Las ancianas
Maria Chiquival, doesn't know age. My father died when I was young. He was a merchant. He bought textiles and thread in Quetzaltenango and sold them here in Santiago. My mother wove.

I never married. I learned to weave clothing. (Maria is missing her left hand, from birth.) I learned to weave and to tortillar (she shows how she patted using the stump of her left arm as the opposing hand). I worked on the coast, making tortillas for 20 men. I rose at 1AM to start grinding the corn.