September 16, 2005
Touring San Salvador
We woke up and grabbed some breakfast and at 9:30 were back at the hotel to meet with Miguel who was taking us on our tour of the city. After speaking for the first half hour in Spanish we found out that Miguel was a resident of the U.S., had lived there for a year, and was in the process of becoming a citizen. We started speaking in English which was kind of a nice break as we didn’t have to worry about missing anything.
During the day we toured a good deal of San Salvador and the surrounding areas. We got to see the main soccer stadium from a nearby hill, visited a national park called the Puerto de Diablo where we could see all the way to the ocean, sampled pupusas s, a cornmeal, chicharron and queso mixture, in a local restaurant, passed through the suburbs where a growing middle class was visibly thriving, and we again headed into downtown to look at the cathedral.
We talked with Miguel about a variety of subjects: gangs, the civil war with the FMLN, the dollarization of the economy and much more. One interesting discussion we had was when I asked him if the economic growth was only benefiting a certain portion of the population who already were well off. In essence, if people were born into a poor family were they trapped there?
While he acknowledged that of course it was harder to come from a family with scarce resources it definitely could be done. Living proof was his own family. His father had started making money as a young boy selling milk, later working his way up to other products. It wasn’t until he was 19 years old that he bought his first pair of shoes. Miguel himself had grown up in a one bedroom house with his parents, siblings, and often a cousin or two. Their family was now benefiting from a stable and growing economy that El Salvador was providing.
After the tour and back at the hotel, we headed out. Em ended up getting a manicure from a beauty shop across the street, while I had a few beers watching an under-17 World Cup match. We grabbed some dinner and then shortly afterwards called it a night. Tomorrow: Honduras.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:13 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 15, 2005
Chaotic San Salvador
After breakfast at El Mirador, we checked out of our hotel and caught a bit of the independence day parade in the town square where nuns were barbequeing in front of the church, vendors were selling vegetables, and people were enjoying their plaza. A bit reluctant to leave, we caught a bus and were off to San Salvador. We changed buses in Somoto, where we were joined by a bunch of university students who were on their way to the capital to watch the university team from Somoto compete in the Central American Championships (tonight we found out they won the game 5-2).
Entering the capital city it looked relatively prosperous. There were lots of franchises, everything ranging from Goodyear to fast-food. Once at the bus station we caught a cab with a friendly driver to our hotel near the center of the city. We checked in and decided to immediately get out and explore the center of the city and get a bit to eat.
Heading towards the cathedral in the center of the city it became apparent that San Salvador had one of the largest and most centrally located informal markets we have seen in our travels. Music was blaring from every corner and one plaza, just a block from the cathedral, was completely covered with small informal restaurants. Everything from nail polish to Converse shoes to pineapples to video games was for sale, and it seemed as though the market was slowly swallowing up the streets and sidewalks and surrounding buildings. It was a bit overwhelming.
We found a great little restaurant where we were served up with huge portions of all types of food (cafeteria style) for about $4 a plate. Afterwards we looked without luck for an ATM but all the banks were closed. We made our way back to the hotel and after a stop at a bar where I had some excellent chorizo and a beer we decided to call it a night. Tomorrow we’re taking a tour of the city which we hope will be interesting.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:07 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 14, 2005
The Waterfalls in Juayua
Today we woke up and had breakfast at a nice place on the other side of the plaza called El Mirador. The owner was super friendly and let us take a look at the new edition of the Lonely Planet over breakfast. Her hotel wasn’t listed in our version (we bought ours in 2002) but was featured in the latest version.
We also inquired about getting a guide to head to the waterfalls which had been highly recommended by both the LP guide and Sonia at the hotel. She said that Manuel who worked at the hotel could take us but he was finishing some painting. He came out and introduced himself and we all agreed to meet at one o’clock to head over to the falls.
We came back at one and were shortly off to the falls. Manuel was a great guy and we talked about El Salvador as we made our way. I really was not expecting much, so I was taken aback when we finally made it to the site. There was a large underground river the fed the falls and it was really breathtaking.
It began to rain, but we continued. After the first set of falls we continued down the path to another set of falls, this one with a swimming hole constructed out of concrete directly below. I jumped in for a quick swim in the crisp water, which felt great after the walk. According to Manuel the pools were constructed by a resident of the Juayua years and years ago for the community and to help attract tourists. At least in our case it worked.
Manuel walked us back to the hotel and we said we would probably see him tomorrow when we stopped by for breakfast before the trip to El Salvador. Tonight we made our way to the plaza again where we saw another performance by a local school and decided to stay for the “Liberty Torch” to make its way into town at about 10 o’clock, despite pouring rain. Tonight we came prepared with raincoats so we stayed dry.
When it finally did arrive the scene was a bit like the Olympics as people ran with the torch with a long line of cars and crowds and ambulances with sirens in tow. They lit the lantern in the town plaza and then the huge throng of people were off again, supposedly to the Guatemalan border. It was another fun night and easy to get caught up in the excitement. Tomorrow we are off to San Salvador.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:03 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 13, 2005
Crossing the Salvadoran Border
We grabbed a quick breakfast in the morning and then were off in a shuttle to Guatemala City. We dropped off a few people at the airport and then made our way into town to catch a bus. I had called the day before and found a line that could drop us off in Ahuachapan, in northern El Salvador, but when we stopped to drop off Nick, a 22 year-old Australian who was heading to San Salvador, we found out that the bus he was taking could also drop us off so we just jumped on the bus with him.
Leaving the city in the bus took a while but it was fun to get at least a glimpse of Guatemala City. Soon we were in the countryside though and making our way to the border. The whole time we were chatting with Nick, a nice guy from Australia. He had been traveling by himself for 2 and a half months and was halfway done with his trip.
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.