Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

This woman is sitting on the steps of the church in the center of Chichicastenango's bustling market in the highlands of Guatemala. My husband and I just took a year off of graduate school to volunteer and live in a small Kaqchikel Maya village, and Chichi was a short day trip away on the "chicken bus." This picture captures so much of the visceral feel of Guatemala -- the brilliant colors, the lush plant life, and also the way you could see how difficult life was in the deeply etched lines on people's faces. The look in her eyes -- a combination of determination and resignation -- is a look we saw on the faces of patients at the clinic countless times over the year. I love it because I think it captures why Guatemala is simultaneously beautiful and sad.