**2.3. Participants**

This study was carried out before informed consent with the secondary school and high school students from San Andrés Larráinzar, Chiapas, who live in different municipalities in the area, many of which live in places and rancherías (a group of ranches) of these munici‐ palities, the reason why they have to move to school every day on foot or by public transpor‐ tation, from 1 to 2 h. Likewise, interviews with parents, teachers, and schools managers were carried out.

Access to school space was done on a number of occasions, once a week for just over a year and a half. In this process, our presence was becoming less new and more ordinary for the school staff and the students themselves. Another important aspect of this process was the attempt to approach and understand the language and culture of the participants. The fact that one of the members of the working group was originally from the same community, with knowledge of the mother tongue, made it possible for the significance of the facts, comments, and interpretations not to lead to misunderstandings.

The presentation was made in front of the participants, it was like teachers who wanted to learn about the school life of the students and teachers of the schools we visited; the frequency of our presence in different spaces of the school allowed us to have more confidence from our interlocutors, and gradually a greater understanding of their situation and the way they see the world.

<sup>1</sup> The educational system in Mexico considers as basic education: preschool, which begins at age 3 and lasts 3 years; pri‐ mary school, which begins after preschool and lasts 6 years; secondary level, which takes place after primary and lasts 3 years. Higher education comprises different kinds of high school or preparatory courses, it generally lasts 3 years and starts after high school, after high school one can start a higher level, in universities, and institutes.

Informants were approached among those who were during school breaks, waiting for the development of physical education activities, in the school cafeteria, or library. Some agreed more willingly to dialogue with us, others showed some caution, but there were always some who showed willingness to chat with us.

During the process, it was important to have field notes taken each time the schools were visited, some of which were recorded immediately after the observations or interviews were carried out, and the analysis of these working notes was subsequently carried out.
