Sunshine, Mangoes and History

If you have never enjoyed the sweet delight of eating a mango recently picked from a tree in the sunshine of the day, you are missing out on one of life´s perfect moments. Yesterday my host family invited me to join them on a trip to the market and introduced me to some of daily life here. My host mother stressed that everyone selling something at the market was indigenous, and it once again helped me realize how little separation there is in the realities of many countries worldwide. Here I am a foreigner living with the descendants of the Spanish immigrants who conquered these lands and impoverished the native peoples. Thankfully I know my tuition dollars support the education of girls within indigenous communities, so at least a portion of my economic contributions here will be going to those who need them the most.

My time in Guatemala has been thus far what I imagine life is like for male Peace Corps volunteers (I cannot explain this, you either understand what I mean or you do not, sorry.). I have a key to my host family´s house, and I come and go without question. I try to let them know when I am not going to be around, but I feel absolutely no pressure from this family to do anything. It is great! Plus, I get to wear pants. I feel weird about it from time to time, especially as I pass men on the streets, but mostly it has been an easy adjustment. (During my time in Peace Corps I wore skirts every day except a handful for two years...usually two skirts, one overlaying the other.)

Ria (woman from Holland also living with my host family) and I attended last night´s graduation ceremony at Celes Maya. There were a handful of people there who will be continuing on in their studies, so we now have some friendly faces to look for at school come Monday.