Writing POC 101

Guatemalan Characters - @rihnues

Hello!

My name is Jude and I'm Guatemalan. If you don't know where Guatemala is, it borders Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche and a bit of Quintana Roo, which is basically just southern Mexico.

We're often thought of to be short Mexicans or Indian. Dude, we're neither, well I'm half Mexican but that doesn't matter right now. Before the Spanish conquistadors came to Guatemala, it was part of the Maya Civilization. Guatemalans are sometimes known as Chapines. It's really just kind of a nickname for us. Girls are called chapinas sometimes. It's overall something only Guatemalans call each other because if someone whose not Guatemalan calls us that it can be seen as offensive.

Guatemala is thought of to be as dirt-cheap and outright nasty. I'll admit, some parts of Guatemala are really bad but I'll get to that later. Guatemala is a truly beautiful country and its culture is really great. We have lots of great food and great people. Guatemala is a country that's full of opportunities and such things. Many people assume we're all rapists or bad people. So many influential people have come from Guatemala and many don't even realize it.

A lot of people think we're just the short, worse version of Mexicans, but we're really not. We're quite a diverse bunch. My cousins are fully Guatemalan and they have hazel eyes and can pass as white. While I can pass as white too, some of my family can't. They pass as other ethnicities such as Indian, African-American, and Native American. But, we're not any of those, we're Guatemalan.

Jumping straight into it, food. Food is amazing, I will admit I will always prefer Guatemalan food to Mexican food. That's pretty shocking seeing as I grew up with my Mexican mother and not my dad. Pache is the best thing ever, trust me. Garnachas, Jocón, Shucos, Rellinitos de plátano, Yuca and foods like that are some things that are eaten in Guatemalan households. They all are pretty tasty man.

Many languages are spoken in Guatemala. My family speaks Spanish and Kaqchikel, I don't really understand Kaqchikel but I can understand basic things. Spanish is becoming the main language in Guatemala though. If you're going to write about a Guatemalan character just know that Guatemalan Spanish is different. They use vos when addressing someone, the full words is vosotros but they've shortened it. There's different wordings for common objects. Like Jacket is chumpa. So watch out for that.

Guatemalan parents are often very close minded and traditional. Mothers are supposed to stay at home and take care of the child according to the men. Men are very sexist and oof man. Families are often quite big and there's a lot of children. I mean like very big, when my family migrated to the USA it expanded even more. Like now I have family members in Poland and it's crazy.

I think that's really all I can say so far but if you have any questions, feel free to message me! My account is @rihnues and I'm on most of the time.

Anyways, adios!