What's Up El Salvador

This week I discussed extortion with a knowledgable man, who works in connection with police here. Last week I  read an article in a major newspaper on the subject of extortion. Over a few months I received many emails, and listened to a few personal accounts some second hand, others in hushed voice. The subject [...]

Santa Tecla in El Salvador is Awesome All these past few months of driving, and walking around, I have known Santa Tecla for it’s chaotic market. I never looked around Santa Tecla much. Any day I go to the market, is both exhausting and bad for my ego. I almost always get lost in the [...]

In a past article, I made some less than complimentary remarks about a particular niche of real estate, which is connected to a certain niche in blogging, which is connected to some awesome amounts of money changing hands, and sometimes, two years down the road, to divorce, misery and malcontent. Lago De Coatepeque is one of the most special places on the planet.

Today we wanted to go to the Mercado, but didn’t want to drive all the way to Santa Tecla. We had heard about the Mercado Municipal in the San Antonio Abad area, but missed it and drove around in circles. Fortunately, we had lunch with a new friend, and he gave us a tip about [...]

Another Installment in the series about the costs of everyday living in El Salvador. Although I prefer to think of myself as a globe-trotting, coffee-sourcing, beer-brewing international expat living abroad in the tropics; truth is that despite all that sexy sauce I am also a dad and husband. Today is some pretty random stuff cause [...]

Although I prefer to think of myself as a globe-trotting, coffee-sourcing, beer-brewing international expat living abroad in the tropics; truth is that despite all that sexy sauce I am also a dad and husband. And in that role I constantly find that I have to bleed cash (otherwise known as buy things) on all kinds of stuff. This is a series on the costs of various items in El Salvador.

From what we have observed: Warning:  Not a study. All numbers are based on asking people what they make, what their families make, and reading newspapers/reports in a language I barely understand. Kindness appreciated. Tweet    I cannot say what all employment in El Salvador is like, but from what I’ve seen, money is out there, [...]

This week is full of new things. Now that we are back in El Salvador it is time to lock down and get some stuff done. We headed to the Emmes new larger school, where she will start the second week of August. The structure of early education in Central America is a little different. [...]

Today we met with an insurance salesman to go over several potential medical, dental and automotive insurance policies. The entire experience was what I expected, but some of the details are a little different, so I thought it was worthy of a brief post for those interested. Insurance is insurance, but as you might expect, both [...]

Today we visited the Plaza Merliot and a small espresso bar called Cafe Au Lait. The staff represents the shop annually at the Barista Competitions, and they serve coffees from quality and Cup of Excellence farms. The owners work together with their roaster, Rodrigo Giametti, to control the roast profiles, and blends of their coffee. [...]