Before we landed, the airplane took us into the Pacific and swing back to align itself to the west-east runway. That gave a chance to see the long beach line all along the country. The town below is La Libertad – which is where I will be going tomorrow. To the right, which we cannot see, is El Tunco – famous for its surf waves.
The entire journey from Atlanta over Georgia, Florida, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala – all I could see from my carefully chosen window seat was … clouds. Finally, about 30 minutes away from San Salvador, the clouds started breaking up and I got my first glimpse of the country.
Seems like a very mountainous country. Makes sense – since it is squarely in the Ring of Fire.
Bored by the clouds, I say in my seat and brushed up my Spanish and picked up some trivia about El Salvador. The following might interest you:
1. El Salvador is the smallest Central American country.
2. It is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean coast.
3. This blew me away… There are about 10 million Salvadorans. 1 out of 3 of them live in the USA!!! The whole country has same number of people as Greater Atlanta!
Taking off eastward from Runway 10-28 in Atlanta, you would expect that we would have swung right to head south to El Salvador. Instead, we swung left, circled the city and then headed south. That gave me a clean shot of the city right from the top. You can see the whole stretch of where 85 merges with 75 and then the split again. You can also see the airport to your top stereo left.
And the other thing I spotted? The very reason why we moved the Atlanta. The office I used to go from 2007 to 2014!
Taking full advantage of Sharmila not being in the country, I decided to embark on my own international trip. This will get me to the half century mark – 50 countries. El Salvador!!
Why El Salvador? Well, to be honest because I know nothing about the country. Other than the name of the capital. I also have not come across anybody who has been to El Salvador. Have you?
When I went around asking people (in the USA) about El Salvador, the only guidance I got was to be very careful. It is unsafe there. I have a nagging suspicion that the picture portrayed by media does not do justice to the country. (During my trips abroad, I am often stunned by what they think about the USA – from what they see in their media).
We will find out.
There is another thing. Many years back, I was in Spain for some work. Our country head there had pulled me aside and let me know that he would be going back to his motherland – El Salvador by the end of the year. Instinctively, I had told him that I would visit him some day.
If everything goes to plan, he is going to get the surprise of his life today!!
