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(above panorama: view from my hotel in Tegucigalpa)
After the picturesque village of Copan with its ancient temples, I took a bus to El Salvador. I wasn't planning on staying there very long, about a week, to check out the capital San Salvador and maybe one or two other towns.
El Salvador is a pretty small country but its capital San Salvador is a huge city, though unfortunately quite criminal. I was planning to spend just one day in the capital and then move on. However, plans changed, because I got "stuck" in hurricane Agatha. The first day, when I planned to explore the city, it was pouring down non stop the entire day, so I stayed in my hotel and chilled out a bit. The next day was better and I took a taxi around to explore the city. San Salvador is not a very pretty city, though, and the so-called "historical center" is very run down and not really a place to go out alone, certainly not at night. I hired a taxi via the hotel, and the driver walked around with me as I checked out the two main squares, Plaza Barrios and Parque Libertad.
The
main Cathedral is on Plaza Barrios, along with a statue of Barrios on a horse. Barrios was president of El Salvador in the mid 19th century and declared a national hero for his efforts of protecting farmers and military triumphs. The Palacio Nacional is also on the same square.
A few minutes from Plaza Barrios is Parque Libertad, another run down park/square with some colonial charm. I think I was the only visiting tourist there, and I was glad my taxi driver was with me, because there were some dodgy people hanging around there. After the stroll around the plazas, the driver brought me to two museums, who happened to be closed because of the major rain the previous day.
When I came back to the hotel, the staff told me that the president of El Salvador had declared the country to be in a red alert status, discouraging people to travel if there is no emergency. Apparently, there had been over 100 landslides in the country, partly blocking major roads in the country. Guatemala and Honduras were also having problems due to the hurricane. So I was stuck for another 2 days in San Salvador, and I
decided that when the roads were clear again, I would just directly go to Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa. Luckily, I was staying in quite a nice "boutique" hotel with very friendly staff, so I wasn't bored at all and I was well informed on the information on the hurricane situation.
When I was "clear" to leave, I bought a ticket on a nice luxury bus to Tegucigalpa. At the bus station in San Salvador, I met a very nice young lady, Carolina, who is from Honduras and was heading back home after a few days of holiday in Guatemala and El Salvador. We chatted all the way to Tegucigalpa. By the end of the trip she invited me to join her for church the next day. Now, I'm not religious at all (in fact, I'm an atheist, an agnost at best), but how could I deny such a request of such a nice (and beautiful) girl? I didn't, so the next day I found myself in her church, which was quite an experience. However, I didn't understand anything at all, because it was all in Spanish. Maybe that's why I haven't been converted yet ;-)
I also went out
to explore the town. Like San Salvador, I found "Tegus" not to be particularly interesting, but it is much safer and the old center is in a better condition. A day of sightseeing is enough to see the major sights though.
I spent some more time with Carolina and I met her family and friends as well, so I quickly felt at home in this city! On one night, I was invited to join in a game of football (soccer) and that turned out to be a wake up call for me. After 5 minutes I was already exhausted. Time to get some exercise when I get back home! I also was invited to watch two games of the NBA finals (LA Lakers vs Boston Celtics) at home of one of Carolina's friends. Another two fun nights out in the city.
After all that fun it was time to move on as well... Nicaragua is up next...
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Carolina
non-member comment
great pictures baby!!!