the sticks (all the poles) were put up and tied by Kekchi men who also "thatched" the ends of the house - the roof was "thatched" by 30 Mopan men. Kekchi and Mopan are two seperate and distinct groups within the Mayan culture. They are friendly to one another, inter-marry, etc but their languages are as different as Portugese and French and many aspects of their culture are very distinctly different.