Friday 18 January 2008

Saturday morning in San Salvador

8am
On our way for breakfast at Pollo Campero.
We stop at the lights. A few metres in front of our car a huge truck overloaded with large tanks of gas lurches forward. Two tanks fall narrowly missing a small boy selling newspapers.

9.30am
Road closed at lights by our house, lots of police. Hard to tell what had happened. All sorts of possibilities come to mind. Kidnap, carjack… I try to stop the others talking about it too openly infront of Chayo.
Later on the news I see it was a drive by gang shooting – 2 windscreen cleaner boys dead.

9.35am
We are by the shops infront of our house. I suddenly see a young woman struggling and a man grabbing her bag. People walking past. I beep in a vain attempt to help, and as I do so notice that the man has a huge shotgun hanging over his shoulder. He must be a security guard. The woman hangs on to her bag and eventually gets away. The lights change and off we go, all of us a bit shaken up. Kinda freaky seeing an armed person in a conflict.

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