After a long morning spent hiking through the Ixil Triangle in Guatemala, we hurriedly began the walk back to the hostel, hoping to avoid the afternoon rain. As we walked through the tiny town of Acul, we passed a group of young kids at school, yelling and waving. They enticed us into the school to take photos, only to run away whenever we got close. This happened at least 5 times. The teachers laughed and we began to walk away, but then contemplated turning back to poke our heads into the classroom.
Going back would definitely mean walking home in the rain, but we decided to chance it. When we entered the classroom, instead of being greeted with laughs and smiles, most of the kids started crying, cowering behind the teachers, in fear of these foreign visitors. We were scared that we had permanently scarred the children, but after a few minutes they started to open up to us. We end up staying for an hour, learning Spanish versions of childhood songs (including the Hokey Pokey) and teaching them a few English ones, like Old McDonald. Here’s some of the cuties we met there:
