Country of the eternal spring

This is by far the hardest time I’ve had for writing a post. I don’t know if my neurons evaporated away during this past week, or if the topic I’m about to write on is ‘a bit complex’; but, whatever.
Now that we are in Guatemala I thought I should dedicate a post to describing the place.

I could give you tourist/traveler information such as:
GUATEMALA land of the Mayas, volcanoes, colors, great views and of course the country of the everlasting spring.

Or I could give you data such as:
Total area: 108,889 km²
Population: 14, 099, 032 (July 2011 est.)     
Government type: Constitutional democratic republic 
Population below poverty line: 54% (2011 est.)
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gt.html#top)

But I figured you can easily find these kinds of information online.

So, instead I will let you know some things from this country, that someone coming from Europe (or from any other region or country in this planet where things don’t seem to work so upside down as here) could regard as “interesting”, or “different” or “crazy” or “not normal”… however you want to put it, it’s your call.  

You’ll know you are in Guatemala when:

1.  You find yourself in the everlasting spring. It’s like the 3^rd time I write this, I know (“so annoying!”), but this is actually what foreigners like the most from this country… Not my fault.    
So, 1 year/2 seasons (a dry and a rainy season), and usually in the capital the weather varies from 14^oC to 24^oC.

2.  You see colors. It is a colorful country, from the public transportation (more concretely, the ones known as “camionetas”) to the traditional clothing, “huipiles”.

3.  People are loud. If you were to compare Guatemala to a country such as The Netherlands or Germany, no doubt this place would be synonym of ‘chaos’.

4.  You can buy your driver’s license. I know… funny, but true! I got 90 something and 80 on a theory and practical exams which I never took. So, if you ever have the chance to get into a car with me, don’t be so surprised with my ‘kamikaze’ driving style (just kidding, it’s more like a ‘Schumacher’ driving style… I’m a natural!) ;).

5.  You can find/buy cigarettes in pharmacies.

6.  Even if you’re 13 years old you won’t have to go through any trouble for buying (yourself) cigarettes or alcohol.

7.  Police equals danger. Rule of thumb! If you are in any trouble you NEVER (EVER) go to the police. I know that in lots of countries the police is something close to “an organized force for maintaining order, preventing and detecting crime and enforcing the laws” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/police?s=t).
But not in this country.

8.  Everywhere you go, including stores, malls, many residence areas, hospitals (name whatever you want), will very likely have private security people standing in front of the doors and very, very well armed.

9.  If you are driving and suddenly realize that there’s a gun being point to your head, just because they want to steal your mobile phone, don’t be so surprised.

10.         You can see regular citizens with body guards.

11.         Almost every car is either with polarized windows or some, bullet proof ones.

12.         In some cases you have to know when, where, how and with whom. As there are some neighborhoods such as “El Gallito”, which are considered high risk areas due to gangs (maybe you've heard about 'Mara 18' or 'Mara Salvatrucha'), drug dealing, etc. Though now a days, there is no such thing as a safe area, at least, not in this city.

13.         “Impunity” is this country’s last name.

14.         News are those such as: Former president accused on money laundering of (at least) 70 million US dollars.

Unfortunately, this list could keep on going and arrive to some things that are better left 'unwritten', mainly because it’s not the purpose of this blog.

There is a reason why this country is now ranked as third (after Honduras and Colombia) in being one of the most ‘warlike’, violent countries of the Latin American region.    
[Also a reason why I named my last post “Welcome to the Jungle”… (and you thought I meant a real jungle! No. I wish...)]

What’s my opinion on this whole situation?

I will maybe leave it for the next post, as I think it’s a lot to take in for one day/one post (…and in this side of the world it is also time to go sleep).
[I’ll also try to upload some pictures next time; this post seems kind of 'empty'!]