Friday, December 30, 2011

Expectations I have about living in San Salvador:


~It will be hot and humid and I’ll love it.
~It will be noisy, polluted, and overwhelming.
~It will be colorful and vibrant (I hope it will, I fear it won’t).
~We will eat pupusas for lunch everyday.
~I will miss our cats terribly.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Ten things I’ve read about El Salvador:


~The people are very friendly.
~They eat Pupusas, a thick handmade corn tortilla filled with cheese, pork, and/or refried beans.
~It is the smallest most densely populated country in Central America (frequently said to be about the size of Massachusetts).
~The people are comprised of the following ethnic groups: Mestizo 90%, indigenous 1%, Caucasian 9%.
~Agricultural products include coffee, sugar, corn, poultry, and sorghum and make up 12% of the GDP.
~Their principal import are remittances (remesas) from Salvadorans working in the U.S., estimated at $3.5 billion annually, 19.1% of the GDP.
~The civil war from 1980-1992 was horrific, where an estimated 75,000 people died in the conflict.
~The natural environment and resources are threatened and there’s not a lot of prevention happening to preserve them.
~It’s the new surf destination in Central America.
~Crime is bad, though maybe not as bad as it used to be.