President of Chile in ES

Was at the hotel when suddenly, a boat load of POLICIA MILITAR lined up along the corners of the street. I didn't know what was going on, but these police were lined up strategically all along the road corners leading to the hotel. As I was walking down the hill from the hotel, I asked one of the security guys holding a machine gun, what was going on if there had been a threat to the hotel. To my surprise, he let the cat out of the bag. President of Chile was staying in town in the hotel. In the Marines, we had the fifth general order. "TO TALK TO NOONE EXCEPT IN THE LINE OF DUTY." I had learned previously that in El Salvador, they use alot of armed private contractors to provide security. They look almost paramilitary in form. Boots, utilities, automatic weapons pistols and radios. Right at the hotel, they had bomb sniffing dogs and armed guards. But these guys were El Salvador military police. The paramilitary security contractors were used mostly for manpower to guard enterances and exits leading to and from the hotel. I give them an "A" for appearance and readiness, but I'm not too impressed with their slack intelligence. They should be teaching these guys that if they are going spill the beans and talk to guys like me while on duty, the least they should do is to try to pass out some MISINFORMATION to keep open ears like myself in check. I do appreciate being told the truth, and probably was not preceived as a threat, but YOU NEVER KNOW.....DO YA! Lose lips sink ships.

And of course, this article on the internet is all about I could dig up on the subject, notice, hardly any U.S. networks picked up on that visit, must not be very important to our interest for the moment. I understand. And of course, the article was smart enough to leave out the hotel he would be staying at, or they weren't given that information to broadcast to the public. BUT I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE HE STAYED.

Presidente de Chile llega mañana a El Salvador - Revista Estrategia & Negocios

Hah, I kept thinking that ES was the country code for Spain (España). I think in a place like El Salvador, it's probably all over the news that he was going to be in town, so if you didn't figure it out from one of the security guys, you would have found out from someone else. Kind of like if you know the president is in town and you suddenly see a limo being escorted by 50 cop cars.

I'm sure they knew he was coming to ES but I doubt they broadcasted exactly which hotel he would be staying sighting security precautions. That is basic 101 intelligence. Alot of people eventually find out, but the fewer the better for his sake. That's a high profile dude. A president of any country can always attract bad men wishing to do them harm.

I get what you're saying, but sometimes word is so easy to get out that it doesn't really help much anyway. The day after the presidential debate in Denver, a hotel across the street from my work had different barriers up, plus cop cars on every corner surrounding. Sure enough, that's where Obama was staying. As a sidenote, I've spent 3 weeks in that same hotel for training with SkyWest. I must be pretty awesome.

But you are awesome my friend. You are awesome indeed.

Good. By the way, I'm flying to IAH for work today. Maybe I'll see you in one of the hangars? :-P

Stay in the hotel my friend. You don't want to come out to the hangers at midnight when you should be at the hotel lobby drinking margaritas or sleeping.

Haha... I ended up staying at the Marriott attached to the airport. Wasn't too bad. That train to get there is funny, like an oversized toy stuffed in some eccentric rich guy's basement. Went to the Potatoe Patch for dinner with a coworker. Pizza Star for lunch. Then home.

Did they throw you some rolls at the potato patch? Gotta stay away from there. Too heavy of food, too many pass arounds, it never quits. Never heard of pizza star. (You pulled a DAN QUAYLE.) It's POTATO and its POTATOES. Not Potatoe.

They did! Yeah, the food was pretty heavy, but every now and then something like that hits the spot. And I agree with you on the spelling, but if a store wants to call themselves something, I'm not gonna try to correct 'em.

Pizza Star is decent. The one I went to was at 77 Harvard, but there's another one somewhere. They have a pretty good lunch buffet with a salad bar. The crust is more like a Digiorno pizza to be honest, but their toppings are great, especially if you like garlic. A lot. One of them has whole cloves!

I'd go back again sometime :)