Esperanza habla tells the story of the huge changes in life in rural Panama over the last century. The book is based on 50 years of field visits by anthropologist Gloria Rudolf and told through the eyes of Esperanza Ruiz, who lives in rural Coclé Province in Panama.

The book, edited by Walo Araújo for Ciudad del Saber, is a translation of Esperanza Speaks, published by University of Toronto Press. It was a recreation of the English version, where I had to include some provinces that were missing in the original which used an outdated administrative map. Academic maps are very straightforward, complementing information in the text, usually reproduced in black and white and without frills, focusing on very specific data points, in this case pointing out the location of Coclé Province in central Panama.