Last week’s Times column by Mr. Melendez and letter by Mr. Miles had us reflecting about our trip to El Salvador in 2007, with the Fountain Hills Sister Cities group.

Both Marian and I found the trip a positive experience and appreciated the efforts of the El Salvador Tourism Bureau, Carlos, Enrique, and the people of El Salvador, which made our time there so special and memorable.

We found the capital city of San Salvador to be a major metropolitan area that offered great food and shopping. We also visited the towns of Apaneca, Ataco, Juayua and Suchitoto, each with their own special charm.

Our trip took us on The Flower Route (Ruta de las Flores), which is a lush part of the country that had many flowers in bloom during our visit. We also went up into the hills to see coffee plants and learned about how the best coffee is produced.

The people we came in contact with were welcoming and proud of their country and enjoyed communicating with us in English, or we used an interpreter when needed. One young Salvadoran woman I met had earned dual citizenship and had not been back to see her family in El Salvador in nine years. With pride she told me that in those years she worked, put herself through college, and earned her United States citizenship. This enabled her to travel freely between her two “home” countries.

That chance meeting had me reflect on the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In that short conversation, I felt the lady was not only pursuing her happiness, but was catching it.