Guatemala is a country quite famous for its colourful traditional fabrics and the more infamous civil war that damaged mainly the poor people – as usual I may say- most of all originally Maya. My mind always brings together colours with playfulness, maybe because in Italy we have black for mourning, white for wedding and all other colours free of meaning. 36 years of civil war – born into the well-known interlacing interests of economic and power in between North, Central and South America (see Operation PB Success) – which finished in 1996 only, cannot leave smiling people on its way, even if they wear colourful clothes…
It has been the first time that I have seen a policeman with a tommy-gun inside a church while Mass is being celebrated. Of course I couldn’t resist asking him to model for a picture, I didn’t want to forget it and he silently accepted but not inside the church.
Guatemalans don’t seem to have recovered from their recent history yet and what it has brought in the present time. But the country still remains a place to visit for hundred reasons. With a respectful tourism you may bring money to help its development and in change you can receive a great lesson about XX century history from the best teacher ever: LIFE.