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Oh goodness, this poor neglected blog. In the next series of posts, I’m going to attempt to recap the weeks that we’ve been off campus for Christmas break. I’ll also mix in stories of our first week on campus.
I’ll start by explaining this photo:
I’m wearing a Salvadorian police jacket, shivering in the cold. That’s my teammate Marijke wrapped around me for warmth. We are at the top of Santa Ana, the tallest volcano in El Salvador.
This particular adventure started when the guys on our team hiked a volcano. On the way up, they happened to meet a man who worked for the Ministry of Tourism. Manuel, who heads up the communications dept. of the Ministry of Tourism, invited my teammate Brandon on a special overnight trip to the Santa Ana and Izalco volcanoes. The plan was to hike Santa Ana the first day, camp overnight, and then hike Izalco the next morning to watch the sunrise. This was a special trip, because you need a guide to hike these volcanoes, and they normally don’t provide guides for the sunrise trip. Brandon got the impression that this trip would include Manuel and a few of his friends from the Ministry, and that we were welcome to come along.
As usual, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. This “trip with a small group of friends” was actually an excursion with the entire force of Salvadorian Tourist Police, including the Police Chief. Not only that, the trip was also part of a publicity campaign call “This is El Salvador.” Not only were we going to hike the volcanoes and sleep in rustic cabins, the whole thing was going to be captured on film and used for promotional materials, including two television spots. Just the way I wanted to make my national TV debut–hiking up a volcano at 3 am after a night of camping. Marijke and I had a video camera, and a still camera, trained on us for most of the trip. At one point, we wandered about 100 ft. away from the rest of the group. We glanced over to see three cameras pointing at us from behind a rock. Like our very own paparazzi!
That’s not even the full police force that was with us. We had 21 armed police officers escorting us, including one carrying a fold-able stock semi-automatic machine gun. Well, nothing says “we love tourists” like large firearms.
See, volcanoes in El Salvador have an image problem. Tourists think they’re dangerous because thieves would often take advantage of the seclusion that the top of a volcano often offers. So the Ministry of Tourism was promoting the services of the Tourism Police, who will escort you to the top of a volcano, ensuring your safety with the aforementioned large firearms. One of the questions asked in my film interview at the top of the volcano was, “Do you feel safe at this volcano?” I looked around at the officers flanking me. “With a police to tourist ratio of five to one, it would be hard not to,” I wanted to say. But went instead with, “Sí.”
The truth is, I did feel very safe, and very honored. These policemen (and women) treated us like honored guests. When I was shivering, the police chief offered me his jacket. Multiple policemen attempted to carry Marijke’s bag for her. The hike up Izalco, in the dark, starting at 3am, was treacherous. Probably the most difficult hike I’ve ever been on. But our entourage (including film crew) was there every step of the way offering snacks (marshmallows at dawn…it’s the thought that counts), encouragement, and extra jackets. Marijke and I joked that they probably would’ve carried us up the mountain had we asked. I have no doubt they would’ve.
As corny as I sounded in my interview, I really meant what I said. Which was that El Salvador is beautiful, and Americans are missing out if they don’t come visit. This is a country that consistently treats tourists like honored guests.
The rhetoric of the police force kind of cracked me up, because these guys take protecting tourists REALLY seriously. Like, it’s a high calling that requires the greatest respect. The chief kept giving these little inspirational speeches every time we moved from one activity to the next. But that’s the thing, they really do want outsiders to understand that El Salvador is welcoming, beautiful, and open for business. I mean, I get the irony of trying to prove the safety of a tourist destination by sending an entire police force to escort tourists to that destination. But I also understand the message they want to send, which is, “We will do ANYTHING to make you feel safe.”
Sunrise over Izalco:
The top of Santa Ana:
