ACYPL 2008 Nicaragua and El Salvador Delegation

We met on July 10, 2008, in Washington, D.C. for dinner at Buca de Beppo (we ate in the Pope room) before our trip to Central America. There are seven people from across the United States that make up our delegation. At dinner we got to meet each other and as well as have an opportunity to be briefed by Luis Aparicio, Counsel from the Embassy of El Salvador.


I am pictured here with Luis Aparicio, Counsel from the Embassy of El Salvador.

After the dinner, the delegation headed to “Off the Record,” a local establishment a block from the White House. Marianne and I decided to give ourselves a self guided tour of the monuments first. This was Marianne’s first time in Washington, D.C. and we decided that she could not be in the city without at least seeing some of the sights. We visited the White House, the holiday tree (which, disappointingly I discovered a few years back is not actually on the White House lawn), the Washington Monument (my favorite), the World War II, Lincoln, Korean, and Vietnam Memorials, before walking back up 17th street, a hour later, past the Old Executive Office Building, on the way to our hotel. I think this was the first sign that Marianne and I may be trouble together as we had wandered off from the rest of the delegation after only being together for a few hours.

Peer Pressure

Peer pressure is the impetus for the development of my blog. Chas Anderson, my friend and colleague at the Minnesota Department of Education, has been "encouraging" me to start a blog. I have succumb, primarily as a means to be able to share my experience travelling to Central America with family and friends. The American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) has invited me to represent the United States on an international exchange program to El Salvador and Nicaragua from July 11 – 25, 2008. I will have the unique opportunity to meet with senior level government and political officials at the national, regional and local levels, as well as business leaders and members of the civic community to engage in candid dialogue on a wide range of political, cultural, and economic issues.