Our nighbors/ host family have a live-in grandmother (actually, a great-grandmother). They just refer to her as “the chikay” (the granny) and she is pretty funny. She’s REALLY old, they actually don’t know how old, but everyone puts it at 80+. She can’t see much, walks at about 3 feet a minute, and uses a crooked stick for a cane. But her face is always wrinkled into this enormous smile, and she sits around by the fire looking content for much of the day. When it’s suny out, she sits around on the porch looking content. There is one thing exceptional about her: she speaks spanish, which is SUPER rare for females of her generation. As a result, i can converse with her somewhat. The other day, i asked her how she was doing. Mayan culture, unlike ours, elicits a factual response to this question, instead of a programmed “just fine.”

“My head has been hurting for about a week,” she replied.

“Really?” I asked. “Does it help when you lie down in the dark?”

“Yes, a little,” she said.

I wonder if it’s a migraine? It seems like a long time for that, though, and I am not a doctor. At her age, i suppose it could be anything.

“I will probably die soon,” she added. This is another Mayan thing: a very honest and straighforward relationship with death. It’s weird. Anyways, i hope she hangs around a little longer, she’s nice. Oh, and that’s her daughter on the left, Lina (Nas Palas’s wife).