Juan's ''caminanzes''

So far my experience has been great, El Salvador and Guatemala look (and smell) similarly (i have been to El Salvador before). My favorite part so far was meeting an adorable 3rd grader named Juan. The first day we went to teach in San Pedro I briefly met Juan, he is in my friend Meryem's class that she is teaching. The next day we went to the plaza in San Pedro and Juan was alone in the plaza, Mr. Cantu then went to the store to buy a ball so we could play with Juan. Juan's soccer skills amazed everyone, he was able to proficiently do tricks that highschool soccer players are not able to do. Juan was so happy that he would not stop smiling, he then came up to me and told me that he remembered me from Friday. He then gathered most of the Junior Journey kids in the plaza and taught us how to play a hand game, it was basically ''quack-a-dilly-o-my'' but in Spanish. After Juan sat down with me and I noticed his ripped and ratty clothes So I decided to give him what was in my pocket which was five quetzales, he looked at me and gave me the biggest smile that showed off his dimples aka ''caminanzes'' (dimples in spanish).

I assumed that he would run to the corner store to spend it all on candy but instead he called over his 4 brothers and sisters and gave them one quetzal each. Juan had one quetzal left, he then gave it to his little brother to buy his grandmoher clean water. He was left with no money and continued to run around like a little child. I was left shocked both because he gave all his money away, but mostly because Juan is so responsible, when I was 9 I would have spent it all on candy for myself. Juan just represents  how different Guatemala is from the United States where some people can be so selfish and greedy. Excited for the rest of the trip - Bevs Abrego