05 - Dangerous roads

To continue with the things Per told me during the beginning of my trip;

When we were driving on the road to Yalambojoch, the things he talked about seemed more and more serious and shocking. After a while he pointed out this place that he had told me about, where a massacre had occurred; a big bunch, I don't remember how many exactly but at least more than ten, of people were killed at that field because of a war between the local cartels. The scary thing was not hearing it, since we Swedes tend to hear about such things on television a lot, but realizing that it's so close was quite shocking for me. It felt as connecting the two worlds, with secure Sweden on one side and the “horrible places we see on television” on the other, mixing it all together in my head. Because, in the end, it is still the same planet, and seeing as I basically went on a “tourist trip” which took me around three days and got me so close to this previous massacre, well... It is closer than I imagined.

And it's not just a one time happening. Have you ever seen a cross on the edge of a dangerous mountain road? Where people have died in Latin America by for example driving off a cliff, they tend to put up these crosses as a memorial. I saw them in the mountains of Peru, but in Guatemala was the first time I had seen it on flat ground. There, Per told me, the crosses were for those who died in battles between the cartels. And this was just a few kilometres from where I am now.

Hang on, it gets worse. Per told me he bought a gun himself for the time when he was threatened by someone because of I think some feud about land. I'm not going to say who it was since I am not sure how much I'm allowed to write without being threatened myself (Per got into trouble with some company he criticized once), but I can say it's someone on a pretty decent level of power.

One last thing before I stop scaring the guts out of my friends (I hope my mother isn't reading this, heheh). I was told there is this rumour, that certain Gringos (that includes me) are after stealing children and taking their body parts. So in certain villages you might get attacked if you're acting strangely. For example, there was a Japanese tourist who was going on a bus trip around the villages, and he was eating an orange with a knife. He saw a kid, and tried offering a piece of orange to him on the tip of the knife. You can guess what happened. He was lynched, the villagers killing both him and the bus driver, for a simple misunderstanding.
(I was told many regretted their actions later, which is understandable. They are still people, not savages)

So, well... This is a pretty exciting trip, isn't it? Of course, here in Yalambojoch they seem way more used to Gringos like me, and have in fact been very friendly so far. Still, I do not dare to take photos down in the village yet. I'll wait with that until later. Still got three weeks left now, aye? <:

¡Nos vemos!