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Published: August 11th 2008
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Joya de Ceren
This is a pic of me in the museum beside a pot they'd found. I'm still very sick at this point and haven't eaten much at all, not that I'm HUNGRY at all. Oh god, my appetite is GONE. I look like a tired dork but I don't give a shit. I'm visiting some RUINS! Day Six - Sunday September 24th
This was the day that M's aunt and uncle were going to take us to some ruins. Throughout the night I would get up to be sick, but I was feeling better and I'd be DAMNED if I missed the ruins!! I wasn't feverish and was able to stand on my own two feet, so come morning I proclaimed I was well enough to look at some old stuff!
I must say that I was still feeling sick and running for the bathroom often, drinking shitloads of water and if I'd been home I wouldn't have gone to work. But I wasn't home. I was going to see some ruins in El Salvador that had been preserved by a volcanic eruption that is reminiscent of Vesuvius and
Pompeii. A city that was buried in ash and pumice stone and preserved for centuries until it was re-discovered on the land of a man named Ceren. The place is called
Joya de Ceren (which translated means the Jewel of Ceren). It hasn't been fully excavated yet, due to lack of funding, but it was *still* very awesome to see.
First, after sneaking Gaby in the back
Joya de Ceren
I forget what the guide said about this. It's one of the buildings they uncovered. I think they believe it to be the home of a medicine woman, and they're sure it was a woman because of some evidence they found (although I can't remember what). seat through the gate and sneakily telling the gate guard that we were ALL El Salvadorians we went into the museum. While going through the gate we found that nationals paid $0.50 to get in, while foreigners (aka. ME) had to pay $2.50 to get in. M's aunt & uncle were paying and let's just say that M's aunt is like my mom in that she likes to save money ^_^. I ducked my head, pretending to root through my bag for... something? Marta chatted merrily in Spanish to convince them of MY El Salvadorian-ness and they let us through. Gaby was sleeping in the back and they didn't see her. How Sneaky!
On the way back (and while driving everywhere in El Sal) you'd see people PACKED into the backs of pickup trucks! This is a perfect example of why there are many fatalities whenever an accident happens. There would be special bars put on the trucks so people would have something to hold onto/lean against. The lucky people would even have a little bit of tarp strung over top of the bars to guard against the sun. The pollution in El Sal, though, is sure to cover
Big House
They believe this house belonged to a rich/powerful man/family. It's much larger than the other houses they found, although they know that it was still under construction when the volcano went off. Nobody had lived in it when it was abandoned. you from head to toe if you travel that way for any distance.
After Joya de Ceren we drove, and drove, and drove, and I thought I was going to die for a lack of a bathroom, and we went higher and higher along some mountain roads, every so often passing some people walking along the non-existant shoulder or a horse grazing on the grass that sprouted out of the rocks. For the long expanse of road with no buildings there were a surprising amount of people milling about. There were clusters of houses every so often, and even hotel/restaurants that would be jutting off the side of the road, perched on the edge of a cliff over looking an expanse of open air and greenery. The mountains were covered in trees and to stay at one of these inns would have left you waking up to awesome beauty every morning (if your room was facing the right direction, anyways). I appreciated the scenery as best I could, but in the back of my mind I wondered where we were going and if there would be a bathroom when I got there.
I remember reading an old riddle that
Hottub
This is an ancient hottub. They'd put a fire in the little slot underneath, and then a person/people would sit in the water inside. Minerva was happy, saying that El Sal is the originator of the hot tub. asked how far into Sherwood forest Robin Hood could walk. The answer was halfway because after that he'd be walking OUT.
We drove for so long that I was certain that we were on our way OUT of the mountains.
I was wrong.
We kept driving and driving, and my ears were popping and I was blessedly not nauseous but still feeling queezy. Eventually we pulled into one of the hotel/restaurants that seemed to have sprung out of the sides of the mountains. This one was called La Palma and it was nestled in amongst the trees and everything was green.
It was faster driving out of the mountain than it was driving IN to it.
On the way back we stopped in this quaint mountain town that challenges the steep inclines of San Francisco's hills and dips. It was very colourful and not uncommon to see a dog sleeping under the wheel of a bus. We went shopping in this cute market where people were selling hand-crafted things. M and I bought some beads, but what I really was dying for was to rest somewhere.
The bathroom at the gas station had no
Driving
This truck was PACKED with people. It was not an uncommon sight while driving anywhere in El Salvador. toilet seat or toilet paper. Luckily I had oodles of it bundled in my pockets. Shows just how valuable a fist full of napkins can be when you're in dire need! The station was a bit rough and M's aunt insisted on accompanying me to the bathroom. Oh well, the last thing I needed was some ruffian hassling me when I was on a mission! She deflected the weirdos while I fished the napkins from my pockets.
I thought they'd drop us at the guest house so I could rest, but instead we all took a trip to Metro Centro to sit in a shop called the Coffee Cup. Three guesses what they served there. No, I won't tell you. Use your imagination! I had a "smoothie" that was a bit watered down and not too tasty. All the smoothies I'd had in El Sal were to DIE for, but this one at this shop just failed to impress. I was too sick to appreciate it anyways.
After much sitting, talking, laughing at some guy who we told Marta was in love with her we drove back to the guesthouse.
We stayed up, watched tv in our
Scenery
Just a fast-moving shot of the scenery that we drove past while going to La Palma. granny robes and then fell asleep.
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