I remember I had a fight [in the United States] with some stupid Indian from the village.
 We were washing dishes together in a seafood restaurant in Cambridge (MA). He told me
 that here in the United States I wasn't any better than him so I better stop acting creido
 [stuck-up]. I told him that even though we were the same to the gringos, we both knew....
 no matter what..... that I was a schoolteacher back home and he would always be an
 Indian.

 Regardless of the prevailing cultural attitude in the United States, Don Fulano continued to

feel superior to the Maya migrants, as he gave no credence to North American racial beliefs that

lump all Latin Americans, Ladinos and Mayas alike, into the same category. He returned to

Pinula after earning enough money to feel certain he would never have to work in the United

States again.

 In spite of the way many Ladino migrants continue to believe in their superiority, some

Maya, like Osvaldo, feel that, in the United States, everyone is the same, and this perception

comes with a certain satisfaction: they realize that whether they are on the job or on the streets,

the gringos do not make any distinctions between Maya, Ladinos, or other Hispanics. Logically,

the Maya cherish the opportunity to be seen as equals to their oppressors, while many Ladinos

resent this aspect of the migrant experience in the United States.

 In addition to the way migration influences racial perceptions about the relationship

between Mayas and Ladinos, it also affects cultural attitudes between different Maya ethnic

groups. The Pokomam Maya from the Eastern Highlands, for instance, have never experienced a

sense of solidarity or ethnic pride by associating themselves with other Maya; they have never

even used the word "Maya" in reference to themselves. As second-class citizens in their

hometown community, they have always been known as indigena natural, or in its more

derogatory form, Indio. In Boston, the Pokomam Maya live and work alongside Quiche and

Mam Maya from the Western Highlands, whose pride in their indigenousness is pronounced, and

who thus exhibit a self-concept that is vastly different from that of the Pokomam. One Pokomam