D´you want to go to the seaside?

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These were the words I was greeted with when Jo arrived back at her house after a hard day´s teaching. I had got there earlier in the day and caused mild panic amongst the neighbours when instead of fetching the key from the maid at number 12, I tried to fetch it from the maid at number 12B, who not only didn´t speak any english, but also (understandably) didn´t have a clue what I was talking about.

So, back to the beach. One of Jo´s friends had a cousin who had a second home on the beach who wasn´t using it that weekend. Enter us. Jo, Charlene, Donna and I piled into a 4X4 and drove down there for the night - wine was drunk, gossip exchanged, we swum in the sea (and the pool!) made lots of food and generally had a blast. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and after a day´s sunbathing (I managed to turn myself lobster red - El Salvador is hotter than Guatemala) we drove back to San Salvador with the setting sun behind us.

That night we went to see the Wailers (as in "Bob Marley and..."). Arriving quite early but later than planned, we bobbed around a bit wondering why 1) they were singing in Spanish and 2) we didn´t recognise any songs, when we tuned into the fact that the band on stage seemed awfully young to be the wailers. Turned out they were the support group. But they were very good all the same. The Wailers themselves, when they graced the stage, were fantastic. "no woman no cry" and "one love" lasted for about 20 minutes each and everyone went wild. The lead singer didn´t quite fit the mould, but almost carried it off. From the stadium to a club where lots more drinking happened and I bumped into a guy i´d met in Antigua, to the amusement of Jo and Jodie.

The following day we daytripped to Suchitoto, an allegedly beautiful colonial town north of San Salvador. I was slightly underwhelmed by the place itself, although the church was lovely, but it was situated on the shores of a lake, and the views there were stunning. We lunched out, and chatted more, before returning the car and having a sedate last night (well, my last night) so that Jo could function at 6am the next morning.

One of the highlights of the weekend was in the car on the way to Suchitoto, when we caught up with a minibus with a large head-and-shoulders picture in the back.

me - "look, it´s bob marley"
jo - "ooh, maybe it´s the band"
me - "how amazing would that be!"
*pause*
jo - "are you sure it´s bob marley?"
me - "um..."
jo - "i think it might be jesus"
me - "ohh"

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