conversations I witnessed during that summer. Conversations tended to be formal, respectful,

and short.

 Because of the logistical difficulties of using a comunitario, it is not uncommon for wives

to speak to their husbands only once every few months. Such irregular contact intensifies

feelings of separation for both husband and wife, which often results in miscommunication.

Women reported that the limitations on their ability to speak to their husbands made them feel

isolated-as if they had little control over their lives and no authority to make the decisions

affecting them and their children.

Cellular phones

 After 2001, cell phones became more commonplace throughout Guatemala and in the

municipality of San Pedro Pinula. Because it is an overwhelmingly accessible technology

(available to virtually anyone, regardless of ethnicity or income), cell phones have transformed

the Guatemalan landscape. Formerly, only the elite of Guatemalan society could have a truly

private conversation, but since the advent of the cell phone, even the inhabitants of remote

villages that have no running water or electricity (they use car batteries to recharge their phones),

can speak with family members in the United States away from the prying ears of in-laws or

other community members.

 As the following anecdote demonstrates, cell phones have proven instrumental in keeping

family members connected: one afternoon I was visiting a prestigious Ladino family in the

nearby village of Santo Domingo, an aldea of San Pedro Pinula; Santo Domingo had been the

first settlement before the founding of San Pedro Pinula, but because of its low elevation and

exposure to flooding (Pinula sits on a hill), the Spanish found it to be an undesirable location.

The Ladino families of Santo Domingo are well known for their strict endogamy-for the purity

of their Spanish blood; in fact, many joke about the high incidence of birth defects in the town,