tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536009439433682752.post1954463478618212037..comments2023-04-26T08:39:57.613-06:00Comments on An Expat Family and Their Adventures: Violence in GuatemalaBenjamin Barnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06143931257883543792noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536009439433682752.post-60863684270991090202010-09-26T16:10:56.769-06:002010-09-26T16:10:56.769-06:00Thanks for your comments, Michelle.Thanks for your comments, Michelle.Benjamin Barnetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06143931257883543792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1536009439433682752.post-62321549465498105822010-09-26T15:01:54.931-06:002010-09-26T15:01:54.931-06:00I experience Guate first hand this past June and J...I experience Guate first hand this past June and July. I was a bit shocked by all the men with big guns, but got used to seeing them after a few days. It is just weird shopping at stores with armed guards. I was accompanied by hubby's family members and my husband-and no one bothered a white, fat, blonde blue eyed gringa. I am fluent in Spanish, and speak Guate slang as well, so I am sure I fit in language wise. We stayed in a safer part of zona 18 and I really didn't venture out at night except with hubby in the late model Toyota we had shipped down. I sat outside alot, the colonia where my brother in law lives is pretty quiet, and just off Ruta Atlantico. No one bothered me, and times I went up the road to the store usually my mother in law came with me to keep me from getting the gringo price lol. All in all, I felt pretty safe, didn't do anything to call attention to myself, did not carry a purse, kept my quetzales in my bra like my mother in law did, and pretty much laid low. It also helped that my brother in law had his gun on him at all times, just in case. (yup, he has a legal permit for one, cost about $1000 USD for the permit and the gun but well worth it to him after he was assaulted and almost killed for his Toyota truck a few years back)Michele P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12378360564649821012noreply@blogger.com