However, the resiliency of the populace helped them to rebuild the city from ashes. The city also survived the brutal occupation by the Spanish Conquistadors. Currently, Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, attracts many westerners for its historic past. The entire market area was humming with all kinds of business activities. Though Guatemala survived a long-running civil war, its economy has been laggard, especially for the population in the lower rung.
While drinking his coffee, Sam noticed several colorfully dressed indigenous women had been trying to sell different handicrafts, while either carrying newborn babies on their back or tagging along their little children. Sam observed a young mother handed over a pack of fruity chewing gums to her beautiful little daughter, hardly five or six years old, while instructing her to stay in the area while she set out for a new round of business activity.
The girl opened the pack, took out a piece to put inside her mouth while turning her head around to find that Sam was intently observing her. She entered the café, slowly walked towards Sam, stopped and extended her gum pack offering him a piece. Sam had just left the United States in the middle of a most divisive political climate inside his own country, while starting to lose faith in human decency. This little girl’s selfless act of sharing her minimal possession with a total stranger (along with Antigua’s own tale of survival throughout the history) overwhelmed him while assuring that the humanity will survive in the little corners of this universe, whatever he left behind in my own country.