Advertisement
Published: October 19th 2006
I arrived into El Salvador later in the day than I had hoped, so stayed one night in San Miguel, the city nearest the eastern Honduras border. The next day I headed north early and reached Pequín, site of a lot of fighting in the civil war. visited a museum and local lookout and tried to understand as much as I could about what had happened and who was involved. As always women featured prominently as fighters, not to mention priests (several of whom were assassinated) and, the biggest shock, the use of handheld computers by the rebels to keep spreadsheets of weapons captured, amongst other things, really brought home how recent the fighting was.
Then went on to El Salvador, where I stayed with the ever so lovely George Chippendale, a Brit and a great friend's uncle who had grown up in Paraguay, El Salvador and the States and had gone to school both in England and central America. He lived in the hills surrounding the city and the view from his balcony was spectacular, the city all lit up at night, lightening often flashing above, and the volcanoes in the background in the early morning sun. He was
the ultimate tour guide, taking me on the Ruta de Flores, wining and dining me, telling stories of growing up and life currently in the city, and showing me his black and white albums of when he was young. He rekindled my interest in Paraguay when I re-read his mother's memoirs of living there in the 1930s when the children were tiny and her husband collected animals for London Zoo and managed a cattle estancia.. I am still torn as to whether to head there or south down Argentina but I imagine the searing heat at this time of uear will put me off.
San Salvador is a mad city. Outside of the smart neighbourhoods like Zona Rosa where most premises have armed guards casually cradling pump action shotguns, and all private residences are gated, the city is messy and bustling, chaotic and dangerous (as with all cities when in the wrong areas). George's friend Rolando removed his gold bracelet when he entered the bus station to drop me off and most of George's friends thought I was mad travelling on public transport! However, I never had any problems and the Salvadoreans were open and friendly. The 'Maras' gangs
Representation of El Salvador
Modern Art Museum, San Salvadorcontrol parts of the city, made worse when the US deported Salvadorean criminals back to El Salvador as they are controlled out of Los Angeles. But as always, if you are careful and aware then there are no problems.
Reflections on El Salvador
*The brown of childrens' school uniforms - a shock to see school uniforms at all after Nicaragua
*Lots of police - I suppose normal near a border but again strange after Nicaragua
*The ethnography of Salvadorians is very different: women are stunning here - very beautiful faces with prominent cheekbones; men are more well built, I suppose because more food has been available to them. I have returned to cowboy country - they wear almost a uniform of jeans, checked shirts, American-style hats and very elaborate tassled leather machete holders around their waist
*A woman removing herself from the middle of a 3 lane road right by cathedral in central San Salvador, having just taken a dump.... just plonked herself down under her skirts and away she went!
*Long chat to lovely older lady on the bus to Suchitoto from San Salvador who had worked as a nanny in Boston and Washington for an Italian
family. She stayed four years and liked the cold! Bizarrely in the same conversation she spoke about enjoying watching all the World Cup football matches.
*SALVADOR DEL MUNDO: The statue in the photo - very impressive and outside the equally impressive modern art museum which I loved. Well laid out and interesting exhibitions.
*Organisation of Central American States house: This colonial house is now in the middle of a modern shopping mall and has a coffee shop on its roof - very strange. It still has the original double sweeping staircase and marble pillars but they just look fake because of all the plastic-type construction around it. George can remember the house when his father used to go there, standing on its own complete with drive and garden.
*FOOD: Here they have 'liquados' as opposed to 'refrescos' for fresh fruit drinks - absolutely delicious. Also 'pupusas' which are fried corn or rice tortillas filled with lard (chicharron), frijoles (beans) or cheese or a mixture of all three (revuelto) - a delicious meal is 2 or 3 of them washed down with local fizzy drink, Tropical, a sort of Tizer. I was treated to a lunch of pupusas at one of
the most well known places to have them on the outskirts of San Salvador by George, a place called OLOCIULTA, while we watched the Brazil France world cup match... yummy and very filling! You have to open them up to release the heat otherwise way to hot to handle. Also here they have the cacao drink similar to Nic which is delicious.
*DRESS: Campesinos dress in skirts, smocked or embroidered shirts or dresses, long scarves and often the frilly aprons to keep their change and a myriad other things in.. looks a bit like a cross between the dress of the American prairies and that of Greece
*Use of the word 'baños' not 'servicios' for loos
*Use of any which way to tell the time - 15 para las siete, seis 45, siete menos cuarto... confusing!
*ARTESANIA: lots of gorgeous indigo-coloured material and clothes, hammocks (although not as nice as Nicaragua), wooden knicknacks, tiny miniature scenes of everyday life and saucy scenes for the tourists depicted inside pottery eggs
*Seeing campesinos shooting hell for leather downhill on the Ruta de Flores on wooden toboggans on wheels, with their loads of wood... a hazardous occupation if you meet a truck in the wrong place coming up!
*Truckloads of people everywhere, a very common form of transport. In one there was two grannies, another two grandfathers sitting on chairs in the back of the truck as they sailed past us, yet another a man with a cow.
*I notice a change in the Aid agencies here - from German and Japanese projects in Nicaragua to USAID and the EU here, for example sponsoring water projects to bring drinking water to villages
*The crazy size of the US embassy which takes up a block of the City and includes a garrison of US troops... surely somewhat over the top for a democratic country recovering from the wounds of civil war, as always fanned by American meddling in the past and foreign weapons (am sure us Brits probably sold them weapons too).
Places visited *SUCHITOTO: very beautiful old town overlooking Lago de Lempe and a little similar to Antigua or Europe in looks. The lake is dammed and beautiful, with plants floating and the hills of the other side in the far distance - muy tranquilo. The church has lovely wooden pillars and is a beuatiful example of colonial architecture, lthough sadly most likely built on the blood of indigenous people.
In a gallery in one of the 100 year old houses of the town, beautifully decorated around the ceilings of the music room I spotted and spur of the moment bought a gorgeous, large traditional, wooden candlestick. Luckily George is in shipping-export so was able to handle the posting home for me - thank you! Ate traditional lunch in restaurant overlooking the lake and feasted on a milk liquado with local fruit zapote right on the lakeshore.
*JUAJUA: traditional coffee-growing village up in the mountains on the Ruta de Flores, a popular Sunday drive through villages which traditionally make furniture (Nahuizalco - wicker chairs, brightly woven baskets) or coffee (many of the hillsides have windbreak hedges standing to attention in lines to protect the coffee). Also drove through Sonsonate which has a lovely colonial church. Was wonderfully dined in a traditional Salvadorean resturant called La Colina by George, drinking the local Pilsener beer to the sound of the xylophone-type instrument which 3 men play simultaneously. Had a typical Salvadorean meal of 'sopa' - really delicious with egg, onion, peppers and chorizo in lovely stock; steak with local white cheese, frijoles molitos (mashed beans), potatoes and chile sauce with fat tortillas; and a pudding of Quesadilla criolla, a sort of flat sponge with a pastry end, served warm with the excellent local coffee.
Ladies walking with their colourful plastic water jugs on their heads, brown-skinned boys playing in the road, little girls in their Sunday best pink frilly dresses - the best in shiny polyester.
*DIABLO STONE: Great view from the top down into green valley
*LAGO DE COATEPEQUE: A beautiful crater lake which is surrounded by privately-owned houses and is full of wealthy Salvadoreans water skiing.
*VOLCAN BOQUERON: Situated behind the district where George lives in San Salvador, we drove up there to get the great view from the top.
*SANTA TECLA: The lava fields from a volcanic eruption and the rather sobering site of Las Colinas, where 348 people were killed in 49 seconds after an earthquake hit and caused a landslide at 11.47am on a saturday in 2001. George drove down the highway which was also covered 30 minutes before the earthquake struck.
*LA PALMA: passed through on the beautiful bus journey up north to the border with Honduras. Is the birthplace of the Salvadorean artist Federico Llort who has also decorated the front of the new cathedral in San Salvador. His designs are colourful and funky and cover everything in the village - lampposts, the square, buildings, shops etc etc
I would have loved to have had more time in this beautiful country. It is definitely underrated, with natural, historical and anthropological wonders and definitely one to return to at some point!
After a week in the luxury of my own room with double bed and en suite bathroom and wonderful cooking every night, not to mention the G & T's!, I reluctantly bade farewell and headed north to Honduras via El Poy.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.131s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 66; dbt: 0.0727s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Helena
non-member comment
No way!
Hey you, don't tell me you're heading to Utila NOW!!! You just can't!! I'm in Brazil now but dream of Corcovado hiking and Utila diving.. That's not how it's supposed to be is it...? Hope to meet up with you again, likely to extend the ticket til jan.. He he.. Take care sweetie!