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Published: December 24th 2008
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Hi everyone!
First, I´ll wish everyone a Merry Christmas, just in case (1) I have no internet access tomorrow and (2) some people don´t read all the way to the end of my blogs 😊
So, Merry Christmas/feliz navidad to you and your families!
On Saturday I tried to stay up all night, but without any luck - I was dozing in a hammock, so I laid down for a few minutes sleep. I woke at about 2:45 and showered, packed, and was almost ready when the cab driver arrived. There were two other guys in the same cab, which was nice because we only paid $15 each instead of the $30 if it had been just me. They were Canadians too! We arrived in Managua at the Tica bus terminal just before 5am, and after a short wait I got a ticket on the bus to San Salvador. They didn´t have change for me though, and it took them about 30 minutes to find a $10 bill. I waited for a bit, but then stocked up on some snacks for the bus.
I got my change and then got my window seat. For the first bit
of the trip, no one was beside me, and I had a nice nap. Even once a lady sat beside me a few hours in, I slept well, waking at the border briefly. We stopped at a gas station around lunch time, and I had a bite to eat, sharing my table with two nice Nicaraguan women. The day was very warm, but the bus was ice cold!
The border crossings were strange - the border agents came onto the bus, looked briefly at our passports, and then moved on to the next person - no stamps or anything! Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize apparently have a border agreement....but I want a stamp!!!
Along the way I met a friendly Swedish couple, Bjorn and Anna, who started in South America and are travelling all the way to Alaska! I may see them again, when they visit Canada.
We arrived in San Salvador at about 4pm, and I decided to take a cab to a nearby hostel. Casa Australia turned out to be mostly a dud - it was very clean, but the owner made me feel uncomfortable. The single room was $15, but I saw her pay
off the cab driver (who I´d already overpaid for the short trip). Most people I have met so far will speak more slowly if you are trying to understand them, but this woman wouldn´t even when asked (¨Mas despacio, por favor!¨). I didn´t find any other backpackers either, which made it a bit lonely.
San Salvador can be a scary city. Everywhere, everyone has guns, and big ones at that! Hunger finally got me out of the hostel around 7pm, although I was quite convinced I´d be shot 😉 The neighbourhood was reportedly safe, and its true - in a five minute walk I saw about 6 guards, armed with big rifles and semi-automatics! At least they werent pointed at me! I found an upscale mall and settled into a dinner with my book.
I slept well, and in the morning wanted to catch a cab to the bus terminal so I could head up to the Ruta de Las Flores, a beautiful flowery section of San Salvador. The hostel owner told me that a cab was expensive (like $8) and she would call one for me. I waited and waited, but it didn´t show, so I just
left (I think it may have passed me a bit up the road). That was fine, as I didnt really trust her by then, plus I wanted to find a bank machine.
I went back to the mall up the road, and got money, and then hailed a cab just outside. Sure enough, the driver only wanted $4! He was very friendly and nice, and dropped me right at the terminal near a policeman (with a big gun of course!). I walked through the terminal, and bought 4 big cookies, still warm, for about 60 cents. One of the security guards helped me to find my bus, a nice plush, airconditioned ¨especial¨bus. For $1.45 it took me the 2 hours or so to Sonsonate, where I would catch a chicken bus to Juayua. The best part of the trip though, was the touts (sellers) who climbed aboard the bus. There was the usual mess of food and drink and trinkets, but this bus had 3 interesting ones I haven´t seen yet.
The first was a guy with a set of those little wheels that you can draw flowers and other geometric designs with - do you remember those
from when you were a kid? You put one plastic bit on the paper, and the other shape, usually a circle inside it, and then stick your pen in one of the holes and move the whole thing around a bunch of times. Anyways, he demonstrated the whole thing, while standing, on a moving bus. Very entertaining.
Next was a man selling knives. Big knives. He had a box of them, and they were only a dollar each! He pulled them out, showed the chopping motion, touched the tip to his finger to show their sharpness....all while the bus jolted through the streets and changed gears, and other touts with food pushed past him.
The last guy was selling ´vitamins´garunteed to cure: bronchitis, allergies, rhumatism, arthritis and all colds or illness in cihildren and adults. Only a dollar! Kinda scary actually.....
In Sonsonate I caught a chicken bus , about 45 minutes, to Juayua which is a beautiful artsy town. I felt much better than in dirty, scary San Salvador! I found a place to stay, Hotel Anáhuac, which is actually more of a hostel. My dorm bed was just $7, and there was a beautiful courtyard
and a nice dog, Eddie. I walked around the town a bit, and then had a nap, before getting some groceries (mostly water and drinks) at a nice local supermarket.
That evening, I went out for puposas (considered to be the national dish of El Salvador, these are a flat, panckake like food, typically stuffed with beans, cheese and/or meat) with an american family from California. The puposas were great and the family (3 boys and their parents) were really friendly and fun to chat with. They own a home in Guatemala!
On Tuesday I caught a bus at 9am to Santa Ana with Callum and Fleur, a lovely British couple who had been in the same dorm. I was glad for their help, as the bus terminal seemed really really hard to find in Santa Ana. It may have been that it was almost Christmas, but every nook and cranny was busy - people were selling everything and it was very crowded. At the terminal I used the scariest bathroom yet - heaving tile floor, collapsing toilets and very scummy walls (it looked like a horror movie) - and paid 15 cents to pee!
Callum, Fleur
and I had a lunch of bean and cheese puposas at a stall near the busses, and then said goodbye - they were off to some ruins via a different bus.
From Santa Ana, I had thought to head to Aguillares, but this isn´t possible, so I took a series of chicken busses in a very circuitous route, from Santa Ana to Apopa, and then to Aguillares and from there to La Palma. I had intended to get all the way to Honduras, to Copan Ruinas, but time was running out. The border at El Poy closes at 6pm, and I didn´t really want to be on the bus after dark. So I stopped in La Palmas, near the border.
The bus ride was very very crowded! It seems it was because of Christmas ( my poor spanish, ¨el bus esta complet porque Navida?¨ ¨the bus, is it crowded because Christmas?¨). At many of the stops, more people crowded on than there was space. Little kids crowded past, grabbing bums and legs along the way. People literally stood on top of one another, and movement was impossible. At each stop, more tried to crowd on before anyone could
even get off!
The hotel has a HOT SHOWER!! Its just a trickle from a Frankenstien - an electric kettle hot water heater attached to the shower - but its my first since Monteverde! I had one last night, and another this morning.
Last night I walked around town, and bought some really yummy cookies (sugar cookies, filled with caremalized milk and dusted with baking sugar, and one filled with pineapple!). The town is really interesting - there are many brightly painted murals and lots of similar small figurines for sale. Soon I´ll hop a bus to the border and then carry on to La Entrada and Copan Ruinas were I´ll spend Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
Eileen
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Brent
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3 little points
I can't believe people would not read all the way to the end of your entries. Merry Christmas. Travel Safe.