them out. Not anyone is going to help you out because it's a lot of money and we all work
 hard to make something of ourselves. I think it's hard to earn your money. So with the fact
 that no person is going to help out anyone without really knowing them.


 One Ladina woman in Boston explained that she had to threaten her family members to

help her migrate, saying that if they didn't contribute something, she would do it on her own.

Fortunately for her, she already had a large extended network of relatives who were return

migrants or who were already living in the United States. While Ladino men were the first to

migrate, it soon became a common custom for young Ladino men and women to attempt to

migrate to the United States after high school graduation. Among the Maya, a few married

women and a handful of young single women have migrated, but it is still uncommon.

 Ladino men are more likely to return to Pinula than Ladina women. While there are many

returning Ladino males in San Pedro Pinula, there are only a handful of returning Ladina women.

Ladina women in Boston reported that they would prefer to return to either the town of Jalapa or

Guatemala City rather than return to San Pedro Pinula. Some of these women report that they

feel San Pedro Pinula is too conservative and that, even though they remember it fondly and miss

their childhood home, they would be bored. Nonetheless, female migrants in Boston still discuss

the possibility of returning for retirement after their children finish school and leave home,

though they admit it would be difficult to re-assimilate.

 Among the eight female return migrants I interviewed in San Pedro Pinula, over half

returned willingly due to family obligations or an inability to adapt to life in the United States.

The other three returned with their families but would have preferred to remain in the United

States. Each of the three who returned against their wishes felt that returning has had a negative

impact on their relationships with their husbands, saying that their husbands became more macho

upon their return from the United States. Marta, a Ladina woman in her thirties, cried