This reminded me a lot of  The Golden Dream (I seem to remember a character in that film saying he was from Guatemala), and for a moment I thought it was going in that direction (there's talk of eloping to the USA via Mexico) however Maria ends up stuck in her village, and things take a turn when her pregnancy due date approaches. I won't say too much, and there's not much here you haven't seen in many other films about young women striving to break free from the wilderness, but it's the Maya village life, culture and customs that make this truly fascinating to watch. Maria's mother (María Telón) was the real centrepiece here, her perforamance is terrific. As for the volcano, it barely features, but its rumblings are always to be heard, both literally and metaphorically. A wonderful film.