We — myself, my wife and our two year old boy — line up along the beach with everyone else — hundreds of people dressed in their Sunday best, standing or sitting on the wall, all of them facing the ocean. We wait, for what we were not sure. Palpable excitement is in the air. […]
There was good news from Nepal last month as the country proudly announced that absolutely no poaching had occurred in the 12-month period ending with February 2014—the second year with zero poaching. Back in 2011 Nepal also celebrated a year without poaching, and in 2012, only one rhino was poached. Nepal has strict anti-poaching laws […]
Have you ever encountered something while traveling, and thought “I should bring this home”? Was it a type of food? A style of dancing? For Wilson Garcia Nunez from Apaneca, it was zip-lining. The difference between him and the rest of us, is that he actually did it. His boyish face must have been grinning […]
Following the devastating typhoon in the Philippines in November, ET staff member, Gregg Butensky, initiated a fundraising effort to bring assistance to the people of Aklan on the island of Panay. Gregg has strong connections in Aklan having established a public lending library there over 15 years ago. Last month, Gregg travelled to the region […]
Travel on public transportation, especially buses, both within and outside the capital, is risky and not recommended. The US State Department certainly has a way with words. That quote nestled snugly into my brain while I walked to the bus station, and played like subtitles across the bottom of the screen as I watched people […]
San Salvador wasn’t as bad as I’d been led to expect. Sure, the air was like pancake batter, so packed with black gaseous vomit from the ceaseless succession of buses and cars that I’d catch myself breathing shallowly in self-preservation, but the people on the street were friendly, often beating me to the punch with […]
They were fighting in election headquarters, the votes of overseas Salvadorans piled on the table, caught in a disagreement that may have been procedural, was probably political, and was definitely maddening. Each of the twenty-one tables in the hanger-like room had four young people, early twenties at most, drawn from four different political parties but […]
Who are these men, with lines around the eyes, who spend so much time laughing, and who are in El Salvador to monitor the election? He was born in Ahuachapan, in Zacatecoluca, in Chalatenango. At age 14 he was already involved, already at risk. He was a student organizer, or unions, a known critic of […]
What is it the guidebooks always say? Travelers are strongly advised to avoid all political discussions, demonstrations, and events? Do they specifically advise to steer clear of capital cities during elections? Something about the dangers of discussing subjects (which are often seen as trivial in the US) in a country where politics has literally been […]
