Guatemala is a place of culture and spice. When I was adopted from Guatemala I was only seven months old so I never got to experience the country. I was born in Quetzaltenango near the volcano Tajumulco. When I was born I was given to a foster family until I was adopted. My foster family consisted of a mom a dad and their daughter Serena. While I was there I watched the chickens in the yard and ate corn and chicken on a regular basis. I can’t remember any of this but this is what my foster mother told the translator. When my mom and dad picked me up from Guatemala, I had a double ear infection and I was the only baby in my parent’s hotel that was screaming my head. If my father had not gone to the doctor in Guatemala I don’t think he would have ever found out that there was a hurricane coming. Luckily my parents got the last flight out of Guatemala before hurricane Mitch hit.
When my parents adopted me, they were told that I was Mayan. The Maya were a sophisticated civilization that lasted hundreds of years and inhabited many countries in Central America. When I learned that I was Mayan I wanted to know everything about them. When I was younger my knowledge of the Mayan was limited to knowing that they discovered zero, and played a game where if your team lost, you would get your head cut off. (Now scientist thinks that the winners got their heads chopped off instead of the losers.) Now I know a bit more like, how their counting system works, they have a sophisticated calendar which predicts that we will all die in 2012, and the many Mayan cities around central America. I am hopeful that one day I will be able to go to the Ruins and learn even more and maybe discover something new.
