I’m writing this while procrastinating packing. It’s a necessary procrastination, as much of my wardrobe is still dripping wet on the clothesline from being washed 2 days ago. Unless the sun makes a particularly convincing appearance today, I may be traveling to Florida with a trash bag full of wet clothes in my luggage. 

Laundry issues aside, I’m really going to miss Patzún. The little town has come to feel like home over the last month. Walking everywhere, greeting almost everyone as you pass with a “¡Xseq’ër k’a!” or “¡Xqa q’ij k’a!”, starting to recognize people as the days go by, developing favorite afternoon hangouts in the central park or the little café, learning where the good bread and cakes are sold… Knowing a town in detail makes it grow on you. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVkRFHsBP_3/ 

(I can’t embed these photos from my phone so you’ll have to wait until I have wifi for this to look pretty)

I feel like I have family here- two sisters, an aunt, and a nephew. They’ve helped me recover from illness twice, included me in family events, and chatted with me around the dinner table. We’ve talked about divorces, boyfriends, kids, politics, earthquakes and hurricanes, differences between “here” and “there”… I’ve played soccer and “caballeros y princesas” with Daniel, and with matchbox cars, play dough, the games on my phone… I’m going to miss them. 

I’m going to miss the field school folks too, all dozen-plus students and the Kaqchikel teachers and the faculty involved. We’ve all made good friends and come together to help each other as best we can, even when our research interests are different. 

But I’ll be back again next year in June.