Sanchez 1 Carla Sanchez Prof.

Zelaya CAS114B 26 March 2014 Project Space Locations (3) When assigned to merge ourselves into three different spaces, and take in the Central American experience, I was initially very excited to be able to participate and invest a lot of my time on familiarizing myself with three different locations. It was a very interesting experience, learning how Central American people are able to feel so at home in particular locations, due to the fact that they can come to them, and feel as if they are back in their homelands. I found that to be the most interesting thing about my experience in each location. For the people who have the proper documentation to travel back and forth to their home countries and back to the United States, they enjoy bringing a little piece of home back with them, but for those who cannot travel back, they find comfort within Central American oriented places, because it gives them a sense of belonging. The first location that my group and I visited, was the Guatemalteca Bakery & Restaurant, located on Van Nuys Blvd, Van Nuys California. One of the first things that we noticed while being there, was that you can see the pastry display from the street. It is very organized, and quite tasteful looking as well. We were very concerned about grasping the entire experience of the place, and one of the things that we noticed while being there, was that all of the pastries were $1.75 each. Also, the restaurant is divided into two, one area being a bakery and the other half, a busy restaurant. One of the most interesting facts about the bakery/restaurant that we discovered, was that most of the food is homemade, and authentic,

Sanchez 2 which we found to be very incredible. We also appreciated the fact that there was a lot of parking available for customers. The second location that my group and I visited, was a Guatemalan home that was very culture oriented. It contained a lot of pictures, paintings, etc. The girls home that we visited was named April, and she was nice enough to also tell our group about many of her family traditions, as well as give us some of the foods that her family eats, such as recipes passed down from generation to generation. She opened up her home to us and allowed us to see all of the culture that is kept alive within her home. She also informed us that it has become a family tradition to travel back to Guatemala at least once every year in order to keep their customs and culture alive back home. It was amazing to see how much time and effort had been put into every piece of detail that was within her home. The third and last location that I visited, was the food store Mi Pueblo. The reason why we chose this place, is because my stepdad is corporate manager for the company and he is from San Salvador, El Salvador. One of the changes that he has incorporated all throughout the twenty-two stores throughout Northern California, the bay area, central coast, and central valley, is that a lot of the Salvadoran culture is now seen throughout the many stores. Creative things, such as selling pupusas on a daily basis, as well as many Salvadorian merchandise within the store, brings in a lot of Central American customers, which allows the company to continue to grow and expand. An interesting detail about the store in Seaside specifically, is that all of the chefs that work the deli, are Salvadoran, therefore cook many Salvadoran meals for the deli department in the store. There are a number of ways in which one can define space, just as there is more than one way in which it is interpreted. The analysis above takes into consideration the race, social

Sanchez 3 economic class, and geographic themes in relation to Central America, its culture, and its people. Project Space is the ethnographic experience that my group and I had while visiting three different locations within the past two weeks or so, which are in one way or another, also connected to Central America. It was a very interesting experience, learning how Central American people can visit one of these places and feel a sense of belonging there. Aaron Terrasaz goes into this online, when discussing a lot of the challenges that Central Americans face, thus potential reasons behind why they feel the need to find comfort in places such as the Guatemalteca Bakery / Restaurant, in order to feel a sense of belonging again. All in all, space makes its way through our everyday lives, and whether we interpret it as physical space, a location, etc. it is an experience that we should all take the time to enjoy from time to time.

Sanchez 4 Works Cited "Central American Immigrants in the United States." migrationpolicy.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-american-immigrantsunited-states-0>.