Alejos is 25 and it was great to share the experience with him. Some things—the latrine, the food, the poverty—really shocked him. I watched him enjoying playing with the kids and learning to pulp coffee. Part of the project included a stipend for the families but he told me that he would have felt guilty eating if we hadn´t helped with the work. Not all of the participants were as open as Alejos, and it reminded me a lot of the project that I used to work with in Toksook Bay taking urban teachers to the Bush. I had a hard time listening to the women (unfortunately it was mostly the women) complain about their time in the villages as if it were some sort of trial that they had survived. They made a special effort to distance themselves from their host families when they described their visits. It made me sad, and also really angry, that they didn´t seem to learn anything from being there, that they were just counting the days until they could go home and get their hair done. It’s hard for me not to judge them, and to trust in the miracle of reflection. Perhaps, in time, they will have other ways to connect with the experience.

I was just happy to be out of the city, to be free to walk around without constantly watching my back. The mountains were beautiful and the families we stayed with were great, and invested in showing us what life is like in their Guatemala.