upper-class Ladina, recounted her negative migration experience as a chambermaid in the United

States. When her younger brother decided to migrate to the United States, she warned him that

he would return soon:

 I know how it is there. I worked as a hotel maid-can you believe that? I told my brother
 that he wouldn't like working under anyone. Like the rest of us in this family, we are used
 to being the boss. Here he is the patron and there he will be nothing. There I was just a
 maid. Here I am the patrona.

 For many Ladinos, working as a migrant means accepting a downgrade in social prestige,

which is often seen as not worth the dollars they earn. Many Ladinos see little need to go to the

United States, viewing migration as an adventure and an exercise in building economic capital

rather than as a necessity. For Adela, like many Ladinos, returning to Pinula represents a return

to the high status bestowed upon them from birth.

Inter-ethnic Marriages

 International migration also results in an increase in inter-ethnic relations and marriages,

which were formerly an absolute taboo. Though inter-ethnic relations always existed between

Ladino patrons and their Maya servants, often resulting in illegitimate children (hijos de casa),

formalized unions between Ladinos and Mayas were nearly non-existent. Today, however, such

relationships often develop in the United States, since migrants are not under the immediate

influence of their parents or their community; most of these unions involve Ladino men and

Urban Maya women. Conversely, inter-ethnic marriages in Pinula generally unite urban Maya

returnees with local Ladina women. Community members often view these marriages as racially

offensive and degenerate. Moreover, they attribute such unions to greediness and witchcraft.

 Unions between Ladino men and Maya women do occur in Pinula, but they usually

remain "illicit" or involve extramarital affairs. Ladino men consider Maya women sexual objects

to be easily taken at the patron's will. Indeed, in interviews, local men describe Maya women as