K’iche’

Guatemala, Mi Amor: Day Two (The Return)

March 30, 2024March 30, 2024 First Person ForeignCultural Difference

I watched the driver reach for the machete with his free hand as we careened across the InterAmerican Highway. With his hand clasping the wheel, he used the machete to push something unstuck. There we were, all[…]

Living on the Border 3: Soy libre / I am free

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 First Person ForeignBeauty

I didn’t even see it coming. I never know how I am going to feel as I turn left into the parking lot of the Benedictine Monastery with not a cloud in the sky. With[…]

TOURING GUATEMALA (3): Unplugged in Semuc Champey

April 19, 2019April 19, 2019 First Person ForeignBeauty

We woke up on our third day of travel in Flores, and made it onto the bus without a problem. This time we would not wait for the bus to come to us, like the[…]

Hi-Lo 3: Holding Hands and Africa

October 26, 2018October 26, 2018 First Person ForeignCompany

The weekend was ending. I was excited to get back to Santa Clara, to my bed, to my home. We bid Ryan goodbye, Sabrina and I, and got on a bus. The first of many.[…]

Hi-Lo 1: Of Witches and Güipiles

October 15, 2018 First Person ForeignBeauty

My sister founded an Inner-City Soccer League in 2010. Every week she would pick-up a group of young kids and bring them to a church program. My sister would ask for everyone’s Hi-Lo on the[…]

Year Two Like a Mango

March 24, 2018March 24, 2018 First Person ForeignGuatemala

Mango pits dusted the February pueblo streets: dotting my daily route with off-white pits decorated by stringy remains. One day in January there are no mangos and the next day there are mango pits everywhere[…]

El Tobillo (or.. when I fell) | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

September 24, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

Before that day, that fateful afternoon, I could say wrist, liver, distinguished, decade, hallucinogen, family planning and chemotherapy in Spanish, but not ankle. So when I called my host sister and said “Yo necesito ayudo[…]

Me Cuesta | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

April 5, 2017April 10, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

November 24, 2016: We stood in a circle on the grass as our boss passed out classic manila folders. We were celebrating Thanksgiving Day in the cocoon of the well-manicured office. Like it was a medical[…]

Doblar Rodillas | 75 Palabras in Guatemala

February 19, 2017February 19, 2017 First Person Foreign75 Words in Guatemala

I’d never heard the phrase until I was in a conversation I stumbled into the first week of January. And like with so many phrases that fly past me like patterned barriletes I can’t remember,[…]

Arrival into Site: The First Morning

January 5, 2017 First Person ForeignBlank Slate

On my first night: As we eat, I look over at Doña Clara at 88 years old as she calmly eats. As her daughter teaches me K’iche words, she erupts in laughter, her body doesn’t[…]