90 days

Three months is all I have left until I turn 26 exceeding the maximum marriageable age, doomed to spend the rest of my life as a lonely spinster—this according to my new Guatemalan friend. He also claims that Hillary Clinton used to be a lingerie model, so I am not exactly taking what he says as fact.

He lives right next to the Nu’Kem office where I go to work everyday. We first met about four weeks ago when he stopped by the store with a bottle of medicine for me to translate. Vitamin C…hmm, “Vitamina C” in Spanish. Now whenever he sees me he likes to strike up a conversation. Usually he talks about his days working on the Chixoy dam comparing the work ethic of the different European nationalities assigned to the project (Germans: hard workers and very intelligent; Italians: beautiful women but are tied to the mafia). This past Friday our chat in which marriage was discussed started like this:

“You are very pretty.”

“Uh, thank you.”

“You just need to wear some make-up.”

“I am wearing make-up.”

“Well, maybe you should wear more.”

Now was I a sensitive person or remotely concerned about getting married, I am sure his comments would have cast me into a slight depression. Fortunately I am not—which is a very good thing given the frequency in which the subject of marriage and my lack of being in that state is brought up. It is extremely rare in Guatemala, especially in indigenous communities, for a woman in her mid-twenties not to be married or at least to have a couple of kids. My declaration of singleness is usually met with a look of shock or pity and followed with, “Well, you’ll just have to find yourself a Guatemalan boyfriend,” (something I know the women in my association are already plotting in an effort to get me to stay for more than two years).

So I am down to my last 90 days with no prospects. Had I previously been made aware of this 26-year-old marriage cutoff, perhaps I would have put a little effort forth in my early twenties. But probably not. Happy single I am. Happy single I will be.