Guatemala an amazing country full of amazing people. It is
most definitely different here, for once being the foreigner that gets stared
at everywhere you go, that does not understand the language. This feeling of being
lost and confused is surprisingly sweet. Going from my ever so constant and
safe everyday environment to a country that is much faster paced, and not safe
at all is intriguing.
I came into this country without having a single clue of
what to expect other than knowing that I was going to barley know the language,
that I would be stared at for being a white blonde American, and that there was
poverty. This is basically all that I knew which was good because I am
pleasantly surprised even though this country has so much hurt there is so much
beauty behind it.
There are two types of people in Guatemala those that have
and those that have not there is no in-between. You are either a doctor,
lawyer, or law enforcement, or you are someone who just makes it by with what
they have, you either live in a very protected gated community that has guard
with massive guns walking around 24/7 or you live on your own in a hut that you
most likely made by hand and have to do everything in your power to keep it
running in order to survive. Did I mention that fact that the law enforcement
does not keep you safe, they are there just to bargain and get what they can
from you, the entire thing is corrupt.
I have seen both the haves and the have nots, driving by in
a car around a community where the houses are a few pieces of tin held up by
tree branches and rope. Seeing the people labor over fields and carrying
massive amounts of crops on their heads and backs. Or the haves, the ones that
have cars, the ones that live just as if they are American. The two sides have
monumental differences.
Driving today we rode by a building that had about fifteen
women standing outside the doors, I was quickly told that those women were prostitutes.
I could literally feel a part of my heart being ripped off knowing that this is
not a choice for them, knowing that the only way that they can provide for
their families is by selling themselves to the men of this community. I was
brought to tears knowing that they have no way out because it is either sell
their bodies or die. Yet this country has so much hidden beauty behind all of
the poverty and corruption. THIS is the country that I have fallen in love
with.
The country that the road kill is dogs instead of squirrels
and birds. The country where you see more kids playing on the side of the
highway than you see them with their parents. The country where you can go to
the market and purchase a pineapple for 75 cents. The country where if you have
a car you are lucky. The country where McDonalds can be delivered to you on a
motorcycle. The country where traffic laws are an option. The country where safety
is never guaranteed. The country where the beauty of its land and people
surpasses and outshines the amount of poverty around it. This is the country
that I have fallen madly in love with.
