Translated by Marvin Najarro At three o’clock in the morning they already have the agave net bags of carrots, beets, and radishes ready. They washed the vegetables the night before; it is cheaper when they get the produce straight from the farmers’ fields. This year they also took the chance of dealing in coconuts; an important ingredient of the fruit punch consumed during the end-of-year festivities. To get the coconuts they had to travel from Chimaltenango to Escuintla, sometimes to Suchitepéquez, which means an extra expense that will greatly impact their fragile economy.   Ixmucané’s parents, after twenty years of selling…

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Translated by Marvin Najarro She just needs to tie the shoelaces of her snickers and she will be ready; with her neatly ironed uniform and carefully tied up hair, Soledad is about to start her third job. She takes a look from behind the kitchen’s door and sees that the room is full to bursting; she estimates there are at least five hundred persons that have to be served by six waiters; three women, and three men.     In the mornings she works as a seamstress in a laundromat, the mending she does fatten the business owner’s wallet; he pays her…

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Translated by Katrina Hassan She observes her cracked fingertips because of so much cleaning chemical use. Her hands, used to working the land, have now cleaned restaurants and shopping centres for twenty four years. Originally from Camotán. Chiquimula, Guatemala, Tana left her traditional indigenous clothes behind and started wearing jeans, t-shirts and tennis shoes. She belongs to the Maya Ch’orti people. Tana and another 15 girls from her community left together. Her village became a dry corridor, after decades of being fertile land that nourished the crops. There wasn’t any water nor food and this obligated Tana and many others…

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