What's Up El Salvador

Expat Tax Law…The Basics As an American expat living abroad, you are responsible for filing your tax return every single year, reporting your worldwide income. Here are some basics that should help you understand the process. — A guest post by Diane Siriani of www.expatriatetaxreturns.com Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Are you a full time resident [...]

Today, October 1st, is El Dia Del Ninos in El Salvador, and I think the holiday is great. I did not know it was El Dia Del Nino until I was teaching a class and my students told me (they were providing a good reason to have no quiz). We had the quiz, and everyone [...]

I Hate Parking Tickets. They Piss Me Off. I used to get several parking tickets per year that totally soured my attitude. I even got in trouble at work for being extremely late in paying them. (no joke). I worked for a city with a crack parking team. When I say crack team, I mean [...]

I recently posted about a particularly egregious safety hazard on a heavily used street. The gaping hole on 87a Ave Norte. I happened to be driving by, and started yapping about it, mostly to be able to verify my predictions of what would happen, and also to illustrate a difference. A few days later, I [...]

There are so many amazing and bizarre tropical fruits in Latin America. And almost as many weird and wonderful Latin American Bloggers. Anyone who knows me knows that I basically live for fruit. I am not sure if it was my childhood in the fruit bounty that is Washington state, my teenage years in the [...]

Seriously. Manhole covers are stolen everyday, that’s NOT the real problem. Living in El Salvador you find yourself barely noticing missing manhole covers, rebar sticking up out of the street, potholes the size of cows and actual cows in the streets.

Most people would tell you that the Maya civilization ended more than a thousand years ago.
Mary Jo McConahay can tell you from first hand experience that is not true. The Maya people live on and in some places thrive.

Living in El Salvador is sometimes just like living anywhere else. Last night we went to the movies. No big deal, but since I get mostly questions about everyday things, I wanted to talk about it. Here are some prices at movie theaters. Adult ticket at La Gran Via’s theater for 3D (extra charge for [...]

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, [...]

Last week we made our first trip back to the United States. The timing of this trip met perfectly with the need to solve some bugs in our immigration process, and we were ready to pick up some supplies that would be expensive to ship. Emme, our five-year-old daughter was excited to see her adult [...]