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Published: July 31st 2012
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July 27 - I didn't sleep well at all last night, even with earplugs. I guess it was because I knew I had to get up so early in the morning and I kept checking my watch for the time. At 4am I was up and I left just a few minutes too early. The taxi got me to the Tica Bus at 4:50am, 10 minutes before the place opened. Luckily the cab driver sat with me for a few minutes, until another girl showed up. The place opened up a few minutes later. We got on the road at 6am and I thought I would sleep all the way, like yesterday. But no. Maybe because yesterday was so hot and today the bus had air conditioning (first one). Who knows? But no sleep to be had there. We went through customs and I got out of Honduras with no problems. El Salvador let me in, but didn't stamp me in. This all happened on the bus itself, and I asked if I needed a stamp, and he said no. So we'll see. When I arrived in San Salvador, I met David, a young guy from Hungary who has been traveling
around South and Central America as well as the Caribbean for several months. He has traveled more than I have, and he is far younger. Anyway, we took the bus together to look at a hotel and then another bus back to another part of town to look at others. He took a room in one and I took a dorm in another. I am not overly happy with this place, but it is expensive here, and I thought I'd give it a shot. Luckily, I seem to be the only one in the room tonight. Still not sure if I will stay here tomorrow or go somewhere else. I went for a walk with David in the afternoon and so far am not impressed with this city. Like all the other cities around. Ah well. Central America has a lot of natural beauty but not city beauty. David is a talker and really good in Spanish, and he talked up about everyone we came across. It took hours to get back. I had been watching the sky and there was a lot of heat lightening, which I used to see so much growing up in Florida but haven't seen
in years. I was lucky to get into the hotel literally one minute for the storm started. And it was the kind of storm with crackling lightening and thunder that starts car alarms. Really good. Am looking forward to a lazy day tomorrow, which probably means I will stay here one more night. Maybe see some museums. Definitely go to Wendy's for a frosty. Maybe the mall. So many choices. 😊
Saturday - Today was a pleasant change. I woke up at 6am and skyped with Jeroen. He called Delta for me to ask about changing my ticket to go home earlier, but we found out that it's not possible. So I have another 16 days or so. Ok, I can do it. At breakfast I met a group of four and chatted with them a bit, which was nice. I decided to leave this hostel and find another place, and went up and packed, and then decided to take a chance. The group of friends were heading out to visit some nearby ruins today, and I asked them if I could join them. If so, I would stay in the hostel and have some company today. My desperation
Cathedral Crypt
Basement crypt with tomb of Oscar Romero, an Archbishop whose murder started the civil war. paid off. They let me come along and off we went. We got a city bus (only 25 cents) to one of the bus stations, and from there we got a bus to the ruins (only 50 cents). It is only 36 km away or so, but I think it took almost 2 hours with frequent stops and traffic jams.
We checked out the museum and then the ruins, which were pretty cool to see. They are a different ruin than I am used to. From about 640AD, a city that was covered in about 6 feet of ash from a nearby volcano explosion. It was only discovered in 1976. The ruins are not stone, like the Mayan ruins, but made of earth and mud. There was evidence of cultivation and many decorative clay pots very well preserved. Very nice to see. We sat and had a snack and then go back on a bus to the city.
At the station, I bought a torta, essentially a baguette type sandwich with meat, cheese, avocado, all the condiments and heated on a grill. She wrapped it up for me and poured my glass bottle coke into a bag for
me to take on the road. From the bus station we then took another city bus to the historic center of the city, and I ate my food on the bus. The we visited the main square, the cathedral and another church that looked really unfortunate from the outside, almost like a hangar, but was brilliantly lit by stained glass in interesting ways from the inside. Earlier they had advised me to buy my ticket to Managua early, as the tickets were sold out for the day they originally wanted to go. They will leave tomorrow, in fact. The Tica bus station was very close to that part of town, so Emma and Alissia walked me over while Elliot and Olivia went to the grocery store to buy their food for the bus tomorrow and dinner for tonight (this is where our fun ended today as I was not invited to be part of dinner). We were supposed to meet up again but never did, so we headed back to the hostel on a bus. By now it was about 5:30pm and I found myself parting from the girls at the Wendy's so I could fulfill my frosty needs. Here
it comes with a spoon rather than a straw. And it was delicious. I came back and grabbed my computer and headed down to the common room. I met a guy who was in the peace corps several years ago here and comes a couple times a year to visit, and a kiwi who is traveling for 9 months. We tried to find some Olympics on tv but with no luck. I went up to shower and am now all clean, but in the common area and we are now watching boxing. Sadly. But overall, a good day. Tomorrow I'm off to Santa Ana.
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