Last week, I had the opportunity to go visit a family who live in a pueblo (village) in the beautiful mountains half and hour outside of Xela. The two girls in the family learned English with a friend of mine. One is 19 and had never gone to school but is dying to. The other is 23 and just had a baby and named her after my friend Jeanine. They make cheese and do some embroidery work as well. They have a cow and some pigs and turkeys. The father came and picked us up in a pick-up truck. My friend vomited when she got there from the smog and bumpy ride. They gave her some alka-seltzer and some kind of nausea pill. They say they always take these before they go on a long bus ride. I will have to try that next time.

They have a hard life but they enjoy every single bit of it and don`t complain. They also impressed me with their desire to learn and their appreciation for the opportunity to learn a little bit of english. I taught them a few words in Chinese and they taught me a few words in Mam and how to make corn tortillas in return. It`s a lot harder than you would think to make these tortillas nice and round.