Así es la vida…

I think I’m finally starting to understand the importance of my relationships with Guatemalans and that those relationships are not just tools to improve my Spanish skills or become culturally immersed. It’s inevitable that my friends here will progressively become closer confidants as I see them on a daily basis. And while, my friends from the U.S. will always play an important role in my life, these two years will be most fully understood by the people who I live among.

Last week my host-mom from training, Doña Berta, died. I had just recently found out that she was sick and planned to visit her on my trip to the Peace Corps office. As many Guatemalan stories end, I didn’t completely understand the conclusion on how she died.

Many of us who lived in Parramos, and particularly those of us who lived with Doña Berta, went to the funeral to support the family. It felt a little like a high school reunion, with various generations (or training cycles) of volunteers who came together for an event. The family’s property was filled with friends, family and neighbors, all grieving and celebrating Doña Berta. The family had a lunch to serve the masses, and while visitors ate in the yard, Doña Berta’s bedroom housed the casket where visitors paid their respects.

Before the funeral began, the family and family carried the casket to the church. After the service, the pallbearers carried the casket to the cemetery and we watched them load the casket into the mausoleum and cement the side wall shut.

Amidst it all, the family was welcoming and happy to see the PCVs who came. The host-family from my training days are real friends, with real hugs, and sincere saludos.

At the end of the day, the family was still serving snacks to visitors who came through the house, and eventually I went to the other side of town to stay with another family who hosts Peace Corps trainees. We debriefed the day and ended saying, "así es la vida"(such is life). Everything has its beginning and its ending; the ending here proved to be sooner than expected, but I am happy to have had Doña Berta be part of my beginning in Peace Corps Guatemala.

Así es la vida…so seize the day.