Being a black traveller in Central America

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First of all, before I start this blog, I would like to congratulate myself for having lived in Guatemala City for one month all by myself. It was tough at first, but I have survived and I am blessed to be here.

There is one thing that I have noticed. As I am travelling abroad and engaged in conversation with people, they would normally ask me, "Where are you from?" and my response would be, "I am from the United States" or "Los Estados Unidos" (in Spanish) and their response would be, "No you are not, you are from Belize."

It seems that nearly 40% of the people in Guatemala, can not or simply WILL not accept the fact that I am American. Just because my answer does not conform to the misconceptions in their minds doesn't mean that they have the right to categorize me into any nationality of their choice.

I am American, have always been American, and will always be American.


Most homes that have a tv, normally have cable too, and they are very familiar with American sitcoms and movies that are aired on Cinemax, HBO, and other cable channels. Even though Guatemalans are aware of the many different ethnic groups living in the USA, they simply woudn't expect to see any of them travelling through their country.

Also, when I was travelling through Egypt last spring, I met this school teacher from Ismalia. She told me that I didn't look American but I looked like I was from Sudan instead.

In my experiences, people have associated my ethnicity with the nearest country that has most the blacks living in it.

But travelling through Germany, it has been the opposite. When they see a black person, they immediately associated me (us at the time) with the United States, no questions asked. But if you are white, you are expected to be German or a traveller from any other European country.

Just the other other day, I saw a young Guatemalan girl watching the "Fresh Prince of Bel Aire" on Youtube in the Internet Cafe. Like I said before, Guatemalans are well aware of the many different ethnic groups living in the USA, they simply don't expect to see any of them OUTSIDE of the US.

Since the last time I checked, I believe there are 67% whites living in the US. Since that's the majority race of America, Central Americans expect to only see people in this ethnic group coming from the US.

I guess its similar to the Hispanics living in the US. Since Mexico is the closest Hispanic country to the US, every Hispanic person is expected to be Mexican. Even though there are Hispanics in the US from many different countries.

I met this young man from El Salvador, and he told that he didn't like Mexicans because Americans were always associating him with the Mexican nationality. Now, I understand his frustration! People are always thinking that I'm from Belize.

So back to Guatemala, Unfortunately, to fit this country's misconceptions about American travelers, you have to have blonde hair and blue eyes.
A white person with black hair and brown eyes, or any other colored eye will not cut it.

There beliefs are: On TV and on the radio, yes, I will accept you as an American, but meeting me face to face you should have blue eyes and blonde hair for me to call you an American.

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