Impressions Of A New El Salvador

San Salvador is the capital and at the largest city of El Salvador. The complete name of the capital is "La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador" (the City of the Great Holy Savoir). The capital lies upon a seismic valley in the tropics and surrounded with volcanoes and prone to earthquakes, which is why the Spaniards named this area "El Valle de las Hamacas" (the valley of the Hammocks). This expression is a real one referring to the constant seismic activity (movement like in a hammock).

San Salvador is one of the important cities in Central America but it is the third largest city after Guatemala y Managua. But the city is one of the largest growing cities in Central America.

History

The location of the present city is near the city created by the Spanish Conquest. But little is known about the Capital Cuzcatlan because it was abandoned by its inhabitants to avoid Spanish rule.

The town was founded on April 1, 1525. The city was rebuilt and changed twice locations and the new site location "Valle de las Hamacas" was chosen as it had more space and more fertile land thanks to the Acelhuate River.

The population of the country has suffered during the last one hundred years, but life has to go on. The capital was damaged through an earthquake in 1917.
A coup installed the military regime from 1932 to 1944 and the war against Honduras which ended in 1969 left the country in poor conditions and with little intellects to start the recovery. But a new earthquake in 1986 destroyed many government buildings and other important structures such as the "El Siglo" building, once a well-known department store within the city. The city was still in ruins after almost 14 years after the earthquake.

After celebrating the Peace Accords in 1992 the country started a new stage in the history of the country. Nowadays the country is on its way to recovery and tourism is growing in the country and creates new possibilities for its inhabitants. In 2001 the colon, currency of El Salvador through all history has been changed against the dollar. Since then the population got familiarized with the new currency. There are distingue opinions about the currency change, some say it was a good measure and others are not very convinced about the change because the levels of income haven't changed.

But the way is marked to an increase of the economy supported also through the people who left the country years ago and supported through the years their country and family left behind.

Behind the WTC of San Salvador is the Crown Plaza Hotel located on the hill with and beautiful view to the city. When walking through the 'plaza' of the world trade building there is sign of change to better. Lots of restaurants with different kind of food are at the 'plaza' and one I liked very much is the "Fire of Brazil" Churrascaria - the authentic Churrascaria of Brazil. The people are friendly and the service and the salads are excellent.





There are a great variety of salads that is almost impossible to taste all. But with little of everything you can go through the whole variety without feeling your stomach full. On the contrary you can drink a digestive drink to feel better. But in my opinion the restaurant is worthwhile for a visit you can reach it through a walking tunnel from the Crown Plaza Hotel.






When you still not know where to spend your proximate vacation why not think about vacation in El Salvador. The modern airport is inviting the new airplanes from Taca airlines and Copal and in a short time the low cost airline 'Spirit'.


Talk to you soon

Anton

Flying Can Still Be A Nice Adventure

On a Wednesday afternoon with fairly good visibility and nice temperature we lifted to the Mexico City’s sky with Embraes 190. The embraer 190 a member of the Airbus family with a length of 36.24m, 4,267 USGls of fuel capacity and a diameter of 3.01m and for a passenger capacity of 96.

The sky wasn’t much clouded and a beautiful view to our majestic ‘Guardians Popocapetl and Iztaccihuatl”. Even so they have only a small white costume like a mini skirt and not a long skirt as in some passed winters. But anyhow the view from the plane is always a beautiful one.

You never get tired of this beautiful view, it is like the saying, “where ever you travel and wherever you stay it is always something different and new”

Oh, I just forgot to tell you I was on my way to San Salvador in the country El Salvador. It has been a long time that I flew with Taca Airlines, but I was pleasantly surprised about the change they have undergone. First of all the new fleet of Airbus planes, secondly the service – very friendly personnel. The plane is quite comfortably with two seat rows and what I liked best with no noise at all in the interior. Not like other planes where you just feel that they will fall apart in all their independent pieces when taking off.

Taca is still one of the airlines that serve a small snack and of course without charge. I felt like in the old days eating your small snack looking out of the small window, below a white carpet that looks like a great cotton field all the way to the horizon. It’s just wonderful how Taca reminded me of the old flying days.

Don’t get me wrong it is not the money that is important, no, it is like a certain kind of service to customers. I think the time is over that the airlines are in red numbers, they charge so much for overweight that I cannot imagine to lose lots of money for small snacks.

Service is that counts and Taca has it, thanks.

Talk to you soon.

Anton

Never Get Bored When Travel

You know when traveling you never get bored even when traveling through the same place. There is always something different.

You remember my last post, when I wrote you about traveling through Miami airport. Today I arrived near the passport control and in 123 I got through passport control. (but remember counter 28 to 33 is most of the time faster than any counter because there were almost no one in the queue.

So, I had to wait almost 20 minutes for my luggage to come out. But to my surprise even the security check was less crowded than in other days, even though it is still vacation time. but anyway I enjoyed my stay at Miami airport this time. I had time to drink a good 'Samuel Adams'. For people who are not familiar with certain customs, it is one of the best beer in the States. If you are thinking differently you can post your comment. But as a German I think I know a bit regarding of beer-drinking. But beer drinking is only a question of taste. Everyone has a different taste and you can post your personal opinion.

You know beer drinking is like wine drinking, some like it sweet, some medium sweet and some dry as I do. You know the wine that grows near my home town area is very dry, some even say it is like acid. But I like it very much.

So, when you travel always enjoy it, even so it is for work you still can enjoy your trip. And if you go to the Dominican Republic enjoy your flight as I do and have a nice stay. Or may I say, “See you in Santo Domingo?”
If you hate the cold there is no better excuse than go to the Caribbean Sea the best get away place in the world.

Talk to you soon

Anton



Anton Winkler likes to write about different subjects. For more information go to his website antonwinkler.com
beer

Odyssey In A Bad Organized Airport

Odyssey in a bad organized airport
…or how I lost almost my connection flight. You know the name doesn’t make a good person…the same happens in the real tourist world. Miami in Florida sounds great as a City itself and a tourist pearl in the Golf of Mexico and the Caribbean. I think
Miami has from both sides something and I do not know if Miami is more a Latin City
or an American City. Beautiful beaches colorful and friendly people the perfect climate…but when I just think about its airport I prefer to go around, avoid that
City.

You can say what you want but the infrastructure of his airport stinks; sorry about
that but this is the way how I feel about his airport. The other day I had a
connection flight to the beautiful City of Santo Domingo and I had two hours to catch the flight…but I only can tell you that I almost missed the flight. I just arrived when everyone had already boarded.

Let me tell you about the odyssey: I arrived with American Airlines at station 2. I
walked to the sky-train to passport control. Entered the train and headed for station 3 where the passport control or immigration control is located. I thought coming out the train at station 3 it is easy to reach immigration. But I was completely wrong.

When I left the train I had to walk quite a distance to the immigration. I had just arrived at the immigration area and the problem started.I looked at my watch and I saw that it had past only 25 minutes since my arrival at the airport.

So I was confident that I will go through everything on time. When I arrived at the area there were only a few counters open because it was still early in the morning. And suddenly there were more and more officials to occupy the empty places and as I was standing in the furthest left lane it was easy for me to switch over to the new lane where nobody was. And I thought, “Anton this time you are lucky and within a few minutes you will be on your way to the gate.”

Tip to my readers: When arriving to the immigration area it is good to go as much as
possible to the left counters which are 29 to 35 as these are in the left corner the
arriving passengers do not see these counters in the first moment because they are
hidden behind a wall. These counters have saved me lots of time sometimes.

But you’ll never imagine how wrong I was. Waiting for the luggage and get it through
custom and leave the luggage at the connection flight counter. Go up to the second
floor through security check. And there the nightmare started. When coming out of
custom you are almost near the street. So when you go to the second floor you are in
the departure area for all passengers to every destiny. You can imagine how many
people are going through security check. It took mi many minutes -almost 30 minutes
to be true- and then you have to go to the gate.



But please make sure that you already know where you have to go after security check
otherwise you will lose valid minutes. After security check I started to walk but I
noticed that the gate was not in that part of the terminal and that I had to go by
train to the next terminal (D) where my plane was leaving. Go up to the train enter
the next arriving train and drive to terminal D, going out of the train and start to
walk because time was passing by. I only can tell you I arrived at Miami airport at
about 10:30 local time and I got to the gate for Santo Domingo at 12:15 and the plane were supposed to leave at 12:30. I was sweating like never before but finally I arrived at the gate and took my seat and relaxed.

A good advice, never take too much hand bag with you. When you like to go to Santo
Domingo and you arrive e.g. from Mexico City you’ll have to walk between security
check, sky train and departure gate very fast otherwise you might lose your flight.

But besides all the hassle it is worth to go to Santo Domingo you will forget all the trouble when you get to Santo Domingo that’s for sure. Have a nice trip in your next get away from home where it might be awful cold.

Anton Winkler likes to write about different subjects. For more information go to his website antonwinkler.com

Renaissance Santo Domingo Jaragua Hotel & Casino

The Marriott chain of hotels is without any doubt has a beautiful selection of hotels all over the globe. And the hotel in Santo Domingo the capital of Dominican Republic is no exception. It is a hotel for every taste and gustos of a traveler. Even so the hotel itself is an older construction but the remodeling was a great success in my opinion.



People who like 'Spa', massages, sauna and fitness to relax when travel this is a great place to stay. I do not exaggerate when I say that the outfit in the fitness room is one of the best and most equipped I have seen lately. I was "boca abierta" as the Spanish say, when I entered first into the fitness room. And the charm and friendliness of the people make the stay in the hotel even better.

The almost 14 days stay in that hotel was an exceptional relax time. One did not feel the working hours when coming back to the hotel in the evening and an one hour or plus stay at the fitness center was a relax even after sweating like crazy.



The swimming pool area is a nice quiet and almost private place where you can relax under the beautiful Caribbean Sun and get a little bit color for the winter time or let say you charge a little bit Vitamin D. And what is better than the Caribbean Sea.

You know I always wonder why is it that the poorest countries all over the world have the highest taxes for tourists and business people. Have you ever wondered why? And what is more surprising that the people in those countries do not live better; is it that the benefit of the taxes never come to the people? It is a real pity seeing that misery in those beautiful countries or I would say paradise on earth.

So, coming back to Santo Domingo and the hotel Renaissance Jaragua Hotel & Casino there was one little thing that really got me upset. You normal pay with credit card in order that you do not need a deposit and you can move around as you please. But in this hotel they have a strange politic that they authorize you a certain amount on you card instead of leaving it open as it is the case in almost every hotel. And when you have passed the amount they have authorized they bother you in this case they send me 3 letters of good paper and with an envelope just to remind me that I owe a certain amount of money. But the worst thing was that I was leaving the next day anyway. So I really urge the management of the hotel to get rid of that stupid politics they have with the accountant department. Especially when we are talking about a world wide hotel chain like Marriott. This type of politics can make some people upset...just a comment.

But Santo Domingo is worthwhile a travel trip and even if it is only for a few days to relax.

Talk to you soon

Anton

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Anton W. likes to write about different subjects. For more information go to his blog http://antonsexclusivetraveltips.com
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Another Pearl In The Caribbean Sea

There are many attractive places in the Caribbean Sea. There is Jamaica the sweet and colorful island as his nature and fruits.

And there is another ‘Pearl’ called Dominican Republic. And it is without any doubt difficult for me to tell which the best is. The colorful and sweet as a mango Jamaica or the Spanish speaking, and friendly and naturally colorful island of the Dominican Republic with his beautiful and colonial style city of Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo

Situated at the edge of the Caribbean Sea with her beach with soft waves is a real pearl of the Caribbean and without any doubt an island worth to visit. Santo Domingo was the first city of the Spanish Crown in the new world. The city was officially founded on August 5 of 1498. It was destroyed by a hurricane in 1502 and rebuild on a different site nearby.

The city of Santo Domingo is not only a tourist attraction and the cultural center of the island, it is also the political, commercial and financial center of the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican are known for her friendliness happiness and warm hospitality.

Santo Domingo had the first catholic Cathedral, monastery, hospital, palace and university of the new world.

In 1990 UNESCO declared Santo Domingo World Heritage Site.
It has everything you can imagine. But the best way to discover a beauty is by visiting every corner of the city on your own.

Talk to you soon

Anton

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Anton Winkler loves to write on different subjects. Read more at
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Jamaica As Sweet As His Favorite Fruit

When traveling in the West Indies there is a common fruit that has sweetness as his people.

Even so the origin of this fruit is Southeast Asia but you can see, smell, and taste it in all tropical and subtropical regions. And Jamaica is no exception. And this fruit is called ‘Mango’.

Mango is Jamaica’s most popular fruit and the love for mango is expressed in an old Jamaican folk song:

Mi nuh drink coffee tea mango time
Care how nice it may be mango time
In the heat of the mango crop
When di fruit dem a ripe an drop
Wash your pot turn dem down mango time or something like that.

It is said the mango plant has arrived around 1782. I think there is no other country where you have so many names for this sweet and colorful fruit. Open it and you will see that strong yellow color and taste the sweetness of the fruit. Almost every Jamaican has a favorite type, some love the sweet ‘Bombay’ where as some prefer the ‘East Indian’ and ‘St. Julian’ or also called ‘Julie’. Than you have the ‘Blackie’, ‘Robin’, ‘Stringy’ there are lots of names all over Jamaica. Although you can see this sweet fruit all over the island but the most abundance crops are in St .Elizabeth, St. Mary, St. Thomas and Clarendon.

The best thing about mango is that they not only taste good, they are also healthy. Did you know that they contain many essential vitamins and minerals in every bite you take?

They give you a vitamin A, C and vitamin E injection, but also levels of vitamin B especial B6 and vitamin K, amino acids, potassium and copper. But it doesn’t stop here; the peel and the pulp are full of antioxidant carotenoids and polyphenols and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

So, when you come to Jamaica between May and July don’t forget to load you up with this colorful, sweet, juicy fruit and his charge of vitamins and minerals.

Talk to you soon

Anton

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Anton Winkler loves to write on different subjects to inform his friends and helping other people with their business. Read more at antonwinkler.com