Categoría: Inglés

Translated by Marvin Najarro Lena opens the bag and takes out what she thinks is the last piece of champurrada (traditional Guatemalan cooky), but to her surprise, a handful of smaller pieces are mixing in with the pozolero (crumbs). Astonished, she closes her eyes and looks inside the bag again, it looks like a big hollow. Urgently, she closes her eyes again, wishing not to find the big hollow when she opens them again, but it is still there, motionless. By then, Lena has fallen into a state of stupor, like when she first saw the red earth of Salamá.…

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Translated by Marvin Najarro Milvia was just twelve years old when she was handed over to a thirty-six-year-old man who had already lived with three different women and fathered seven children. It was common knowledge that he beat the women he had lived with, and that when he grew tired of them, he would simply leave and never come back, abandoning the mothers and their children. He was a regular at Rojo bar, the only bar in town. His drinking sessions could happen at any time, but this was of no importance to Milvia’s father because his future son-in-law would…

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Translated by Marvin Najarro News about the aproaching winter storm prompted people to rush to the supermarkets to stock up on essentials. Lupita was no exception. She bought the usual staples: vegetables for her salads, rice and two pounds of beef ribs, as soup is a must on stormy days. She also bought bread because she could no drink coffee without it. The other day she made lentil soup with spinach, as well as tortitas de carne (meat patties) with watercress. She does not like the way chard looks, dull and with wilted leaves, and she does not feel like to cook…

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Translated by Marvin Najarro While looking for coffee and vanilla ice cream in the frozen food section, Baudilia discovered a Nacimiento (nativity scene), it was like finding her favorite cinco (marble), her tira (marble shooter), after looking for it in the pigsty, under the tapesco de las gallinas (chicken coop), in the corner where the goats sleep, in the nest of feathers of thecoquechas (guinea fowls),  and even under the two meters of gravel left over from the construction of the house’s tapial (mudwall). It was her favorite tira that always brought her luck in winning at playing triangle, holes, and turtle. When she saw the bag of…

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Translated by Marvin Najarro Clemencia bought frijol camagua, ripening beans.She was looking for sweet peppers and onions, but the beans in nía Maria’s basket tried hard to catch her attention. First, they stood on their heads, jumped, raised their hands and danced, but Clemencia was too busy looking for the healthiest peppers. The frijol camagua did not give up and deployed their last tool, they belly flopped over the bundles of siete montes, seven herbs, they knew it was the only way to catch the attention of the distracted woman. With five peppers in the bag, Clemencia looked for the onions, but like a thick…

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Translated by Marvin Najarro The rain started around four in the afternoon and it has not stopped since. Fausta put herself in the hands of god, lit a candle to El Señor de Esquipulas and tucks her six pollitos, children, into bed with the poncho she bought in installments from a vendor who comes every Thursday from Momostenango, ajenando, hawking, pillowcases, sheets, ponchos, blankets, and traditional tablecloths. He always comes with his teenage son, and they travel around the town and villages with their wares a mecapal. Fausta let them to warm their tortillas over the embers under the comal. They carried their tortillas in a morral, which theyslung…

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Translated by Marvin Najarro As she does every day, she wakes up at three in the morning, stretches her body out on the metal bed with the wobbly leg and jumps off landing on her feet on the dirt floor. She unbars the makeshift door and goes outside to brush her teeth and wash her face with cold water that received the night’s dew. She cuts a lemon in half, sprinkles a little baking soda on it, and rubs her sobacos with it. She ties her hair into a ponytail, puts on her shoes, and grabs a sweater. She starts walking down…

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