Dawn breaks in La Libertad
Friday, January 22,2010 -- La Libertad
The night security guard, wearing a baseball cap, a red Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and dark slacks to ward off the morning chill, greets me with a wave and a warm bueno’ dia’ as he makes his rounds carrying a shiny sawed-off shotgun.
Just in the first five minutes on the hotel terrace this morning, the guard’s appearance illustrates to me the contradictions I see in El Salvador. His warm greeting is juxtaposed against his firearm.
The people we have seen and met are rich in family and faith, yet poor in material goods. The land, the mountains and the Pacific coast are all beautiful, yet the guard’s shotgun represents ongoing violence here from street gangs and drugs.
The sun is coming up quickly and the workaday noises of an awakening city increase. An attendant skims the hotel pool while another man prepares coffee behind the bar. On the mountain in the distance behind the pool, ramshackle homes of corrugated steel dot the hillside.
One small boat plies grey Pacific waters heading west while 18-wheelers and buses toot airhorns as they head east on the highway out front. A cool easterly breeze puts a little nip in the air.
The night security guard, wearing a baseball cap, a red Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and dark slacks to ward off the morning chill, greets me with a wave and a warm bueno’ dia’ as he makes his rounds carrying a shiny sawed-off shotgun.
Just in the first five minutes on the hotel terrace this morning, the guard’s appearance illustrates to me the contradictions I see in El Salvador. His warm greeting is juxtaposed against his firearm.
The people we have seen and met are rich in family and faith, yet poor in material goods. The land, the mountains and the Pacific coast are all beautiful, yet the guard’s shotgun represents ongoing violence here from street gangs and drugs.
The sun is coming up quickly and the workaday noises of an awakening city increase. An attendant skims the hotel pool while another man prepares coffee behind the bar. On the mountain in the distance behind the pool, ramshackle homes of corrugated steel dot the hillside.
One small boat plies grey Pacific waters heading west while 18-wheelers and buses toot airhorns as they head east on the highway out front. A cool easterly breeze puts a little nip in the air.
posted by Joe Wollet at 1:02 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home