Living with a host family in Guatemala
Guatemala is famed for its volcanoes, avocados and coffee. Travellers flock to the Central American country to enjoy ancient ruins and gorgeous lakes, stroll around colonial cities and bask on the beaches of both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Unfortunately, Guatemalan people aren’t always painted in the best way; British and American media often describe Guatemala (and the rest of Central America) to be a dangerous and scary place, filled with guns and drugs. It’s often suggested that while Guatemala is a beautiful country, Guatemalan culture is characterised by gang violence and kidnappings. I’m on a mission to travel deeper and see the world as it really is, not just how the media paints it. Twinning this with a desire to someday be fluent in Spanish and my realisation that uTalk isn’t quite enough to get me there, I decided to run away from responsibilities and spend two months studying in a remote city called Xela. Xela is nestled in the Guatemalan highlands and is ac...