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September 16, 2005
Touring San Salvador
We woke up and grabbed some breakfast and at 9:30 were back at the hotel to meet with Miguel who was taking us on our tour of the city. After speaking for the first half hour in Spanish we found out that Miguel was a resident of the U.S., had lived there for a year, and was in the process of becoming a citizen. We started speaking in English which was kind of a nice break as we didn’t have to worry about missing anything.
During the day we toured a good deal of San Salvador and the surrounding areas. We got to see the main soccer stadium from a nearby hill, visited a national park called the Puerto de Diablo where we could see all the way to the ocean, sampled pupusas s, a cornmeal, chicharron and queso mixture, in a local restaurant, passed through the suburbs where a growing middle class was visibly thriving, and we again headed into downtown to look at the cathedral.
We talked with Miguel about a variety of subjects: gangs, the civil war with the FMLN, the dollarization of the economy and much more. One interesting discussion we had was when I asked him if the economic growth was only benefiting a certain portion of the population who already were well off. In essence, if people were born into a poor family were they trapped there?
While he acknowledged that of course it was harder to come from a family with scarce resources it definitely could be done. Living proof was his own family. His father had started making money as a young boy selling milk, later working his way up to other products. It wasn’t until he was 19 years old that he bought his first pair of shoes. Miguel himself had grown up in a one bedroom house with his parents, siblings, and often a cousin or two. Their family was now benefiting from a stable and growing economy that El Salvador was providing.
After the tour and back at the hotel, we headed out. Em ended up getting a manicure from a beauty shop across the street, while I had a few beers watching an under-17 World Cup match. We grabbed some dinner and then shortly afterwards called it a night. Tomorrow: Honduras.
Posted by Peter Mork at September 16, 2005 12:13 AM
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