Part one of my book takes the reader on a
journey through many towns in the Jalapa region
of Guatemala. It also covers my life from birth to
age fifteen. I believe that it is the tough times
that I had to endure during these years were
responsible for my resistance to the tortures that
were awaiting me after turning fifteen.
My father was a school teacher and was
transferred many times to small towns in this
region: El Progreso, Sanarate, San Augusín, San
Pedro Pinula, Ipala and Livingston. This gypsy life
also added to my formation as an independent
and self-directed person. There was so much
sadness at this time until I received a government
scholarship and was able to live away from my
family in the city of Chiquimula. It was in
Chiquimula where I became responsible for
myself for the first time. In Chiquimula I was
living in a wonderful boarding house, was very
successful in school and did not have to worry
about my troublesome family life; that is, until
my father for unexplainable and illogical reasons
decided to remove me from that school and my
horrible ordeal commenced.