LAS Student Karla Leon Published in The Tab
Marina Menegazzo and María José Coni were visiting Ecuador when they were found killed. The government, the police and the media criticised them for travelling alone
I travel alone. I’ve been travelling alone since I was 16. Most of the time I would be with my friends. I am a girl and I travel alone, and that puts me in danger. The danger of getting robbed. The danger of getting raped. The danger of getting killed.
In February, Marina Menegazzo and María José Coni were backpacking through South America. They started their journey in Argentina and had already visited a couple of countries in the continent. While in Ecuador, they decided to adventure themselves to Montañita, a cool and hipster beach full of surfers and musicians. They stayed in Montañita 11 days until they were found violently murdered. As soon as the news came out, the recurring questions on social media were: why were they traveling alone? Were they drinking? What were they wearing? Reading about these girls, all I could think about was, “this could have been me.”