Analucy Benavides
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Analucy Benavides. It has been edited for length and clarity.
When I graduated from college in 2016, I got my first "big girl job," working for a national non-profit in Maryland focused on disaster response and humanitarian aid. I started as an emergency dispatcher, then became a compliance analyst, before being promoted to a program manager role for our disaster response efforts.
I loved my job and the greater mission we served, but I started to feel burnout — especially once the COVID-19 pandemic began. During the pandemic, the first thing I would hear in our morning meeting was the death toll. Waking up to those numbers every day for months on end started to take a toll on me mentally and physically.
At the time, I was in a really dark place and knew I needed a change of pace. I felt being somewhere where I could enjoy tropical weather and the sun, near family, would be a good place to start. When the company I worked for decided to go fully remote, relocating became feasible.
While relocating to El Salvador, full-time would be new to me, visiting was not. I'm a first-generation American born in the United States, but all of my family was born and raised in the small, Central American country. My dad is buried in El Salvador, and every year for Día de Los Muertos, I visit to clean his tomb, leave flowers, and pay my respects.
In November 2020, while I was visiting and spending time with my uncle, there was a pinging in my heart telling me not to leave. That feeling lingered when I got back to Maryland, and I decided to start preparing to relocate.
I began shipping things that I wouldn't be able to take in my carry-on luggage, but knew I would have a hard time finding there like basic electronics and one of my go-to snacks, peanut butter. I was a little worried about leaving my mom, my sister, and my grandma, who are all based in Maryland, but I knew moving abroad was the best decision for me and my health.
In January 2021, I bought a one-way ticket to El Salvador. I arranged to live in my grandma's former house, which still belongs to her but was empty at the time. Structurally, it appeared more like a field house, but it had an indoor shower, bathroom, and A/C, which were not common amenities for other homes in the very rural area.
My grandmother grew up in El Salvador, and everyone who knew my connection to her was more than willing to help out. For example, there were not many transportation options in the area I moved to. The bus was often broken, but when I needed a ride, people traveling through the area were more than willing to drop me off at my destination.
In the evenings, I would usually go on an hour-long walk or run. If the neighbors didn't see me, they would check in to make sure I was OK. When I was sick, they brought me hot chocolate and soup. These small gestures not only meant so much to me but also made this country feel like home.
After a year of living abroad and working remotely at my corporate job, I decided to resign. After five years, I felt that I had completed my purpose within the organization and there knew there wasn't room to grow. I decided to put myself first.
Luckily, I had been pursuing content creation on the side, and having more free time allowed me to focus on that growing interest. I documented my day-to-day life living abroad on TikTok. I vlogged when I went to the market to get food, and I shared how I navigated the culture shock of re-discovering wellness habits we consider normal in the US, such as getting waxed or getting my nails done.
I also documented more meaningful events, like community-building efforts. My grandma's house is situated next to a river, and sometimes, there was a lot of litter in it despite people using that river to wash clothes. It was important to me to help the community prioritize keeping it clean, so we all participated in a river cleanup, which I shared with my followers.
I wasn't monetized on TikTok at the time, so my income while living in El Salvador came from finding freelance gigs. I worked as a social media manager for a US-based makeup company owned by a Salvadorian and an interpreter. The social media management position supplied supplemental income, while being an interpreter provided the bulk of my income. I speak English, Spanish, and Portuguese and would translate in all three languages. I earned around $35,000 in one year of freelancing, which was enough to live comfortably in El Salvador.
After two years abroad, I decided to move back to Maryland in January 2023 to care for my mother, who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Now that I'm also taking care of my mother and her medical bills, my freelancing salary would not be enough. I was able to get a full-time local government job working with immigrant communities who don't speak English, while still pursuing content creation on the side. Connecting with the community in El Salvador helped me feel reconnected to my purpose, and in my current position, I'm also helping assist my fellow community members.
While I'm based in Maryland with my family right now, I do have plans to move abroad again. I know I can return any time I want to be reminded of my family's history.
