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El Savador

We arrived at the airport in El Salvador around 6:30 pm and it was already dark - didn’t get to see much on the way to San Salvador that night. We got up early the next morning, it was hazy, warm and the air was heavy with humidity. We had a buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant; eggs, hash browns, the papaya and pineapple were amazing! We met the members of our group, ten grandparents, two grandchildren, our trip Leader Carlos, and the bus driver Jaime.

Most of the people in our group have traveled quite extensively and are “Inner Circle” members with OAT. We are definitely the newbies as this is our second trip. They are friendly, full of energy and have terrific stories travels. I can’t wait to hear more in the coming days.

San Salvador is called the valley of hammocks because of the ‘swinging’ from the many earthquake tremors that occur through out the area. El Salvador has 3 active volcanos out of the 23 that make up the landscape of the tiny country. Still considered a dangerous country, there are armed security guards, bars on the windows and razor wire on the high walls surrounding the residences. Our hotel was located in a neighborhood in the vicinity of the US Embassy.

A relief map of El Salvador displays the many volcanos in the country. This map is located at a military base which is now a training facility in San Salvador. Not long ago this base was off limits to civilians - our guide, Eduardo, joked that you have to know someone to get in, and he knew someone.

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We boarded the bus and Jaime drove us through downtown San Salvador. The streets were filled with food vendors and the aroma was enticing. Carlos recommend we not eat the street food even though it smelled delicioso, and it did. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to sample an original El Salavdorian papousa.

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Across the plaza and diagonally from the cathedral commerating Cardinal Romero was an interesting architectural structure. It had an arched roof with a gray concrete facade. As photographers of urban decay Erich and I were immediately drawn to it. One of the grandson’s asked about it and Eduardo was very excited to show us the interior of this structure.

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