Our stories, our Dreams

We visited the camp at which Juan lives. Banda music was playing. People were talking. After signing the form on the hood of our car, outside the camp fence, Juan Covarrubias said that there was too much noise at the camp.
So, we left. We stopped in the parking lot of the packing plant and offices, but Juan said that he was afraid of us being questioned for being in the parking lot so late at night.
So, we talked instead on the bleachers at Pelion Park, a place that Juan did not know, but which Pedro found by GPS.
Juan looked at both of us, even though I was silent most of the time.
While we spoke, the light got dimmer, and the background noise of birds changed to insects and barking dogs. We started by talking about family, which for Juan was an important theme, because he said he came to the U.S. to earn money, so that they could have a better life. He said that if he had a choice, he would live in Mexico, because there people celebrate more. The theme of “distracción” as he called it (which in English would better be translated as “diversion” than distraction by the way he used it) came up repeatedly, as did the theme of time.
For Juan, the pace of work in the fields seemed far faster than the pace of work in construction. Hearing it for the first time, and again on the recording, I thought of the workers I had seen picking corn and putting it on a conveyor belt at the fastest pace possible before taking a break to listen to us. I felt like it was an important observation, because it’s easy to think of life in the country as slow compared to city life, which is not always true.
Juan did not feel like sharing any jokes that field workers use to pass the time, because he said that it is easy to forget them when concentrating on other things. He also said that while drinking life is different from life without drinking or smoking, and that if he was to quit either, breaks would be quite different, sadder “mas triste,” even while acknowledging that it is normal. He said that he now has gone 5 years without drinking or smoking, because of work, repeating that such a life makes him feel better, but sadder. He later says that sports work just as well as drugs and alcohol for those who do them.
“Yo soy una persona muy tímida” he said, at the end of the interview. In some ways his style of talking confirmed this. He talked in a calm, quiet voice, and sometimes stuttered before coming to a particular point. However, he seemed eager to make several points about the life of a farm worker, his own life, and life in general, that “shy” does not quite do justice to him. “Te voy a decir una cosa” he said repeatedly, which roughly translates as “I’ll tell you one thing.”
We end the interview but I continue recording. Pedro and Juan continue, talking about the purpose of the interview, and work with the health clinic, and he expressed his gratitude, although he said that he had been suspicious of the people giving out the cards at first.
The documentary of Juan's life is not yet online. You can see some other saf interns' documentary projects here.