Beautiful Encounters in Travel: Antonio, El Salvador

What makes a trip unforgettable? The landscapes? The cultural discoveries we make? The flavors of local cuisine? The unexpected events and adventures we experience? Undoubtedly, yes... But perhaps more importantly, it's the connections we make. Today, I want to start a series of articles, not knowing where it will lead me or how many I will share on this blog. This series will be dedicated to the beautiful encounters that have enriched our travels and made them unforgettable.

Several encounters come to mind, and the ones that stand out the most are primarily from Latin America, a region of the world that has captivated me since I was young, where conversations in a language I speak are often very beautiful and profound.

But if I had to tell just one, it would be the one with José Antonio, or Antonio to his friends.

The funniest part is that I already knew him before our trip to El Salvador. I had seen him once, shook his hand, and met his gentle and humble gaze. A tall man, his face softened by age, with a light and generous smile. But I only truly felt I met him when I came to his home, in his country, in his house... in El Salvador.

A country that raises the hair on parents' necks, provoking exclamations of surprise from travelers: why go there? What is so interesting that it's worth taking the risk of putting oneself in danger? Because in El Salvador, danger is very real: it is one of the most dangerous peaceful countries in the world, with a frightening homicide rate, especially considering the size of the country and the number of residents.

So there was Antonio, with his arms wide open, and his wife, just as jovial and sweet as her husband, welcoming us like family. On the first day, we sat at the table, the TV still on. Images from a news report played in the background: prison, inmates, mistreatment. Ideas spark around the table. My back stiffens, violence is unbearable to me, and even more so its legitimization. I feel Antonio's gaze upon me: 'Everything will be okay.' He nods, his eyes shining, and I sense a kind of connection forming.

Although I knew his family had immigrated due to the instability of their country, I didn't yet know he had fought against the military dictatorship and fled the civil war at great personal risk. He and his family have such an incredible story that a film would not be enough to honor their journey, their courage, their humanity.

His gaze, filled with gentle intelligence, still fixes on me as he tells about the prison, the torture, the mutual aid. Where in Europe he was just another man, labeled 'criminal'; here, he is his father's son, the father of his sons, a man who managed to earn a doctorate in a country whose language he did not know upon arrival, and the man who fostered a spirit of community, support, and education within the prison, and finally the man who succeeded in drawing international attention to the tragedy his country was facing, which until then had remained in the shadows. And yet, always with his sweet smile and deep gaze, Antonio tells me it's not just him alone, it's the people. 'The People,' a word laden with love and hope in his mouth, and often so despised in the mouths of my fellow countrymen.

For those who read Spanish and travel in Central America, try to get the book that narrates his struggle: 'Breaking the Silence - Resistance and Struggle in Salvadoran Prisons,' written by Claribel Alegria and D.J. Flakoll.

We talked for hours about his story. Finally, he speaks, and I drink in his words with my ears, eyes, and heart. I shiver at times, goosebumps taking over me in the living room where a humid heat lingers. The past has given way to the present. To his artist children of whom he is so proud, who convey messages of hope for the future in their songs: against violence and climate change, for education and gender equality... Talking about the joy of rediscovering one's roots, but also the sun, the nature, and the sea.

The pleasure I shared with him during the two weeks I stayed with his family, discovering the beauties of El Salvador...