Why would you want to go there?
I told a Salvadoran friend of mine that I would be passing through his country, and asked what he thought I should do there. His response surprised me.
“You’re going to El Salvador? Why do you want to go there? The capital in particular is horrible and dangerous. I guess you could go to the beach, and there are some old ruins…”
Why did I want to go to El Salvador? That’s a fair question. For starters, it was one of the two countries on the continent that I hadn’t visited yet, but I’d like to think I have loftier aims than a checklist to complete. (Though I won’t deny there was a certain urge in that direction.)
But all those headlines over the years, when El Salvador was topping the charts for homicide rates, gangs were running the prisons, and narcotraffickers were blending into an international network of macro-criminals, those stories had made an impression. Basically: Don’t go to El Salvador.
“It’s too dangerous!” said They. The consensus of concerned advisers. And I was inclined to obey. After all, you don’t see me booking flights to Afghanistan, either.
But there is something else too. They also told me it was too dangerous in Zambia, and I found nothing but wonderful people there. They said Northern Sri Lanka was still unsafe for tourists. “It hasn’t been long enough since the Civil War, there are still Tamil Tigers and land mines up there!” But I found a welcome on the streets of Jaffna that gave me smiles and a sense of welcome that are still nestled within me, nearly a year later. And They said Eastern Turkey was a hotbed of extremists and revolutionaries, yet Diyarbakir, and even more so Mardin, quickly ranked among my favorite places on Earth.
Yes, a few months after I left Zambia, several people were murdered by a mob in the same town where we stayed. And yes, two days after I left Mardin, 5 kilometers from the border with Syria, a pair of car bombs killed at least 51 people and injured 140 others in a similar town not all that far away.
Those are awful things. The sort of headlines that push people away from a nation, and drive fear and incomprehension into the hearts and minds of foreigners. They make us say “Well, that’s just the sort of thing that happens there. They’re just…used to stuff like that over there.” The casual racism of distance.
They’re just different there…nothing I could ever empathize with…
And what’s the best cure for racism? Both overt and passive? Contact. It’s a lot harder to feel dismissive of a people when you’ve actually stood, talked, and eaten with them. And that’s a much better reason to go someplace than stamp-collecting in your passport.
Maybe I should book a ticket to Afghanistan after all…
(More info on El Salvador, probably far too much in fact, in the first of my posts on the Ethical Traveler website.)
Nice and ps I can get you to Afghanistan 🙂
From: Vagabond Urges Reply-To: Vagabond Urges Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 1:11 PM To: MaliaEveretteAltruvistas Subject: [New post] Why would you want to go there?
WordPress.com vagabondurges posted: “I told a Salvadoran friend of mine that I would be passing through his country, and asked what he thought I should do there. His response surprised me. You’re going to El Salvador? Why do you want to go there? The capital in particular is ho”
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Ha! Why does that not surprise me? Okay then, let’s go!
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Count me in 😉
I’m really happy for you. You’ve brought El Salvador into the spotlight for me.
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It’s dangerous practically everywhere these days. I applaud your willingness to travel and rely on the personal contacts one makes that lead to understanding the people of other nations.
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Very true. The places I’ve encountered crime most personally were Madrid and Barcelona, and the country that “feels” the most unsafe? The US. Of course, I blame that more on the media than the country. But it always feels like the more danger and vulnerability a population has experienced, the nicer, more welcoming and supportive they are.
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Funny enough, I walked my way around the Middle East and North Africa to Morocco where I decided to check out Spain. So I make it all this way, to experience nothing but hospitality in the “war-zones” only to be robbed in Barcelona and treated like a dog in Madrid… I hold no disrespect for Spain or the people, but I do find it damn curious that the media just has to stir up resentment towards the Arabs while all the suffering i’ve undergone has been US or European based- as a traveler… Kind of silly.
Anyway, I hope all if well and look forward to reading through the rest of your Salvadorian adventures.
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Indeed. It does make you wonder, why exactly are we told Middle Easterners are so dangerous? Although it is undoubtedly a region of rather intense and often violent conflicts, are we really so simple that we can’t differentiate between people throwing bricks at a violent and repressive regime (for example) versus the character of the people themselves? And perhaps each story about those incidents should be followed by one about European soccer hooligans or American shootings, and then both of those followed up with 27 stories about people doing amazing and profoundly kind things for each other all over the world.
I’ll submit my proposal to CNN tomorrow…
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This is great! I tried to convince my partner to go to North Korea but he’s not convinced! But I think what is amazing about these places is once again like many years ago you can feel like the first tourist in a place and people treat you so well. Good on you!
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I’ve heard mixed reviews about the North Korea trip…which does indeed make me curious what my experience would be. That one’s tricky though, since the trip so directly sponsors the government…and it’s hard to meet “real” people…but still! And I do confess, I am absolutely guilty of the traveler conceit of wanting to be the only one! 😉
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But, wait, did you go? How was it? One day I will see Afghanistan, if they’ll let me in.
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To El Salvador? Absolutely. I’m trying to decide how many blogs to give the country…I could probably manage about…7,000. I’ll look into Afghanistan. 😉
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I’ve heard Afghanistan is quite beautiful.
I think we all learn to make do against the dangers we have to face, and many don’t understand learning to make do with the dangers of travel (why do you “have” to face them?). It’s a good reason to be informed and appreciate the local landscape, but a poor reason for staying home altogether.
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So true! The need for caution is not a reason to stay away. Same for discomfort and the unfamiliar. It reminds me of the journalists in Sochi, and how, while their complaints and reports and somewhat interesting, they do give me the impression that a lot of them haven’t actually traveled that much.
Journalist: “They mostly just gave us peas for breakfast! Awful!”
Traveler: “They gave you breakfast? Awesome!”
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Why would I want to go there? Because I haven’t been there before.
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Exactly! Kindred spirit. 🙂
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what a a fantastic life adventure you live! Your blog is very inspiring… well done!
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Thank you! It feels like there’s a potential for adventure in every day, home or away, but I’m less likely to miss it when I’m abroad. Maybe I should work on that while I’m home… 😉
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