Salvador

This past week Kellen and our fellow partners are in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. We’re here involved in some sort of mischief; and why should we be different than any other American who has been involved in wayward behavior down here for centuries? At least nobody has died because of us. Yet.

It’s funny that I was warned by everyone to “be careful” after telling them I was coming here. While there is crime here and some tough neighborhoods, I haven’t felt at all unsafe. I wonder why people never tell me to “be careful” whenever I tell them I am traveling to Los Angeles. I didn’t even get expressions of concern when I went to Ukraine last year and that place is scary.

It’s funny how we hold a certain perspective about places. San Salvador has terrific restaurants, a vibrant nightlife (so I hear), and several beautiful new malls. There is also abject poverty and the remnants of displacement from a 12-year civil war (in which the U.S. was able to sell off spare military hardware), a devastating earthquake, and recent flooding from the hurricanes that seemingly hit the U.S. and nowhere else, as far as the media is concerned.

But they’re nice people, friendly and helpful, and very proud of their country. El Salvador is doing well by a lot of standards. It is the most stable and economically strong country in Central America and its people haven’t learned to hate Americans yet (in fact they have 600 troops supporting us in Iraq).

Salvadorans have much to be proud of and as long as they continue with their reforms and work at closing the gap between rich and poor, El Salvador has the chance to become the Latin American version of Ireland’s success story of the Seventies and Eighties. And for those of you still stuck in winter; it about 85 with a cool breeze every day.

However that does sound like gunfire down the street, or, optimistically, fire works. The body count tommorow will tell the story.