Wait, Jaime, so did YOUR Maria have a hysterectomy? Or was it another Maria? Or had the doctor just written that because it sounded like a better excuse?

Regarding the problem of answering all questions yes... my landlord here in Illinois has found a (most likely illegal) Guatemalan immigrant to do some concrete work on the basement and build a set of stairs. He's from 2 hours south of Huehue, and I could tell right away that he's not a native Spanish speaker.

It turns out that his father, who also did not speak Spanish, was killed during the civil war for answering all the questions yes. The army had caught him and asked, "Do you know the insurgents?" "Did you help the insurgency?" And he just said yes, yes, yes, because he had no idea what they were saying, so they shot him. The son went to Guatemala City alone at age 9 to work, and learned Spanish there, and somehow ended up correcting my landlord's shoddy concrete work here.