Guatemala


	Ulla, here is the border between Belize and Guatemala…..




	Tell me, the country doesn’t look very rich here, does it now ?


	As usual the people are running behind our car so as to « batchich » (« deal ») with us telling us they can help us find the border and to change their currency with ours, one US Dollar is equal to seven Quetzales.


		There are 10 million 938,000 inhabitants for 108 thousand 969 square kilometers, so that’s 101 Guatemalans per square kilometer.

	You know, here, they don’t have many mining resources so the world isn’t interested in becoming rich here…

	Yet this population seems pleasant, it’s a welcome change from the inhabitants of Belize, just over the border…

Yes, XL, this country was still in the middle of civil war during the 1980s, then a terrible earthquake in Guatemala City killed millions of people and made it very difficult for the others to build a new life after all this.

Hang in there, Guatemalans, help yourselves as neither the most powerful in this world nor your politicians will help you….

But, you know, as we’re tourists, let’s be careful ; unfortunately, it’s impossible to stop in the overcrowded capital, let’s leave for the villages on the outskirts…