I saw so much poverty in Guatemala yet I saw amazing human beings who are willing to share the little they have.
People seem to be happy although in my view they seem to struggle in the material sense. Sometimes I ask myself, would they be happier if they have more. Are my views mixed up, why do I think they would be better if they have more. How can I help these people without destroying their lives. What if they have more money, how they would use it without negatively impacting their culture and their environment. And I really struggle to find an answer.
It’s not easy to ignore the poverty in many places in Guatemala especially in the big cities like Guatemala City. I was told there are many people who live on less than 60 US dollars a month. Almost everyone I met or who heard me going to Guatemala told me to be careful, even when you read on the internet, it always says to be careful for lack of security, but everywhere and every day I experienced nothing but the warmth and the hospitality of the amazing people in Guatemala. They really try to help, when I ask for direction or if I ask for something on the bus, I always found people who were willing to help. And with the little they have they are willing to offer it to help.
I usually take public buses to travel around the cities, and just like a regular bus, there’s always 2 rows of seats, each seat will fit 2 passengers but here they try to fit 3 on each side. Although it’s not very comfortable but I always loved the experience and I always found myself the only foreigner riding these buses, but personally I feel it’s an amazing travel experience not to be missed. Although these buses are over capacity, people are smiling and laughing and if they see someone standing right away they will squeeze themselves to allow a 3rd person to join them. It just shows although these people have very little they want to share it, just amazing human beings. By comparison, back in Canada many times when I took a bus from Montreal coming back to Quebec, you will find a lot of people who doesn’t want anyone to sit next to them so they will try to place their bags next to them so it will appear full.
I met a lot of nice people in my visit, I met the owners of the hostel who were very friendly. in the last few days, just before I left I met a lady from Austria, very animated person and have this very positive energy. I also met a japanese man in his 70s who was in Guatemala learning spanish. He used to be a journalist and he spoke several languages.
I hope to be able to revisit Guatemala, I liked the energy of this place.
