When I think about what experiences from this trip I am most excited to share with my family, I think about the time we spent in Yaxunah. Both personally and academically, I think it encapsulates what I have learned and will take away from this trip. When living with the host family, it was impossible to ignore all the ways the tourist economy had impacted their lives and the village. They spoke to us about changes such as recent generations speaking Spanish as their first language rather than Mayan and an increase in modern homes being built rather than traditional Mayan huts despite traditional homes being much more cooler and practical for the weather. All of these changes combined with the fact that so much of the experience in Yaxunah and with the host family was designed to be catered to tourists like us made me face the inequities of tourism and how tourism actively creates a sort of modern day imperialism.
Despite all of this, the experience I had was overwhelmingly positive. Our host mother was generous enough to show us and let us try all of the different types of fruit trees they had grown, and they even had two dogs, Canela and Poka, who were a part of the family. Despite the language barrier, I could tell they were spoken about with the same fondness universal to pet owners across cultures, with the mother telling us stories about a mischievous puppy Canela who would roll around everywhere because she was so fat as a puppy. In exchange, we shared stories about our own pets and plants we had grown (or tried to at least) in our own backyards. These kinds of conversations and experiences were the furthest thing from a tourist experience yet felt the most fulfilling and will definitely shape how I travel in the future. Despite having different life experiences and backgrounds, we still laughed over the same jokes and were able to find much more in common than I initially thought; I hope to always remember that at the end of the day, we are all people who find fat puppies cute and enjoy a good mango on occasion!
