(photographer)
📍Yucatán
I met Claudia in Valladolid, where she worked at the guest house where I was staying. People told her about my passion for photography and people. Even though we'd never spoken before, she invited me to her house in Uayma, a village in Yucatan, to meet her family.
I was super excited. The first question I asked her was, "Do you speak English?". She said no. At the time, it had been ten days since I arrived in Mexico. I was only able to speak a few words in Spanish. Despite the language barrier, we both found a way to communicate with each other.
Adolfina, la Abuela de Claudia, was happy to tell her story and give me a glimpse of her daily life. She was also very curious to learn more about the "European Way of Life".
It was a spontaneous moment, and our communication was based on mutual respect. Moments like these move me very deeply.
Meeting people in their personal space creates unique memories that are based on pure human exchanges. Needless to say that nothing is worth more than that.
Adolfina is the grandmother of Claudia, a girl who is working in the hostel I was sleeping in Valladolid Mexico.
She comes from Mayan culture, and all her life, she was a weaver and embroiderer. She made the traditional clothes of women of the village, and t
oday she is still weaving, but she no longer has a clear vision, so is it just for her and her family or selling to visitors.
She loves cooking, and she wanted to invite me another day ( I couldn’t because I had to continue my way) to taste the traditional meal of Yucatan region: La Cochinita Pibil.
But the most important thing about that story was how things were going when we met. I enter Adolfina's home as a stranger, and I was directly considered a family member. it was very warm and comfortable, and that's what differs from our western culture. Even more so, we didn’t speak the same language and yet could communicate because we respected each other, and everything was based on trust and positivity.
~ ✐ Mélissa Rosca
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