The exceptions I allowed myself

The outfit I didn't take off for four days!

Isabel, Margarita's daughter-in-law, with her baby, Angela

Isabel, Margarita's daughter-in-law, with her baby, Angela

The path down the mountain from Margarita's house. I almost fell several times just walking up the moutain!

Margarita and I in her home

Margarita and I shelling corn, (this is much harder than it looks!)

Margarita's daughter at school

First Day of School

Margarita, another mother of Bempec, helping children register for classes with her daughter, Lida. It is customary for women in the community to take shifts cooking meals and organizing children for school.

Bempec's two room primary school (and only school)

Lying down in the church above Margarita's house (why did I get sick this week of all weeks!?!)

Meeting students on their first day of school

8 Quetzales, the equivalent of one dollar (8.3Q = $1)

Shopping for beans at the Tactic market

What a dollar can buy at the Tactic market

Dorotea and I cooking an herb (weed) soup

Inside Dorotea's house, which she rents in return for crops

Dorotea

Dorotea making tortillas with her daughter, Elvira

Making tortilla's at Dorotea's house

Cornfields outside Dorotea's house

Eluvia

Eluvia weaving huipiles

Eluvia showing off a finished huipil. Each huipil takes several months to weave and sells for 30 Quetzales ($3.60)

Eluvia's Daughter, Maria

Maria (13) and Olivia (5), Eluvia's two daughters

Eluvia with a new batch of the flowers that bring her so much joy