3 Countries, 2 Months, 1 Girl

serenity, where are you?

i feel preoccupied by all kinds of things - i have since i got here. i am counting down my last days in antigua. there is no time or space to be introspective, and overall i really just want some hours to myself. on sunday - my 24th birthday - i think i will go to chichicastenango for the famous market day. and then onto to xela (quetzaltenango) to visit guatemala's second city and go on an amazing sounding hike with the guides from Quetzaltrekkers, a company that uses its revenue to fund local nonprofit organizations (http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guathome.html). i am quite excited for this and very much looking forward to roaming around the guatemalan highlands (although not excited for the cloudy days, cold nights, and constant rain). i think i am going to climb volcan tajmulco, the highest point in central america. looking forward to lots o' huffing and puffing.

my teacher cristina and i have been having really profound discussions - all in spanish thank you very much. today we talked about man - woman relations in latin america. and this eventually brought us to the topic of revenge murders. i read a while back that guatemala has a very horrifying record for homicide of young females. and most of these murders are never investigated. i asked cristina why guatemala is such a dangerous place to be a girl, and she said that a lot of the violence has to do with the profliration of gangs, or in spanish, pandillas. female pandilleras are either murdered when they try to leave the gang, or murdered by a pandillero (ex) boyfriend. violence is very hidden in antigua. i have a hard time believing that this is a dangerous place. it is a bubbling at the surface though.