Vehicle Graphics in El Salvador

After a series of large projects which have resulted in a lengthy time away from the blog, I am happy to return and continue writing about items of interest for TheSignExpert.com. Additionally, I am also happy to report another successful international graphics project which will be the subject of this article’s topic. Yes, that’s right, I said international, as in far away from central Ohio and clear down to Central America (El Salvador to be more specific).
To leave the USA and travel the world has always been an interest of mine. Not only that, but I also firmly believe that all American’s, from every walk of life, should get a chance to see some of the rest of the world we all live in. In my humble opinion, if everyone were to visit other cultures, learn other languages and experience life outside the typical American existence then there would be far fewer problems in the world… of course, that is only my opinion (for what its worth).
For those of you are are interested, here are some pictures & information on my trip to El Salvador…

This is the view out of the airplane as we flew into the main airport of San Salvador (the capital city of El Salvador). Notice the Pacific Ocean off in the distance.

While there are definitely areas of San Salvador that can be rough and intimidating to outsiders…

… the vast majority of Salvadorians are intelligent, friendly and courteous. I can honestly say that every Salvadorian I met, without fail, was a genuinely interesting and wonderful person. I also found that a popular saying around San Salvador is “The people of El Salvador are its greatest resource”. I believe this to be a completely true statement as I have experienced it first hand.

From the beautiful mountains… (volcanoes, hiking and backpacking galore!)

… to the all natural beaches with beautiful views, some of the best surfing in the world and fresh seafood (yum). The real fun is that both are literally an hour’s drive from each other. Heck, the whole country is only about 22,000 square kilometers or about 8,500 square miles (that’s smaller than New Jersey folks)

The last picture below is me with the onsite graphics professionals from ASA Posters (link to their Spanish only Flash site) after completion of the project.
While I only spoke a bare minimum of Spanish and these guys didn’t speak any English, we still all understood graphics. What was very encouraging was when I initially unrolled the graphics package, the forman (Eliezar to my right) immediately recognized the 3M ControlTac by name. After a mutual inspection of each other’s install belts (all of which were almost exactly the same) we were off and running. Smiles, gestures, basic Spanish & occasional reference to the project drawings were all that was needed to keep everything moving forward.

The one major difference in our tools and installation was my beloved RollePro tool. After I demonstrated how it worked, all of the crew just had to try it. Even without speaking each other’s language, it was hard to mistake the enthusiasm of a graphics installer who sees that RollePro work for the first time. Let’s just say I was asked several times if I would “forget” to take it home.
Well, long story short, it was a genuine pleasure to do such an interesting project in an awesome country! I was fortunate to meet some excellent people and make a few friends. I certainly look forward to returning to El Salvador again.