ABSTRACT
The construction and maintenance of the tablon irrigation system is largely a communal affair, in contradistinction to most other tablon-associated tasks. Tablones, as they exist in Panajachel and elsewhere in Guatemala, are adaptations to seasonal aridity. Tablones in the southwest corner of Jucanya are also irrigated from the Panajachel River. The entire system relies on gravity, except for the tablones adjacent to the chinampas in the center of town. The smaller links in the system-the tomas de tablones and the cunetas-are rarely filled to capacity. In the areas where terraced tablones are built on steep slopes, fitted banana frond conduits supported by cane poles are used to transport water across small saddles and around boulders. Watering the tablones from November through May, and during the canicula, greatly extends the productivity of the system. The work involved in watering tablones markedly increases the amount of labor committed to tablon culture as a system.
