eKaqchikel 2007 - Tough Friday

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Things have been going too well, and in accordance with Murphy, we were due for a problem. Last night it came at us with a vengeance. Despite our best precautions, Marie ate something that disagreed with her. Violently.

We started the evening by taking Lee to a birthday dinner at one of the nicer Panajachel restaurants. On the way, Marie complained of some queasiness, but she was able to eat without incident so we figured it was a passing thing. The restaurant even prepared a birthday dessert for Lee, spelling the message out with carved carrots!

By the time we got back to the hotel, unfortunately, Marie knew that the same sickness that brought her down in Antigua two years ago was upon her again. She had a rough night and Lee stayed with her for most of it. By morning she was exhausted but feeling somewhat better. We found saltine crackers and Gatorade for her from a local shop, and that helped considerably. She may have to take the next few days easy, but it looks like this thing has passed

Lee, Valerie and I proceeded with the shoot in the morning, and though we sorely missed Marie's input, we were able to complete the day's scheduled production tasks. We finished the daily activity vignettes with Te Ix'ey and Ix'Kim and then staged a couple of dialogues using the activity verbs. Tojil joined us for those setups. And just as she has done every day, Ix'nal worked behind the scenes with us to make sure everything flowed correctly. Without Marie, Valerie had to pull double duty, helping us with production activities and translation. Fortunately, all of the teachers know how we work by now, so everything went smoothly. And since the teachers traditionally have Friday afternoon off, we were done by 12:30.

After lunch, Valerie departed for Antigua for the first leg of her trip home. She'll be back in New Orleans by early tomorrow afternoon. Marie, Lee and I are staying on through the weekend and picking up production activities on Monday. Over the weekend, we'll be reviewing footage to make sure there are no problems. We'll also be haunting Panajachel for still photo opportunities.

More on that later...