A Canadian man and his British girlfriend are unharmed after two masked men robbed them at gunpoint while travelling in early April.
Dan Landsborough and Heidi Burton were exploring the roads of San Pedro La Laguna and Santiago Atitlan in Guatemala when two men hiding in the bushes ambushed the couple and demanded money and valuables. Landsborough managed to capture the robbery on a camera mounted on his helmet.
Armed with a machete and a gun, the men rifled through the couple's possessions before allowing them to drive off. Landsborough posted the video on YouTube as a warning to travellers in the region to be careful. He cut the sound off partway though at the request of Burton, who was "understandably distressed."
"We have uploaded this video clip to serve as a warning to other travellers about taking this road. Robberies happen in Guatemala and this particular spot is apparently notorious," reads the video's description.
Burton told British media outlets that the feeling of being robbed was awful, but that wasn't the hardest part.
"I felt violated, being searched and having rings pulled off my fingers by a masked, armed robber, but the feeling of not knowing how far it will go was the worst thing," she told the Daily Mail.
While the robbers got away with some prized possessions, both travellers had left their bank cards, money and other possessions back at their hotel as a precaution, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Guatemala has one of the highest rates of violent crime in Latin America, but a very low arrest and detention rate, according to Canada's Foreign Affairs website. The site urges travellers in the area to exercise a high degree of caution but has not issued any nation-wide travel advisories.
Despite the ordeal, Landsborough, who hails from Calgary, says he and Burton are still determined to travel and won't hold any grudges against the country.
"We know that it is only a small percentage of Guatemalans that are bad people, just like anywhere. We loved our time spent in Guatemala and the Guatemalan people. We would definitely come back!"
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