Advertisement
Published: August 11th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Family Portrait + Me
While visiting with Marta's family we posed for some pictures. They made me feel so welcome, it was an awesome time! Day Two - Wednesday September 20th
We'd staked out the Metro Centro as our base of operations while not in our guest house. We trekked down there around noon to grab a bite to eat. We found a breakfast place called Florencia (or something along those lines) and ate crepes packed and covered with strawberries and sauce. Oh god, it was so good! The service there was unmatched. Nowhere have I gone in the world where the service is as polite and friendly as in El Salvador. The people nearly burst at the seams with cheer when they greet you!
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the mall, shopping, and pretty much looking around at all the neat stuff. We were getting a lot of stares, although after a while I got used to it and really stopped noticing. I tell ya, if you're feeling like you have low self-esteem; go to El Salvador. The guys love heaping attention on you, and the only thing you have to put up with are hater looks from some of the girls. M got some mega side-eyes hating from some girls while she was trying on shoes. It was so obvious
Gorgeous house
Here's a sample shot of what the house looked like on the inside. I wish I had a shot of what it looked like on the outside. Very interesting design, and beautifully decorated! that
*I* noticed it. (I'm usually oblivious to people around me, so it's bad if I notice ^_^)
In the evening we went to visit M's aunt and uncle. (Actually her "aunt" is her mom's best friend from years ago. It's so awesome that they've stayed friends for so long!!) I met Marta's cousin and his fiancée. Luckily they spoke English so I wasn't completely out of the loop for the entire night. The fiancée was perfect. The type of girl you love to hate but can't because she's so sweet and nice. She even spoke French, so we conversed for a bit in that.
M's aunt and uncle live in the house that M grew up in, so it was really cool to go about and see where she grew up. It was 100% different than what I'd expected. (Then again, my powers of visualization kinda suck. I never picture things the way they really are.)
I never regretted not speaking Spanish as much as I did while I was visiting there. Out of all the wonderful people that I met in El Salvador for my trip, many of whom I could only converse through Marta's interpretation, I wish I could have spoken one-on-one with her Uncle. He reminded me of my grandfather, he was so sweet and a gentleman. I'm sure he would have had a dozen stories to tell me, all of them fascinating. He showed us some of his coins in his collection. I showed marked interest in one of them; a commemorative coin for a hospital in the States. I mentioned how it was interesting that the date on the coin was 1939 and that always reminds me of World War II. He then *GAVE* me the coin because I liked it. I was so sorry that I couldn't thank him properly. THEN later in the evening he brought out another coin to show. I think it's from Italy, 1834. While I was trying to figure out where it was from, he said that I could keep it too! I'd just met the man and he was being so generous. I gave him a big hug, he was such a sweetheart. He loved Pollo Campello as well, so when I go back I'll have to go to dinner there with him!
On our way home M and I requested that they help us find some bathrobes. It was just so hot when we came back to our room that after the first day we'd decided to get something light we could put on to cool down. Something thin and made of cotton that wouldn't keep the heat in. What we found were nightgowns that resembled hospital gowns (no bathrobes for us!) They buttoned up in the front, were sleeveless and just above the knee. (M and I ended up sleeping in these for every night that we were in the guest house. They were comfortable and came in very handy on Saturday.) They were laughing at us, of course, as we bought our "old lady nightgowns".
M got (surprise!) pink, and I had blue (double surprise!). That night was spent in relative comfort in our old lady gowns under a fan set to high speed. Winter in El Salvador is as unforgiving as one of the hotter summer days on Toronto.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.051s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0203s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb