How living in Guatemala may help your self-esteem

If you need a little confidence booster, you might try walking down one of these cobblestone streets, preferably while wearing accessories. The number of flatters will be directly proportional to how many accessories you´re wearing. Each earring doubles them. A long necklace quadruples them. A watch doesn´t count. You will soon start noticing strange hissing and kissing noises (I can only describe it as ¨Ch! Ch!¨ or ¨Ts! Ts!¨), or cars slowing and honking, their drivers staring at you with big goofy grins. My personal favorite is when a man says a long, ¨Hola,¨ then as you pass and ignore him answers with a sad, ¨¡Adios!¨

I was walking back to my apartment yesterday, carrying armfuls of groceries. As I pass them, I hear two men say to each other, ¨Ay, que hermosa...¡que hermosa! Es extranjera.¨ (Ay, how pretty, how pretty! She´s a foreigner.) I couldn´t suppress a smile. I remember my host mom in Spain saying she was sad the day she stopped getting harassed.