Ode to El Salvador

So far, El Salvador rocks:

1. the food offers more variety
2. the people are incredibly friendly. they still stare at us, like in Guatemala and Honduras, but when we say hello they respond and greet us. also, a few people have gone out of their way t o help us.
3. there are few gringos here
4. the beautiful landscapes are never ending. Guatemala and Honduras had amazing landscapes, too, but the ones here have so far been unrelenting.

Our first stop was in La Palma, located in the north. In the 1970´s a famous painter named Fernando Llort moved there and taught practically the entire 3,000-person population his painting techinques. Since then, 75% of the inhabitants are employed as artists or crafters. (what is the name of the profession for making crafts?) The style of painting is reminds me a little of Matisse or pre-cubist Picasso, with very crude figures and bright, vivid colors. Not only are there galleries and craft shops everywhere, but most of the buildings are decorated with beautiful murals.

Now we are stationed in Suchitoto, about an hour north of the capitol. This town has about 25,000 habitantes (oops, a perfect example of how I am always mixing up english with spanish), I mean inhabitants, and it is known for being the starting point of their gruesome civil war (the dates of the war are debatable but the bulk of the final phase took place approximately from 1980-1995; the country has experienced civil and revolutionary wars on and off for practically forever). It´s also well known for having an established arts scene. The town itself is very beautiful, and all of the restaurants and local establishments also serve as art galleries. Much of the art we´ve seen is war themed. Last night we had dinner at a restaurant with interesting war sculptures (many of the materials were actually saved from the war) in their garden area. We then went out for a beer at a very Bohemian bar decorated with posters of musicians and revolutionary political figures. Very different from anything we´ve experienced thus far. That´s my word of the day for this town: Bohemian.

Our hotel is very nice and has a rooftop terrace with an exquisite view of the whole town and its surrounding mountains and nearby lake. It was just our luck to catch probably the most incredible lightning storm I´ve ever seen from the terrace. When we went to bed and the storm moved in very close and the booming thunder kept waking me up. Needless to say Chris didn´t get much sleep because I kept waking him up with my startled screams. Poor guy has not really been able to sleep well this whole trip. We´re already planning on how to turn the bedroom of our apartment-to-be into a dark cave to ensure distraction-free sleep.

Ode to the food: As I´ve already stated, the food here offers a lot of variety and is very, very good. For example...

Ode to my breakfast:
REAL coffee, omelet with avocado and cheese, plantains, bread. Although Central America is know for its coffee, the locals don´t drink anything aside from instant coffee. I must tell you that this coffee made me feel serendipitous. Chris had horchata with his breakfast, yum yum yum.


Another note:

1. Salvadoreños use U.S. currency. this feels very odd, and therefore both Chris and I have feel more stingy about spending money. i guess there´s a psychological element to travelling and spending currency that looks like play money.


Today we plan on hiking to a nearby waterfall that is said to have amazing rock formations. The day after next we are heading to San Salvador to meet up with Karla, a family friend who lived with my aunt and uncle in Alaska the year before last. We look forward to being able to experience the area with a local family. And hopefully get some inside advice about other areas in the country.

Time to go see more art and find more yummy things to eat.