ways to increase efficiency.  I recorded the 30 minute presentation with my camera, but I will probably not be able to upload the large file to YouTube for a little while until I get better internet access.  However, I posted a few pictures from the meeting on the blog, and will try to upload the powerpoint presentation as well if that is possible. 

Estanzuela farmers listening to peanut presentation

As an interesting side note, before the presentation Carlos, Robert, and I visited the local paleontology museum in Estanzuela, where we saw some cool fossils and Mayan artifacts from the region.  I took a few pictures that you can also see on this blog.

Now that Robert and Carlos have left, I am going to be on my own for about a week in Zacapa working on this project.  I will be staying with Luis, who is a government official of Estanzuela and lives right in the middle of the city.  He has a son in the US, and he speaks English very well, so I think that I will be in a good position with plenty of support to continue the project for the next week.  Because of logistical issues, Carlos is planning to pick me up a few days early next Thursday June 8, and then I will stay in Guatemala City for a few days until my flight home on July 1. 

For tomorrow and next week, I plan to continue to talk and interact with local peanut farmers to determine what their main concerns are, and also to run more aflatoxin tests with the UV scanner and UNS.  I will probably visit the peanut farms in Chiquimula again next Monday and Wednesday, and then stay in Estanzuela to do testing and other experiments for the rest of the time.  Adiós for now, I’ll talk to you later.