Economics With A Face

Crossing the border was relatively easy but a tad bit hectic. Exiting the bus for our Guatemalan exit stamp, the bus driver put his fingers to his lips and told us to change money on the El Salvador side of the border as it was “dangerous” in Guatemala. Getting swarmed by currency exchangers as we made our way to immigration a few asked it we wanted colones. Colones have not circulated in El Salvador for years as the economy was dollarized in 2001.

Back on the bus, we drove across the border, which was a bridge over a river, and made our way to the immigration office. We had not changed money yet so luckily Em and I had enough dollars left over from the U.S. to cover both our $10 entry fees as well as Nick’s so none of us had to run out, change some money, and then be at the end of the line.

Outside we changed money. It was bizarre seeing dollars again, but it sure will be a lot easier for us. I asked the money changer if he was scared carrying so much money around. He said not really, although he had been robbed in 1994. Supposedly the police “anterior” had taken something like $3000. I asked if things were better now and he said somewhat.

Fifteen miles into El Salvador the bus pulled off to the side of the road at what was apparently our stop, and Em and I jumped off. The guy who unloaded our bags said a collective would be passing soon and sure enough as the bus was pulling off we saw one approaching. We jumped aboard and I made sure the driver would let us know where to get off for the bus to Juayua. I had the feeling we were really getting off the beaten track when a twelve year old boy couldn’t take his eyes off me in the van. Apparently he was not used to seeing two gringos on this route.

Ten minutes later we were standing at another fork in the road on the outskirts of Ahuachapan. It looked like a fairly prosperous town judging by the appearance of some very clean franchise restaurants. A vendor selling cola gave us some stools to sit down on while we waited and he let us know the bus should pass by shortly.

Before long an old US school bus pulled up and we were off to Juayua. The ride was great, heading through mountains covered with rows of coffee plants, despite there being a somewhat shady character that decided to sit right in front of us. Everyone else was great helping us out. The highlight of the trip for Em was when an 8 week old husky puppy got on for part of the ride with its mom and owners.

We pulled into Juayua in the afternoon and found a great place to stay at Casa de Huespedes Dona Mercedes. We literally had the whole place to ourselves as we were the only guests. We headed out for a bite to eat and had a roast chicken meal as we watched Real Madrid get dominated by Lyon. We had some coffee on the plaza and watched a group of little kids in yellow uniforms following a teacher cross the street. They were on their way to exercise in the plaza.

That night we heard some drumming and made our way out to the street to see a school parade heading to the plaza. It was another event for Independence Day (all of the Central American countries have the same day of independance, September 15). Suddenly, it started to pour rain, and cute little kids were running everywhere for cover. The show went on, however. The highlight of the performances was a group of about ten 5 year old girls dressed as flowers dancing. The low point of the performance was when the principal of the school droned on and on how the Twin Towers didn’t fall on September 11th, 2001, but had fallen long ago when the U.S. turned its back on God.

For the first time, we feel like we are the only foreigners in town. We’ve heard that many people come from the capital on the weekends to enjoy the weekly food fair, but right now we are the only outsiders here.

When we got back to the hotel, Sonia, the owner of the place, said that she saw us on the local television station that was broadcasting the event. Guess we just used up 1 or 2 more minutes of our 15 minutes of fame.