Adoption Under One Roof

 This is part 6 of a multi-part series written by Lee, the proud dad of a Guatemala-born son, who just returned from vacation in Guatemala with his family for the first time since adopting

Part 6

 For our last full day up at Lake Atitlan we went to visit a Maya Works project in San Marcos, specifically a group of women who make kippot (yarmulkes). Since we're Jewish, and actually have had some of the kippot for several years, we wanted to meet the women who make them and learn a bit about their lives. I'd emailed Maya Works-Guatemala a few weeks before our trip and they were very accommodating (I'd been advised by the Maya Works office here in the US to write them in Spanish, if at all possible, which is what I did and our communication was all in Spanish). We were asked to bring some soft drinks and snacks for the women and to try to buy the kippot from the women directly (rather than through their "leader").
  
 We took a public lancha to San Marcos (which the boys loved), hailing it down from the dock at the house we were renting, much like you'd hail a taxi! San Marcos is an interesting place. The lower town is a retreat/spirituality center. In fact there was one such center right by the dock offering services I had never ever heard of. My favorite was "Partnering with Your Inner Child." I've heard of getting in touch with one's inner child and I suppose that partnering is the next level of that relationship.
 
 Maria, the leader, and her assistant, Marta, met us at the dock about 15 minutes after we arrived. The lower town was dotted with massage places, restaurants, hotels etc. It was very pleasant, with lots of vegetation and solid sidewalks. There was also a bilingual Kakchiquel-Spanish preschool in this part of town.
 
 Soon, we were in the upper town, walking past the school, various tiendas, and along a dirt-and-rocks street until we came to a building where there were about 15 women present, some of them weaving Kippot. A few of the women's children were with them. We served them the soft drinks and cookies as we talked - I'm sure they were amused to be served by men!