El Salvador We See Thee Roar

Today was a day brutal day of transit. I made it all the way from the beach in El Salvador to the middle of Guatemala. 14 hours, 5 buses, 1 pedicab, zero taxis, and more money than I care to think about. Yeah, definitely blew the budget, even though I ate very little, just because 2 of the buses I used were not the chicken buses. I only did it so I did it so I didn't have to spend another night at a brothel in Guatemala City (even though the street food there would have been worth it.)

Anyways, where did I leave off. I was visiting Lucas. Yeah, that was a fun weekend. Got in on Thursday night, then hit the town while Lucas was at work on Friday. San Salvador, smaller than Guatemala City, appears to have much more american style development in the way of shopping centers, fast food restaurants, and swanky clothing stores. The center, however, is not nearly as built up as Guatemala City. This may be due to the fact that it has been destroyed around 5 times already by earthquakes. San Salvador has a very suburban feel in some parts. And an extremely poor feel in others. The gap was much more obvious to me than it was in Guatemala. Maybe that's because I started in Lucas's neighborhood, which is safe to walk the streets at night, and that says a lot. It is also right by a university, so there's a lot of rich college kids around. On Friday I feel like I saw all levels of wealth that the country had to offer.

I took a bus from Lucas's to Metro Centro, a huge shopping center that rivals places like University Village. Super trendy. Then I took a bus heading to the outskirts of town where commerce happened out of handmade wooden shacks and concrete stalls. Women sold grilled chicken and it came on a plate or piece of paper as opposed to a colorful fast food box. It was a loud and dirty place. But it felt more real. I was just glad that I was out of the oversized and contrived consumerism of the American-style shopping mall. I was extra glad that I was able to get the big rip in my pants fixed by a seamstress there for only $.25. I should have brought my broken flip-flops and found a cobbler. What was sad about this neighborhood was that I saw high rises in construction looming over the already struggling people. I could only imagine where there community would be in ten...or even 5 years.

Then I took a bus to the town center, which is pretty much block after block of typical central American street market. Clothing, food, bootleg CD's. Not much I hadn't seen before, but it had a good energy. This seemed to be the more middle class shopping center out of the three places I went. I bought a few DVD's and an Ana Gabriel CD, that raspy voiced and overdramatic Mexican singer that Papa always listens to. But once she gets in your ear, man it's addictive. I also got a sweet shirt with political murder victims Che, Monsegnor Romero (the Archbishop that was killed at the beginning of the civil war in El Salvador) and this other guy who's name I don't remember right now, but he led a peasant uprising back in the 30's, which led to a military retaliation killing almost the entirety of the country's indigenous population. It says (but in Spanish) "I'd rather die on my feet than to live on my knees".

Friday night we went out to a super upperscale club with one of Lucas's co-workers and her husband, where we had to pay a cover and had to purchase (at minimum) a $70 bottle of rum. That was a bit much for the four of us, as we had already had a couple drinks at another another place in the same complex. Plus Lucas's co-worker was driving. So we put a sizable dent in the bottle, but mostly just spent a lot of money and alcohol we didn't drink.

Saturday was pretty much hang-out-at-Lucas' day. Then Sunday we went to a food fair at a nearby town. It was this little oasis of awesomeness in a large rural area that seemed to be made up of homemade furniture salesman. Lucas got a meat platter and I got a plate of rabbit, and we split them. Both were awesome, but I wished that I would have had more money and appetite to try some of the other interesting things they had like grilled frog, paella, and loads of other junk. I wish food fairs served everything in very small portions so you could try everything for a reasonable price. I also ate a pastry shaped like a turtle. Then we got a ride back to town with one of Lucas's co-workers that happened to be there. And then there was the super bowl, which you probably know was super boring until the end. Lucas and I were mostly annoyed because we didn't get to see all the sweet commercials, and what's more, it seemed like the game was being mocked by the soccer commercial that came on every break.

Monday morning I peaced out to head to the beach. This particular day my lonely planet guide screwed me over on three separate occasions. First of all, it told me the wrong bus terminal (putting me behind schedule at least an hour) then it said the wrong place to go in the terminal (another 20 minutes) and then the map of beaches was wrong, causing me to think that I had passed it, getting off, taking a bus in the opposite direction back to the main town, and back again, setting me back another hour and all in all about $2. I should have been at the beach by 11:00, but it was 1:30 before I found a place to stay. I met some Swedish surfers and asked them how it was. They didn't say much, so I went and investigated the surf on my own. The water here was probably stronger than any water I had ever been in. Swimming in it alone was hard, and I was pretty sure I'd be in over my head (get it) if I tried to surf here. Plus board rental was $10. So I just swam and hung out for the day. It was a tiny little surf village. Really, this town seemed to revolve around the sport. It had a really unique vibe, and for the most part, their only tourists are El Salvadorans on the weekend. Not much happened there though, except for some amazing garlic shrimp that easily surpassed the shrimp trucks in Oahu. yep. Sorry that one was kinda boring. Oh, but I did drink the water at random place on the side of the road where a woman made me breakfast. We'll see how my stomach feels about that.