Cruiser Interview with a President
October 8 - Barillas Marina, El Salvador
"You meet the most interesting people
at Barillas Marina in El Salvador," reports Bruce Winship
who is cruising there with his wife April and kids Kendall and
Quincy aboard the 30-ft Crowther Cat Chewbacca from Alameda.
"While lounging in the pool one afternoon, a nice young
man waded in and introduced himself as Francisco. Light conversation
went from the weather (hot and humid) to fishing conquests to
planned sails south. After a short while I excused myself, as
I had to download some recent pictures to my computer. So ended
my first conversation with a president of a country.
"Later, while busily working on my
laptop in the open-air restaurant, Francisco entered casually
dressed in his Colombia shorts and sandals. I glanced up, gave
a wave asked 'Que tal?' - reaching the limits of my Spanish
- as he came by. Luckily for me, Herbieto Pineda, manager of
Barillas Marina, was there and introduced my wife April to Francisco
as follows: "April, I would like to introduce you to Francisco
Flores, our President of El Salvador." Oops! My mistake
was understandable: in the United States politicians are supposed
to be slimy and aloof. We got the impression that Francisco Flores
is caring and concerned, and he's certainly highly educated and
a nice and humble guy. He spoke intelligently of El Salvador's
needs and its image from a bloody past. During his single 5-year
term - he has more than a year left - he has been instrumental
in rebuilding the infrastructure ruined during the civil war
that ended in 1992, and ridding the country of corruption. He
believes that education and jobs will be the salvation of El
Salvador, and is working closely with the United States to achieve
a Free Trade Agreement between our countries.
"Thinking quickly - for once - I grabbed
a nearby issue of Latitude
38 and said, "Hey, Francisco, would you like to
have your picture in this magazine?" He picked up the magazine
and said, "Mucho gusto, that would be great!"
All he had to do was wait while I ran to the dinghy, and motored
back to our cat to grab the digital camera. I got back just in
time to hear the whine of the helicopter warming up, while President
Flores lined up with cruisers from True Companion, Paraquina,
Akaivi, and Chewbacca for the accompanying photograph."
Photo Courtesy Chewbacca
Winship didn't identify the President of
El Salvador among the cruisers, but we think we can pick him
out.
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