Normally, I am not the adventurous one when it comes to food. For breakfast, give me my daily fruit and vegetables and peace shall be held the rest of the day. In a pinch, I will resort to eggs and that is about it.

Sharmila, on the other hand, never ceases to try out local food. Which typically means half the time, she will steal food from my plate. And chalk up one more food name to the list that she will not try again. Incidentally, as I sat down for breakfast here in El Salvador, she sent a picture of having a gin and tonic at the hotel bar in Agra. True to form, she is having a local gin (Jaisalmer).

This time though, throwing caution to the winds, I decided to try whatever the lady was making at the end of the breakfast bar. I quickly surveyed and came back. Then I asked Raquel what was the name of the food. I met Raquel yesterday and her English was a bit better than my Spanish. That is something different in this country from every other Spanish speaking country I have been to. Very few people understand English here – even in their best hotel in the capital city.

“Pupusa, Senor!”

“Gracias, Raquel!”

Armed with no more knowledge than the name of the food, I went back to the stall. And carefully watched the proceedings with the previous customer. Hoping to cut and paste most of the conversation.

In an exchange uncannily reminiscent of Srini and I ordering at a Macdonald’s for the first time after landing in the USA, this is what happened…

“Pupusa?”

“Si, Senora”, I boldly put a quarter of my sum total of known Spanish words forward.

Then she counterattacked with a lot of Spanish words. I was smart enough to understand that there was a question mark in the end. But not smart enough to do anything but stare at her helplessly.

Then she said more things. I got the last word – queso! I knew that word. I avoid cheese.

“No queso!”, I replied with some degree of satisfaction.

Then she volleyed some more Spanish words at me.

This time, I panicked. Summarily abandoning my Spanish, I said “Yes!”. Figured let her put everything else in it and I will just leave the whole Pupusa thing at my table.

My friendly fruits and vegetables was only one stall away.

Now, I am sitting with my misadventure at my table. Lest anybody around me think I am a village bum, I pointedly took some pictures and posted them on my Facebook to show off my sophistication!!

Where is a good masala dosa when you really need it?

Full name: Aeropuerto Internacional de El Salvador San Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez !!
It is actually a dual use (military and civilian) airport

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!!