#worldwidetribe

“My wife worked 8 years in Walmart-Guatemala in Central America and her dream was always to work in the home office of a big company, Walmart being that company. One night we were having dinner in Guatemala and she told me ‘Mauricio, what if I apply for a position at the home office?’ In that moment I was working in MilliCom, which is a huge telecommunications company, and before that I worked 6 years in CitiBank Guatemala, so when she told me that I knew her dream was to work at the home office and build her career. So, I said yes, it’s only an interview. A couple of weeks later, she came home and said they said yes! I said ‘Well, where is this home office? I mean is it in New York, Los Angeles? Where is Walmart?’ and she said ‘No, it’s in Arkansas.’ I thought, Arkansas? Where is Arkansas? So, I said ‘Yes, let’s do it!’

Two years ago, I left my career, my friends, my family to support my wife’s dreams and that is the reason we are living here in Bentonville. Now my wife supports me and my dream. My dream was to open a coffee shop.

I really like [Northwest Arkansas] a lot. It’s multicultural, I Iove that. I’m trying to create a multicultural joining point with 211 Cafe, because that is the magic of the coffee.

My goal is to show off my country, I’m in love with Guatemala. I know my roots and I know where I come from. That is the reason I opened 211 Cafe with Guatemalan coffee and that’s why I plan to stay with Guatemalan coffee. The social part of coffee in Guatemala is really important. You sit down in the coffee shop and talk for hours. I remember when I was a kid, I was doing my homework at my grandpa’s house and at 5pm it is the hour of coffee. They served me two or three sips of coffee and then it was time to talk. That is something really Guatemalan, I imagine it is like that in all of Latin America but here, no. Here it’s ‘I need my coffee.’ ‘I need to go to a meeting.’ ‘I need to run.’

We are expecting our first baby. We named her Sofia not only because we love the name but it’s an easy name in English and Spanish. That’s the kind of things we want to share with our little baby. She needs to know her roots. Our plan is to speak Spanish at home and we will speak English outside. We want to give her two cultures at the same time.”

Mauricio