El Salvador on a personal level

We lived for 3 months in a secure housing area in Santa Tecla, at the bottom of El Boqueron, San Salvador's volcano. What blessings the Lord gives to those that love Him. Now we know why people live in a volcanic area!  It is quite spectacular having a soaring mountain as a backdrop to a town sprawled at its feet.  What if it erupts though?  It has done so before, the last eruption being recorded between June and Novermber 1917.

The slopes of the volcano are being developed for tourism.  At various points up the side of it there are restaurants and cafes where paranamic views of San Salvador can be viewed in the valley below. These facilities are aimed at families with young children with activities to keep them busy. Then there is the much much more daunting offer of climbing down into Boqueron's caldera with its high vertical sides to view the pimple which is the cinder cone from the 1917 eruption.

One takes one's hat off to those who conquer this.

On the far side of the mountain lies lonely Coatepeque, not yet drawn into the warm enticing circle of tourism.

We took an easy walk up to the top of the caldera to look down into the hole blasted out by molten rocks.  A barrier exists at the top to prevent accidents and stop people falling into the valley below.


Entrepenerial el salvadorans circumvent the authorities to offer for sale water and snacks to puffed out tourists who have not taken along anything remotely resembling a picnic, being unprepared for the physical exertion they experience.  One such entrepeneer was perched on a sliver of rock outside the barrier with his wears which he sold all the while in danger of falling into the valley below.

One had to admire such industry and fortitude.  He would almost certainly be without education yet this had not crushed his spirit or damned him to a pauper's early death.  He was doing what he could with what he had, even if he risked his life to do it.  With so many natural resources, why are Governments so miserly with their largess? Are we all so afraid of looking out for ourselves instead
of sharing what we have with others that we are blinded by the fact that G-d's provision is for all, and all should be encouraged to partake?

Another family seated themselves on the bench just outside the barrier on the circular pathway down into the caldera, ready to sell to those who went down and those who returned.

Why do Governments oppress the poor?  Yet El Salvador does it less than other places (not many) we have visited.  Most media outputs about this country are downputs.  We found it and its people delightful, humble, simple and human.

Might this have had something to do with Archbishop Romero who served the poor more than the
rich?

Vendors existed outside the car park selling flowers, hand made jewellery, bulbs and anything else that might produce a sale.

The people were invariably friendly and pleased to see visitors to their country. The poor have a dignity unparalled elsewhere.  They do menial jobs without demur, many like the coffee pickers, live on a dollar a day.  (Woe to an industry which so exploits the poor.  Zimbabwe coffee pickers fare no better).