Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
people who live in those places (not to mention better for our troops). Improving
the “Brand of America” in this way would make it much harder for foreign ter-
rorists or bombastic leaders to mobilize people against us. While this might seem
a little too “touchy-feely” for our militaristic society, it's less expensive—and cer-
tainly less destructive—than hard power.
San Salvador's poorest neighborhood—a place that makes Beatriz's neighborhood seem
almost posh—is built upon a garbage dump. We wandered for an hour around this “city” of
50,000 inhabitants, dusty frills of garbage blowing like old dandelion spores in the wind.
It was a ramshackle world of corrugated tin, broken concrete, and tattered laundry. I'll
never forget the piles of scrap metal, the ripped and shredded sofas, tire parts, and filthy
plastic bowls I saw stacked neatly at one point. This was a store entirely stocked by junk
scavenged from the city dump. Even the store's chairs, tables, walls, and roof were scav-
enged—made of battered tin.
