Manioc Harvest Day 2: Not what we expected

Our second day of manioc harvesting was not exactly what we expected. We had planted our second test plot on the land of a friend of ours, Oswaldo.  A few days before our harvest there, we visited to confirm the date of our harvest and to catch up. This proves to be a useful way of distinguishing a social visit from when we are actually working.  Without this initial visit we'd likely get nothing done on harvest day due to the social obligations to visit.

Having fun catching up! From left to right: Me, Oswaldo, and Zan

As always happens here in Joya de Ceren, we were greeted with the hospitality that El Salvador is known for. Once given plastic chairs and sat on the porch, we were then offered food and finally handed elote (young corn) to eat. (side-note: I have never visited a house in Joya de Ceren or the surrounding area and not had someone rush to bring out plastic chairs for all of us.) Also, if you have not traveled through Central America, one note of caution... make sure to always have room for food. Families, especially in the 'campo' (poorer farming areas) have a very strong sense of hospitality and you are always offered food when visiting. It would also be very rude to refuse the food, so best to leave a bit of room for whatever food you might be given!  This is part of the network or reciprocity here- where a guest in someone's house is always treated well and provided for. Upon completing our harvest Day 1 with the Garcia family we were given a wonderful hibiscus drink (and just had to suck it up and hope the water in it didn't get us sick... it didn't! But as a good anthropologist and visitor you risk the sickness over insulting your hosts every time!)

Oswaldo with the manioc plants

Okay, so on to the harvest. When we returned to Oswaldo's on harvest day we were immediately surprised to see that the planting beds we established last year were not present and that all of the manioc looked small.  It turned out that something was lost in communication and Oswaldo didn't realize that the beds needed to be continually maintained throughout the year. We didn't explain this since he'd already been somewhat upset that his manioc field didn't grow very large. So, not at all what we expected, however very interesting. What this helps us see is that manioc bed built a year ago will completely disappear without maintenance. This wasn't at all what we intended to test, but one of the great things about fieldwork is that things so rarely go as planned. Thus, we had unintentionally tested what happens when beds are constructed but not maintained. The result is that the ground is very compacted and there are not the slightest signs of beds present. A very cool finding, we hadn't intended to test!

The manioc was extremely small and many plants even lacked any tubers at all. This was in very strong contrast to the manioc we harvested in field 1. We think it is likely that the very densely packed soil (compacted) resulted in very poor manioc growth. Manioc needs loose soils and not too much water for proper growth.

Stay tuned... we'll be harvesting Manioc Field 3 on Saturday and will let you know how it works out.

An image of a manioc plant without tubers and two stakes that did not grow

Oswaldo and Payson with our harvested manioc

 Not what we expected, but a great test case none the less!