This morning we left San Vicente and drove on a very rough road, albeit pothole free, to San Miguel. It took us two hours to drive 35 miles, complete with police escort at the back. Apparently Norm thought it was necessary to inform the local police in two departments (states) that we were traveling through and so we had police follow us. There had been, a couple of months ago, problems with theft on buses. However that was several months ago. We're of the impression that Norm likes to scare us into compliance, so we don't complain when we stop at shopping malls to camp overnight. It's very cheap camping for him.
The mall is sort of like any small mall in the USA, except the air conditioning doesn't work as well. Today we bought a new pocket camera, because Roger accidentally dropped the camera on the floor and the lens had problems and wouldn't work. Oh well... to add insult to injury the camera doesn't use the same battery as the old one. Now we need to find another battery, which is going to be a challenge especially the way Roger likes to shop.
We had a young couple, Marvin age 27 and his wife Yancy age 15, doing odd jobs for us at San Vicente. They have been married for a year. Both were very nice and very poor. Marvin finished the 8th grade before he had to leave school to find work. Yancy finished the 7th grade. When I asked them why they didn't continue in school, Marvin told me that poor people only go through the 8th grade at most, because after that you have to pay for school and uniforms in the public school system in El Salvador. They washed our RVs and Norm had Yancy clean the interior of his RV. They also helped haul water to fill our tanks. Yancy did Norm's laundry. I had already hand washed our clothes, so I couldn't give the job to Yancy. Yancy told me that she likes to work, but there aren't always jobs for her to do because there's lots of competition. The good thing is that she hasn't gotten pregnant yet, but she would like to have "lots of Marvin's babies."
I don't know if Marvin and Yancy are a typical young couple in El Salvador. They certainly made both Roger and I think about the wealth an average American has compared to them. And it made us very uncomfortable with our RV, knowing that it was nicer than where they were probably living. We have definitely noticed a division in classes as we travel through all of Central America. In the small towns the shacks that people live in are depressing. The towns have lots of tiendas, restaurantes, and comedias where folks work to earn a living. Then the cities appear to have a lot of middle class and up people. At least that's what we've seen at the mall(s).
The mall is sort of like any small mall in the USA, except the air conditioning doesn't work as well. Today we bought a new pocket camera, because Roger accidentally dropped the camera on the floor and the lens had problems and wouldn't work. Oh well... to add insult to injury the camera doesn't use the same battery as the old one. Now we need to find another battery, which is going to be a challenge especially the way Roger likes to shop.
We had a young couple, Marvin age 27 and his wife Yancy age 15, doing odd jobs for us at San Vicente. They have been married for a year. Both were very nice and very poor. Marvin finished the 8th grade before he had to leave school to find work. Yancy finished the 7th grade. When I asked them why they didn't continue in school, Marvin told me that poor people only go through the 8th grade at most, because after that you have to pay for school and uniforms in the public school system in El Salvador. They washed our RVs and Norm had Yancy clean the interior of his RV. They also helped haul water to fill our tanks. Yancy did Norm's laundry. I had already hand washed our clothes, so I couldn't give the job to Yancy. Yancy told me that she likes to work, but there aren't always jobs for her to do because there's lots of competition. The good thing is that she hasn't gotten pregnant yet, but she would like to have "lots of Marvin's babies."
I don't know if Marvin and Yancy are a typical young couple in El Salvador. They certainly made both Roger and I think about the wealth an average American has compared to them. And it made us very uncomfortable with our RV, knowing that it was nicer than where they were probably living. We have definitely noticed a division in classes as we travel through all of Central America. In the small towns the shacks that people live in are depressing. The towns have lots of tiendas, restaurantes, and comedias where folks work to earn a living. Then the cities appear to have a lot of middle class and up people. At least that's what we've seen at the mall(s).
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