By Maria Luisa Grimaldi

CANADA: Immigrants leave their homes, families, friends, country and everything else that used to matter to them the most for a journey that could be for only a short time or turn into a lifetime.

As all of us do, we all arrive somewhere, in my case Toronto, Canada, for this new beginning. This new start in our lives has different names: landed resident, refugee, illegal, work-vacation or whatever the case may be.

How long will we stay? We don’t know. Even if we have all the required documentation, many obstacles must be conquered.

We must continue and persevere. Sometimes we don’t realize that even with all the hard work we are ready to offer to do, it is being here in an unknown place where our real crusade is only beginning.

By Rocío Arango Giraldo

COLOMBIA: Ever since Eve offered the apple to Adam, every woman has had the same destiny regarding her place in the world, and more so if we are Latina women.

For this reason, I want to share with you what it means to be a woman — how I understand womanhood from my point of view in Medellín, Colombia.

By Janett Chávarry García

PERU: When Marisa contacted me to write in Latina Lista, I thought a whole week on what topic I could share with you.

I thought about talking about a controversial law where older men or women could have a relationship with people under 18 and it would not be considered a crime and obviously there wouldn’t be a punishment. I’m sure as women you’re interested in that, and I promise to write about that in my next post.

Unfortunately, when I wrote about this law, Peru suffered a big earthquake which all of you know by now. At that moment, my first thoughts were to talk about that and I did.

Nowadays, almost a month after that first post on the earthquake, I find myself wanting to talk about the earthquake again — but this time from another perspective.

By Sabrina De Santiago

MEXICO: Mexico and the U.S. are very different.

I know that should be obvious, but since I’ve grown up sharing both cultures, somehow before all I ever noticed were the similarities — hard-working, traditional, family-oriented cultures that share the desire for improvement.

Those things are still true. I am more convinced now that people of the U.S. and Mexico work everyday to better their respective nations.

This applies to both politics and society at-large. Yet, the differences between Mexico and the United States seem to center more these days on how the people feel about their leaders.

By Mayra Beltrán de Daetz

GUATEMALA: Like everybody knows, Guatemala is located in Central America. Our topography is extremely mountainous and we have many volcanos.

In fact, our area of Central America is known as the fire belt. For those of us who live in the city, we enjoy a spectacular view of the nearby volcanoes. Together with a beautiful sunset, the view is one that feeds the soul.

At nights, we can see in the distance the burning lava as it slides down the sides of Guatemala’s most famous volcano, Pacaya. Another famous volcano is known as the Volcano of Fire, or simply Fuego.

For us, nature gives us a nightly show, but for those communities that lay huddled on the outskirts of this colossus activity, it’s not a show that fills these people with joy — only dread.

By Roxana Urrutia

SPAIN: There are more bars and restaurants per square mile in Spain than in any other country in Europe, and in Madrid there are more mimes and clowns in the streets than in any other city I can think of.

A live doll, otherwise known as a mime, in Madrid

Everyday it feels like a there is a mime/clown convention. It is surprising to see how many people choose being a mime/clown as a career, and even more surprising that there is a market for them.