I was driving through the hills just north of San Salvador, enjoying El Salvador’s great highway system, when I noticed a sign indicating the turnoff for the village of Ilobasco [ee loh BAHS ko]. I didn’t have a strict itinerary to keep, so I took the exit…and discovered a pleasant town of 23,000, which was a center for the production of ceramics as far back as pre-Columbian times, primarily due to the quality of the clay in the area. Today, Ilobasco is the village for the most renowned craft item in El Salvador–the sorpresa, meaning “surprise.”

The smell of freshly roasted coffee beans wafted through the air as I made my way to El Salvador’s famous Sunday food festival which takes place in the small town of Juayúa.

I’m looking to retire in Central America. I still haven’t pinned down a destination yet, but I wanted to tell you about a contact I made during a recent research trip to El Salvador.

Señor Gonzales is a judge in San Salvador, and his wife, Rebeca, is an international lawyer. Usually they live and work in the city, but open up their house to paying guests on the weekends. The hospitality is superb, including some extras like free pancakes and coffee at breakfast, and they invited all their guests to dinner on Sunday. I can’t remember ever having been treated so kindly.