Photographers take note!!! Guatemalans are very colorful people and they do not mind posing for pictures, but expect to give them a dollar or so for doing so. Also, be aware that someone started a rumor that is making it very difficult to take pictures of kids whose parents are not around. Just as we tell our kids not to get in cars with strangers, many Guatemalans tell their children not to pose for pictures because, so the rumor goes, the pictures are used to "market" kids to foreign parents and once a "sale" is made, the photographer comes back and abducts the child. It sounds pretty ridiculous, but apparently it strikes enough of a chord with Guatemalan families to cause alarm. Considering how many abducted children in the US disappear without a trace (should we do a TV show about this? Just kidding!), the Guatemalan parents precautions might not be entirely out of place. So, if you want to take pictures of kids, ask where their parents are and if they are anywhere close by, ask the parents. Otherwise, it is perhaps better to just let the moment go. I did however, convince two girls in very colorful costume to pose, but only after I gave them some money. One looked straight at the camera but she did not smile (perhaps because she did not want to look too cute and abductable. The second one kept her face in profile and she also did not smile while I took the picture. However, when I was done, they smiled and waved goodbye. They had been sent to the local market to sell some fresh produce from their land and they went back to tending business. A couple of days later I saw a mother with two daughters,a truly colorful picture opportunity. I asked the mother and she agreed. I took some superb pictures of the two girls and then of the girls with their mother. She was selling home-woven shawls and I bought some as souvenirs. It was a good transaction and a good memory.