This will be my first time traveling out of the United States!

The plan is to go with my fiance and her mom to a family home in El Salvador. I'm told that there's a lot of good shrimp, pupusas, and margaritas there, and that it isn't as cold as stupid New York.

Anyone else travel to El Salvador, or anywhere really?

Greg the Grouper wrote:This will be my first time traveling out of the United States!

The plan is to go with my fiance and her mom to a family home in El Salvador. I'm told that there's a lot of good shrimp, pupusas, and margaritas there, and that it isn't as cold as stupid New York.

Anyone else travel to El Salvador, or anywhere really?

I've been to Costa Rica, Panama, and Columbia in late February and early March

It was warm, but not hot. Zip-lining through the rainforest canopy in Costa Rica was a highlight.

Zip-lining does sound like fun; I doubt I'll get my chance this time around, but I'll be keeping an eye out.

Greg the Grouper wrote:This will be my first time traveling out of the United States!

The plan is to go with my fiance and her mom to a family home in El Salvador. I'm told that there's a lot of good shrimp, pupusas, and margaritas there, and that it isn't as cold as stupid New York.

Anyone else travel to El Salvador, or anywhere really?

Almost certainly not as cold as NYC forecast to be next week. Going to be a high here of OMG its freezing,
I have not been to El Salvador, but have lived on 5 continents. Enjoy your first trip, nice you are traveling with locals, I suggest to consciously speak more quietly and walk more slowly than NY style, and have fun.

Right, say it with me... "Hi, I'm Canadian!"

Spearthrower wrote:Right, say it with me... "Hi, I'm Canadian!"

Am very sorry to have to agree with this, but yes.. However "Sorry boot that I'm Canadian" is the better strategy or just a maple leaf on your backpack is what is usually enough.

I even got an apology from the Covid jab nurse ....she was careful to ask if I was Canuck as she knows we don't like being confused with Yanks ....common here.

"Sorry boot that I'm Canadian, eh"

no eh they'll suss you out right smartly.

Good luck.

I have said almost nothing since getting here, as I don't speak Spanish. I've been depending very heavily on my fiance.

It's been an odd experience. I'm satisfied with the weather and food, but it's very surreal seeing these beautiful places and scenery juxtaposed with houses made of scrap and starving stray dogs. I've spent a lot of the trip thinking about a dog shelter from Greece, I think? (Takis Shelter), as odd as that might sound.

I should probably pay more attention to the family. Maybe I can pick up some Spanish.

Greg the Grouper wrote:
It's been an odd experience. I'm satisfied with the weather and food, but it's very surreal seeing these beautiful places and scenery juxtaposed with houses made of scrap and starving stray dogs.

Welcome to an awfully large percentage of the world!

On a lighter note, I have no idea why the fuck it isn't common practice in the US to just take a straight from the ocean fish and fry that shit. Fucking delicious.

I'm sure you know El Salvador has a reputation for being dangerous. I went there once and it wasn't bad. There is crime for sure but it's not as bad as they say.

I have returned from El Salvador!

I was told very clearly to keep car doors locked and to not walk around with a phone out. That said, I personally never saw anything beyond someone that was probably hit by a car before I got there, with a crowd of people tending to him.

We did have someone try to double the price of some merch on me, though.

Greg the Grouper wrote:On a lighter note, I have no idea why the fuck it isn't common practice in the US to just take a straight from the ocean fish and fry that shit. Fucking delicious.

Well I do this and fish when I can out of Freeport Long Is, but I am a foreigner so...
Common sea fish is this area; summer flounder, black sea bass and porgy particularly good like this.

Jesus Is Lord wrote:I'm sure you know El Salvador has a reputation for being dangerous. I went there once and it wasn't bad. There is crime for sure but it's not as bad as they say.

I say the same about the States.

Greg the Grouper wrote:On a lighter note, I have no idea why the fuck it isn't common practice in the US to just take a straight from the ocean fish and fry that shit. Fucking delicious.

People in the US who fish tidal rivers and the ocean do that. Of course, fresh water fishing is an extremely popular thing to do in this country.
Laklak probably eats it without frying.

sushi yum

Nice to hear that you had a positive experience.
One of the interesting things about travel, to my mind, is to find your self as 'the other'. (Or, sometimes more accurately, a different kind of 'other'.) Ways of doing things that you took for granted and assumed were universal are quite often revealed to be local and superficial.

For those who are so minded, the exposure to radically different ways of doing things or thinking about things can be an enlightening experience. Of course, for some the change is too much and a retreat back to the old certainties is all they desire.
It sounds like the trip has been positive for you.

Now, at the risk of sounding churlish, I'd like to raise a point that was brought up, albeit in a jocular way, earlier in the thread.
Warning- anecdote alert.

Now, when I first came to Japan I was working for a nationwide chain of language schools and the teachers were mostly younger people drawn from across the English-speaking world. It was something of a standing joke that the Canadians would be very keen on plastering their clothes and belongings with maple leaf flags. It was often explained that 'we don't want to be mistaken for Americans.' (often accompanied by a conspiratorial wink...coz, you know Americans are arseholes, right?) After a while I stopped going along with this casual piece of what I considered lazy stereotyping.
I asked one Canadian woman who was maple leaf bedecked what her rationale was and she explained that Americans, being arseholes, are disliked, so in order to avoid poor treatment while traveling by those who disliked Americans, it was important to advertise her 'non-Amercian' status.

I asked her if, while traveling, she would consider calling ahead to the next backpacker hostel to ask about rooms and assure the person 'I'm not black.' She was horrified by the suggestion.
Surely, I argued, the underlying premise is the same. It is just as wrong to judge someone negatively for being American as it is to judge someone negatively for being black, Jewish, Gay or whatever....

In my experience, Americans do not have a monopoly on arseholish behaviour while traveling. Drunken Brits can be pretty objectionable. Here in Japan, the Chinese tourists have a pretty poor reputation. It is important to make the distinction between the person and the country. I have strong objections to some of the things done by the American, Chinese, British etc governments, but I don't transfer that to any given individual on first meeting.

I think what I really disliked was the often tacit assumption by Canadians that I would be a willing party to the smug anti-Amercan attitude that was on display. Okay, it was often done in a jocular fashion, but to my mind it is similar to people being racist or sexist on scant acquaintance and thinking I'll play along.

Anyways, just something that came to mind while reading the comments above. After living outside the country of my birth for longer than I have lived in it, I am pretty relaxed about the whole nationality thing. Being asked 'are you American' by Japanese doesn't really bother me. Because my accent is pretty hard to pin down, I've been mistaken for Irish, South African, New Zealand and Australian and others nationalities over the years.

To be honest, the patch of earth over which my mother gave birth to me is far from being the most interesting or important thing about me.

I've been to El Salvador. It was about 12 years ago and it was with my Dad on his boat. I flew in to El Salvador to help him complete his trip from LA to Key West Florida through the Panama Canal.

I was there for about 2 weeks. We were moored at the marina (Marina Barillas) of one of the few millionaires (Juan Wright) who originally fled the country after the revolution and was reinvited back.

Had a great time. Took a tour of the country. Visited a huge crater lake in the north. Some Mayan pyramids. Really nice restaurant above San Salvador.

Lots of security guards with lots of guns. From what I understand these are former rebels who after winning the war were given security jobs throughout the country. Just about one for every 3 shops it seemed. Felt safe, but Senior Wright did not allow anyone to leave his property without an armed guard with them so it probably isn't so safe if without it. So be careful.

The cantina at the marina spoiled pupusas for me. They were amazing, light, ham and cheese filled sprinkled with goat cheese. I can't find any anywhere that match it here in the US.



Also I've been to Costa Rica (lived or was stuck there for 4 months), Nicaragua (for about an hour. long story), Panama, Isla Providencia (Columbian territory), Grand Cayman, and Cuba (Marina Hemingway near Havana). This was all around 1999-2000 over about 8 months.