Joyal's trek often continues in her truck over rutty roads, on a cattle truck to roads' end, on horses and mules along paths and across unbridged rivers, and finally, on foot. Some months later, an ecologist reached the same village using all the above means of transportation. Evidently I have somewhat of a reputation as the gringa who does fieldwork alone. As difficult as fieldwork is, I think when you don't have someone else to rely on, it forces you to interact with people more. And in my case, because I'm female, it allows them to accept me more readily.
Palms are less controversial than peyote.
I could have gone anywhere and used any resource. Joyal's basic research question involves traditional ecological knowledge, what is sometimes mistakenly called common sense. She wants to know how that knowledge is used to manage wild-harvested resources, such as palms. I was interested in testing this idea. If you're walking down the street and someone nearby gets hit by a car, let's hope a bystander has learned CPR or basic first aid.