Change of Plans... Stay in Gracias for one more day.

Today I stayed for an extra day in Gracias. This is such a charming little town. Tourism hasn't spoiled it yet.

After sleeping really well for what seemed ages, I went to a fort. El Fuerte de San Cristobal is pretty interesting and it has some really creative sculptures. It also holds the tomb of former president Juan Lindo. After walking around the fort for a bit, I headed to a museum called Casa Galeano. I got lost on the way, asked for directions, got lost again and ended up taking a tuk tuk. The Museum was interesting too; it told the history of Gracias from the perspective of the Lenca indigenous people. The town is making a strong effort to recuperate its indigenous identity. People here are very proud of Lempira, the indigenous leader who resisted Spanish conquest.There is monuments to him, he is in t-shirts and the national currency is named after him.

For dinner I went to this charming little place called El Rinconcito Graciano. They had Lenca food and everything was served on traditional Lenca pottery and or made from recycled materials. The owner was university educated and had a vision of expanding her restaurant to include a hostel that would be eco-friendly. She was talking about recycling water which I think is kind of gross, but I agreed with everything else.

I kinda wish I could tell you everything I have learned, but you probably don't have the time to read it all ja ja

Legend goes that when the Spanish captain in charge of finding a suitable place for the the colonial capital found the are where Gracias was built he said "Gracias a Dios"

Fuerte de San Cristobal 

This was an inscription in the tomb of Juan Lindo; former President of Honduras and El Salvador. He institutionalized free education. It reads: One may be a hated ruler of ones time: but if you want to favor the vote of future generations open schools. 

Iglesia Las Mercedes was in pretty rough shape. The side door was crack open and I went inside for a look. It was so awesome to be in there by myself

Rinconsito Graciano. I tried to go there twice and it was closed. This last time I shook the doors before leaving and as I walked away the owner came out and opened the door... Some Spaniards joined later. 

Honduras

It is funny how people are so different from one place to another, but also very similar. I feel that attitudes change but as I rode the bus in Easter Guatemala and Honduras I realized that the cowboy culture of Mexico and Central America is just about the same. I also recently read La Raza Cósmica (The Cosmic Race) by José Vasconcelos who touches among other subjects on Pan-americanism and  the superiority of people of mix race. Anyways the one topic that really became relevant as I traveled in CA is that although there is a huge degree of diversity, the political boundaries in existence today are completely irrelevant.There is one common cultural aspect uniting most people here which is the colonial legacy, but ethnic groups and indigenous communities are often divided by political boundaries at many different levels. Such is the case of the Garifuna and the many Mayan linguistic communities. 
On another note, today I visited Copan in the early morning and again got to have the place almost entirely to myself. The place is pretty incredible and in many ways very similar to the stelaes in Quirigua. I think I am significantly over budget, but I tend to splurge on dam taxi cabs and hotels now and then. But last night I stayed in a pretty confy bed... no hot water though. I am now is a small town called Gracias a Dios... well now day is just Gracias. I really like it. I like small towns; less people, get lost less often, and people tend to be nicer. 

Copan

Copan 

The Macaw is the national bird of Honduras and they roam Copan  

Two Weeks of Guatemala... I realize this is a long overdue post   

Friday, July 13, 2012
Santiago Atitlan has been nothing short of an emotional experience. Most tourist visit the lake-shore town on a day trip from one of the other towns, especially "Pana". But commerce in most of the other towns is controlled by Ladinos and Gringos. Santiago is so amazing in many different levels. It is predominantly indigenous and desperately and vigorously attempts to retain its cultural identity. Most people here are bilingual and wear traditional clothing (specially women).  
For me personally, this town is amazing because I didn't believe something like it existed. Indigenous people here are empowered. I love how little children speak in their native language and even though most people speak Spanish or some level of Spanish, among them they communicate in their own language. About five years ago, schools also began teaching in Tz'utujil, Spanish and English. 
I took a tour of the town by a guide named Nicolas, who took me around town in his Tuk Tuk. We went to the the Peace Park, which commemorated the massacre of townspeople by the army. This event eventually led to Santiago becoming one of the first towns to expel the army during the civil war. The other exiting stop was Moximon! I happened to arrive there when they were having a ceremony which was really cool. I didn't know what it was about, but it was interesting to see and to see Moximon's cigarette lit. 
On my first day here, I walked around town and ended up seating in the town square. Two little 9 year old boys came up to me as I was using my netbook (The main plaza has free wifi btw!~password: yosoyatitlan) and asked if I was Spanish or English. Once they realized I was on facebook they began to compare my pictures to me by grabbing my beard and glasses. They tend took over my netbook to play games.  
The next morning I woke up at 5 am to get ready to hike Volcan San Pedro. My guide Nicolas (a different one) took a boat to the other side of the lake and began climbing when it was still cool. We came back around 2 pm and I was beat, but got the opportunity to take some amazing pictures. For pictures it is best either in the really early morning or at sun set. But because it's the rainy season it gets cloudy in the evening so there is no sun sets. But early mornings are amazing, no tourist walking around, very few people around, and the clouds if there is any, are fog. 
My guides gave me some really awesome insight into the culture here. Like the stories associated with Moximon and also how magic and faith play a very big role in this community. They call Santiago un pueblo sano. basically people look out for each other and make sure everyone is a decent person. If they are not, the punishment goes as far as getting lynched. Cheating is also not appreciated. If you did that, in the past, the shaman would use hypnotism while you were sleeping and made you walk naked to the front of the church and lay there for everyone to see. Today apparently they simply change your thoughts so that you go about your business brain dead. 
This town has faced a lot of challenges. Beginning with the civil war, during which the government and military targeted mainly indigenous communities, to more recent environmental disasters like the mud slide that killed several people and buried a nearby town. Nonetheless they are resilient and proud. This is the first town where I felt that indigenous people were "some what"empowered. I think my close friends know that I can get emotional... and I obviously was going to find something to tip me off here: As I was listening to the mass the priest all of a sudden began speaking Tz'utujil and then the chorus began singing in Spanish overlapping at the same time. I don't know why put this got me teary. 

People here continue to do things like washing clothes on rocks and using firewood more because it's a tradition than because it is more convenient. 

Most women wear traditional clothing and most people here speak Tz'utujil

Moximon is a Mayan god that was transitioned into Catholicism as San Simon, but not really.

Nicolas, my guide up Volcan San Pedro. After I had made arrangements and given an advance on my 400Q fee, I found out its much easier, safe and cheap to climb the other side.

  

Sunday July 15, 2012
It's easy to lose track of what day of the week it is when you are not working. But It was good that I realized that today is Sunday. I been pretty exited about the places I been so far. Last night I stayed in this small town on the other side of Lake Atitlan called San Marcos La Laguna. The town only has about 3,000 people but there is a lot, and I mean a lot of hippies.  Apparently they believe that the place has a spiritual energy... but I think they just come to get high. The restaurants are a disgrace, they all serve US food like hamburgers, pizza, pasta, etc. The only thing I had here that I enjoyed was Gallo Cerveza and this weird icy with lime and pepper. But the town is small and cute and there is an amazing view of the lake and all three volcanoes. 
Today, I arrived in Chichicastenango or "Chichi" as the locals call it. In case you didnt get it, chichi is also the word for boob in Spanish. This town is really cool. I got off a bus ride a little dizzy as this is the highlands and things get curvy here. I saw this really nice hotel and decided to ask how much it was to which I got a "$75" response and then made her calculate into Quetzales as I stepped away. I then found a 40Q hotel which is about $5, which was a good thing because...  
Since today is Sunday they have the market in the central plaza. I went there and walked around for hours and did get some cool stuff that I had been looking for. I also came across some really cool murals and Churches. The main church was closed the whole time, but there were people performing interesting rituals in front of it. It is said that people's religion here is more Mayan than Christian, as it is very strongly influenced by Mayan religious rituals. As I walked into a smaller church I almost got drunk from the smell of alcohol. lol People basically spill drinks on the doorway as an offering. Also flowers, petals, and occasionally the blood of a chicken. There is also incense burning the whole time. Note that pictures are not allowed to be taken inside the church.
I also ate this awesome lunch in one of the market stalls. It consisted of rice, black beans, salad and a pupusa made with black corn. Num Num! for about 10Q. I love the local food. It feeds my soul. 
I also climbed this hill called Cerro Pascual Abaj which is of religious importance to the locals. When I got up there, I noticed that there was tons of garbage and also found a sac. I started collecting some of garbage and then as I was doing this the pigeons came down and ate some of the offerings in the altar :o) I think Abaj was saying thanks 

Vista desde San Marcos La Laguna 

On my way out of San Marcos La Laguna, I saw this dog sleeping 

Iglesia de Santo Tomas, Chichicastenango

The Murals of the municipal palace in Chichicastenango show murals dedicated to the victims of the Civil War 

 Cerro de Pascual Abaj 

Conversacion de regatear
Yo: Cuanto cuestan estas bolsas?
Vendedor: 60
Yo: Dejemela en 50?
Vendedor: 55
Yo: Tenngo 50 
Vendedor: Esta bien


Monday, July 16, 2012 -Worlds Apart
Today I started my day before 7 am in order to  traveled to a more remote part of northern Guatemala. On my way I made a quick stop in a city called Santa Cruz de Quiche. The city is located in the highlands and resisted spanish conquest for some time aided by the geography. Nearby there are some ruins that I wanted to visit. Quiche is only about an hour north of Chichi... but it is worlds apart. Quiche still has an indigenous presence but there are plenty much more Ladinos (meztisos). As I sat in the front steps of the cathedral waiting for my shuttle for the ruins, which I missed and ended up taking a tuk tuk, a kid came up and started grabbing my beard again. He then asked me for a quetzal to buy some sweets. I decided I am going to make them sing or something... I been giving out too many free quetzales. 
I then traveled to Sacapulas, realized I had to travel to Uspatan in order to get a connection to my final destination which was Coban, and had to hump back  in an extremely crowded mini van (25 people or so). I lost track of time at some point in between realizing how crazy the highlands roads are and having a huge sweaty man with a huge box over me and his child in front of me. It's a good thing I was tired because at some point I passed out and avoided some of the discomfort.  By the time I got to my hotel it was about 4:30.
Tomorrow I will be traveling to a location called Semuc Champey which is supposed to be awesome. Anyways I hope it's worth the extremely long and uncomfortable ride here... some of it through unpaved roads. The mosquitoes are already eating me alive... I will take the repellent with the 15% DEET over the 5% thanks you. 

Santa Cruz de Quiche

Ruinas de Q'umarkaj

Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Samuc Champey was pretty cool. 

Thursday, July 19, 2020 ~ Livingston 
Livingston is a Garifuna town in the Caribbean coast of Guatemala. It is not connected by roads to the rest of Guatemala but it is an amazing little place. This morning I took a boat from Rio Dulce a town near Lake Izabal. The trip in itself is a majestic one. First, the boat takes you to see a colonial fort and then it moves on trough this beautiful river canyon surrounded by forest. I didn't take many pictures of some of the best places because I think it's something to experience and even the image wouldn't capture how beautiful it is and felt. 
Today I went around town and as I already related to my friend Lucas in NJ this girl tried to pimp her cousin and stole 50Q from me with promises of a tour. The hotel owner warned me so all I tried to do after leaving the hotel was to get read of her. Anyways, you live and you learn... the lonely planet guide also mention something like this might happen. I went back into town and had a good time walking around and eating more ice cream than my belly can handle. I talked to my mom on gmail phone and as I got ready to go to my room, there was a blackout. LOL There is a gringo cursing the garifuna out of Livingston... more so when he found out there is no water. Of course I also found out this midway along brushing my teeth. The one positive thing is that the town is quiet... No more loud reggae music outside.  

Castillo de San Felipe, Lago Izabal

I am not sure what these girls were doing;

but I took this pic when the boat slowed down to let us look at the water lilies 

As I walked along the coast in Livingston I run into a family of dogs.

I love this pic, because the kids to the left were watching a Mexican soap opera, 

while the ones in the back played soccer

Friday, July 20, 2010 ~ Immigration I don't like you 
The good thing about things being way down is that they can only go up. Today was a pretty bad day. Probably the only really bad day since I started traveling this summer. At some point I decided that going to Belize to re-program my phone was a good idea. Well kinda; the reality is that I debated it over and over again. I basically have no service, but my droid does have stand alone GPS. This works out because I can connect to the internet, zoom in on a particular city or town and then use the GPS to direct myself. It so happens that the only Central American country that has Verizon roaming is Belize. So I took a day trip to Punta Gorda.
Punta Gorda is a Garifuna town about an hour from Livingston, Guatemala. Since it was raining, I decided to wait until later to take a boat to Puerto Barrios, then to Punta Gorda. I got my stamp from immigration which was about 80Q because is an exit by sea. My ticket was 200Q. On the way things got crazy. The boat was kinda fast and I was almost in the front so it was rough. Then it began raining. And just when you think things are over, a bucket of paint spilled and got all over my pants, shoes, jacket and bag. So we land and I am pretty upset that my $100 jacket got ruined and I let the captain know this. I ask that they give me a trip back to which they agree. I go through immigration and then to a restaurant and order a Coke. I gave them $20US and it took no short of 20 minutes for them to figure out where to get my change. She wouldn't take a dollar coin!
At 2pm my boat is about to set back so I go through immigration and give them my $15US for being in the country two hours and then continue to get my stamp and the officer gets upset that I was there for such a brief period of time. He goes "You are using us, you just want to go back and spend more time over there. Next time you don't do this." Over a couple of hours in Belize I pretty much got over it, people are rude and they are always looking for ways to rip you off. Needless to say I won't be going back there.   
So I finally get back too Guatemala and go to immigration and they give me the same bs. They said that I am supposed to stay out of the country for at last 72 hours or some bs. The officer tells me that there is a $100US for doing this. I am pretty much about to crying. He says he will give me a 200Q fine. I then just tell him that I am having bad luck and I tell him that I told the officer when I left that I was only going there for the day. He then threatens to call the officer from the morning, to which I say "O.K.". Anyways, he lets me go off with a warning. Which I think is bs, they probably just want to make money or go on power trips. I feel that they are probably underpaid and need to do things like this, which is pretty lame. 
Anyways, the good thing about today was that as I waited for the bus, this women with a basket on her head, all apple green clothes, and a shopping basket on her hand came into the bus station. She was selling this amazing pastries. I got the best banana bread I had in my life. I also tried some coconut bread in Livingston, which is pretty good. 
I am now in a town called Los Amates. Apparently this area has first class buses so I had a pretty comfortable ride here. It's raining and my tin roof is leaking, but I think I am just glad the day is over.  


No pictures for this day ;ob

Saturday, July 7, 2010 ~ "Para poder apreciar los momentos felizes de la vida, tines que haber pasado por momentos dificiles"
I crashed last night and was able to sleep through the weird noises around me. This morning I went to an archaeological park called Quirigua. I am soooo glad I made the stop here. The land around the ruins was owned by the United Fruit Company so on the way there you pass 3k of banana trees which is kinda gross and cool at the same time. The ruins were pretty amazing. And since I was the first visitor I had the place all to myself for about an hour! I also walked through a lot of puddles that were not visible through the grass and there was tons of mosquitoes. I also saw some avocado trees. Most of the site apparently is still not excavated, but the stelae are I think the best part.
I am spending the night in a town called Chiquimulas. For just 5Q more I got to have my neat little room with bathroom and wifi. I seriously don't get how the hotels work here. You can go to the craziest place and get over charged for a hut and then go somewhere else and get nice reception, cheap cheap prices and cozy rooms.  
I also went on what I thought was a a couple of hours trip to Esquipulas.  The town has an important shrine to the "Black Christ." Basically a miraculous statue of Christ crucified made of balck wood. There were a lot of pilgrims as it was the weekend. I decided to get in line to get near the image... this ended up taking a bit over an hour. By the time I was done it was late and no buses were running back to Chiquimulas. I went to a bunch of hotels downtown but all were full. Then as a was walking to another one, I found a taxi and told him to take me to a further out of town hotel. On the way there the taxi driver mentioned that it would be 300Q to take me to Chiquimulas. I was was like great! take me there instead. I already have a hotel there. I definitely went over budhget. 
I am glad I went to Esquipulas. It was a very nice experience and as I got near the crucifix, this women in the church started singing one of my favorite hymns. "Bendito, bendito, bendito sea Dios. Los angeles cantal y alaban a Dios." The mass was also interesting. There was a wedding and a couple Quinceaneras. The priest lambasted cheaters and stingy people. lol it was awesome.   

Having the place all to yourself has an upset; no one to take your pic

Aguacate

Republica Banana ~ On the way back to town I was delayed by the banana carrier

Esquipulas

A lot of maps show Belize or Belice. The British agreed to build a road from the Caribbean to Guatemala City in exchange for the territory. 

The road however was never built and so Guatemala claims Belize as its own 

Bienvenido a Guatemala

Bienvenido a Guatemala - July 10ish 

Mis estudiantes saben que cuando estoy enojado hablo en español. Ayer fue un día interesante. Tuve al algunas inconveniencias que me frustraron un poco. pero al final todo salio bien. Para empezar dormí tarde y empece mi jornada a Antigua Guatemala ya muy tarde. Esto es muy mala idea cuando se tiene que cruzar una frontera (Lección No.1: Camaron que se duerme). Al llegar a la frontera cambie $40 por quetzales y mas tarde me di cuenta que solo me dieron la mitad! (Lección No 2: Cuenta tu dinero). Después tuve que esperar un camión por una hora en la frontera por que no pasan muy seguido. Al entrar a Ciudad de Guatemala había mucho trafico y se trado demasiado. Entonces tuve que tomar un camión local a otro punto de la ciudad donde todavía había camiones para Antigua. El camión iba demasiado rápido y se paso mi parada. Al punto que tuve que salir del camión y como no se paraba nunca completamente, tuve que brincar con mi mochila lo cual fue un poco espantoso. Después tuve que tomar un taxi de regreso y finalmente este me dejo en el lugar apropiado (Lección No 3. no seas baratero). Después me subí a un camión en dirección a Antigua que iba demasiado lleno! (Lección No. 4: Olvídate del concepto "mid-west" que tienes de puntualidad y espacio personal) Estuve parado la mayor parte del tiempo y sin un centímetro de espacio para moverme. Al final buque hospedaje en cuatro diferentes lugares. Los primeros dos eran demasiado caros y el tercero no tenia espacio. (Lección No 5: Se persistente; la cuarta vez es la buena)

Antigua 

Antigua is a beautiful town, but it is overrated. Tourism has turned it into something that is losing much of its charm. It is a great city if you want too keep all the commodities of living in the US or Europe and see something different and or learn something. More than anything I saw more people begging in the street, more tourists, and a great disparate among rich and poor. It was a bit hard to see the women dressed in indigenous dress working with their kids and going home really late at night. 
When I went to ask for room prices at hotels they usually used a calculator and one of them just told me the price in dollars. That was annoying. It's Guatemala and they should just have a price set with Quetzales. Another annoying thing was that the restaurants all serve fugen things that aren't at all Guatemalan or Latin American. Hamburgers, hamlets, wft! I went to this restaurant that was supposed to be one of the best known in the city and I ended up having a milkshake because everything else was salads and paninis and crap. LOL anyways I ended up eating platanitos, fresas y moras that I bought in the market for a thrid of what I paid for the milk shake. Oh and did I mention the menu didn't even have prices! All the businesses here cater to Europeans and Americans just like Cancun and I don't like it. There I said it. My lonely planet guide said that Guatemala was cheaper than El Salvador and so far that is far from true. Also they tell you the guide prices the places where you would feel "most at home". I don't think that is why I travel. 
Anyways on a brighter note, I went up this awesome hill called El parque de la Cruz which overlooks the city and volcanoes. It was great and I ended up meeting this dog and fed her some of my chips while I sat there with an awesome panoramic view of the city. And then a gringa came and took a picture of me ... I guess she thought I was Guatemalan lol I also ended up walking into some amazing ruins of a church in which the roof collapsed during one of the major earthquakes. They guy was closing up but unlocked and then asked for a tip lol The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Everyone here wants a tip, even vendors... It's weird. It's not that I am cheap but I would rather have them include it with the price. It's not like I know what anything costs here. 

Ultima noche en El Salvador - "Traigame una cora de sandia"
Today is my last night in El Salvador. This morning I arrived in a small sleepy colonial town called Concepcion de Ataco. The town is on the Ruta de las Flores. As I rode the crowded bus in the morning I remembered something that the guide had mentioned about why the region is called Ruta de las flores... he said that in May the coffee trees bloom and the mountains, which are covered with coffee fincas, are covered in white. Other than that it's pretty much green the rest of the year. Coffee is very important to the economy of the region and most of the old wealth comes  from coffee. Today I went to the church and just to symbolize how important coffee is, there were coffee trees in the courtyard. 


This coffee region is significant to the history of El Salvador because in 1932 a major socialist insurrection of coffee workers, led to the eventual massacre of 30,000 campesinos.  Farabundo Marti was among one of the leaders killed. Today there is a leftist party called Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) and it won the presidential election in 2009. Douglas mentioned that the FMLN is changing things and that education is now free for everyone and that people have more access to healthcare and other basic necessities. Today as I explored Ataco, I began to notice that there were all this blue, red and white flags sticking out of houses. I then noticed that the flags had writing on them: ARENA. ARENA is the rightist party and apparently very popular here. Most people in Juayua also seem to vote for ARENA, which is kind of ironic. As I continued to walk towards the edge of town I began to notice FMLN flags! I also noticed that the houses became more modest. While this region seems more prosperous than others I visited,  it appears to be polarized politically.


Even though Ataco is not a big town it's hard to find things. I had to ask four times before I found a place with pupusas. Tortillas here are made by hand and they are a lot thicker than the Mexican ones. In fact they look like pupusas. There is also, for some weird reason, way too many Mexican Restaurants. I also couldn't find my way to El Mirador de la Cruz, which is basically a monument on the hillside. On the way back of an uphill and tiring search, I came across this elderly men who asked me to get him a quarter worth of water melon from the market.  So I ended up walking back four blocks to get him some sandia... 

La Ruta de las Flores- Soy Mexicano pero mi estomago es Guanaco July 7

Today I arrived in a charming little town called Juayúa in the route of the flowers... I was thinking of just heading to Guatemala and boy am I glad that I came here. Again the hostel is crowded with Europeans and Canadians and so on... but it is an amazing little town. They have this gastronomic festival every weekend and they have some kick ass food. I am salivating just thinking of what I had today and what I will try tomorrow. The guanacos pour their soul into making the food here and it is so goooood. I had a great dinner for only $1.20 


But I am having... como se dice... una crisis de concincia. I feel bad for some people and I feel like giving them money especially kids and elderly. The guide book says I should donate to a local charity so I will do that. But I wish I could give them money, but also feel like I might insult them. If they ask me for it I give them whatever change I have but it's hard and it breaks my heart :o(


Day 2 in Juayua 


Today was super. I woke up pretty early for a hike called La ruta de las siete cascadas ( The route of the seven waterfalls). So we had out with our guide Douglas. The tour consisted of me, a British postman, a snobby Italian and I think a French couple wearing crocks. So we head out and we come to the edge of town where the guide lives and right away this swarm of dogs comes our way. He told us that they were his dogs... well most of them anyways. His home was very modest and his mom was cooking on a wood fire. We began walking and came across some more tourists. Douglas mentioned we were going to this part first because it gets crowded later in the day and it's also the only place you can swim. We were pretty impressed right away and the other visitors went for a deep. I just sat and hang out with the dogs who were going on the hike too. 


Eventually it got really difficult. We began walking up hill through coffee fields and the trail got slippery and difficult to follow. At some point we even had to use a rope to climb down this scary looking cliff. I was pretty cold about it, but Douglas was really patient and awesome about it and I managed to make it. My pants however didn't make it. At some point towards the end when we were eating lunch, which consisted of avocado, onion, tomato, cucumbers and boiled egg sandwiches and pineapple, I realized that there was this huge rip on my pants. So technically there were some causalities. Which I guess it's ok because I kept slipping on these scary looking rocks. 


Douglas used to be a coffee worker. He planted the coffee trees. He mentioned that he would get paid $5 a day and had to work long ours even if it rained. He also mentioned that coffee pickers get paid about $1 for every 25 pounds of coffee beans they collect. Some times people might make about $4 or $5. So its pretty bad for them. Which is crazy because it is then sold by the finca owners at the price of gold. And 5 bucks doesn't go very far here either. 


I Just got back from eating some food at the festival gastronomico, and getting some fun stuff from the vendors. There were some indigenous women selling things and they were speaking a native language called kakchikel. The language is not native to the region but many of them migrated during the Guatemalan civil war. On the way back I got rained on and by rained on I mean poured on. As I stood on the cobble stone street with my feet deep on water under the canopy of a food vendor, they asked if I wanted to sit on their stool. It was so nice :o) 

Doggy Guide

Douglas and his dogs 

After climbing down 

French people and a waterfall

  

Dia sin lluvia en Santa Ana July 2, 2012 Today I arrived in San Salvador... well technically the International Airport which is about a $25 dollar taxi drive from San Salvador. By the time I went through immigration and paid for my $10 Tourist Card, it was relatively late and decided to take a taxi to Santa Ana which dented my budget by about $70... not sure why I gave a ten dollar tip. My hotel is relatively affordable at $15 and my dinner was free. And by dinner I mean the cup of coffee I had at the gas station while my taxi driver got gas.  
It gets dark here really early and most bussineses close early too. At the hotel they recomended that I not go out looking for food. Aside from that, the only exiting thing that happened was this bus on the way to Santa Ana that looked like it had been robbed. But everything was pretty smood and I am exited to see El Salvador during the day time.
Oh last thing... after I woke up from my nap on the plane my first sight of El Salvador was this amazing panoramic view of one of the volcanoes :o)  
En el Aeropuerto
Agente de aduanas: ¿De donde es?Yo: De Mexico
Agente: ¿De padres salvadorenos?Yo: No
Agente: ¿Puedo ver su pasaporte?
Le doy el pasaporte
Agente: Ah! Es Mexicano.
Yo: (suspiro profundo)

¿Donde esta la estacion central de camiones? July 3rd 

Today was technically my first day to explore El Salvador. I was up pretty late after seeing some weird bugs in my hotel room... so I didn't have much of an early start. When I did mange to get up after some guys started cutting metal tubs outside my room it was pretty late. I managed to get lost and ended up going to the wrong church thinking it was the Cathedral, but managed to get some good pupusas and enter the market. Oh the market was funny; it was so big and the aisles were so norrow. There was just about any type of food you can think of and every kind of smell... which is not as great as you might think. Also I constantly found myself making way for stray dogs.
After walking around Santa Ana for a couple of hours, I decided to take the bus to Tazumal for about $0.30. Tazumal is a very important pre-columbian site in El Salvador. The main pyramid is not huge but what was most dissapointing is that the restoration led to the original ruins being covered with cement, so it was hard to tell what was original and what was not. It was still fun to go there and I got a nice jade quetzal outside the entrance.
Afterwards I managed to startle a lady when I asked her if I was walking on the right direction. She actually turned out to be very nice. Better than the experience I had ealier when this lady just gave me the stank eye and continued to eat her water melon while I frenetically repeated "Sabe donde esta la estacion de camiones?"

This is just outside Iglesia El Calvario

Catedral de Santa Ana 

Tazumal Ruinas 

A cora July 4th 
Today I found out that everything in El Salvador is a quarter while I searched for my bus, among market stalls, from Santa Ana to Lago de Cuatepeque. Oh and remember all  those Sacagawea Golden Dollars... they are in El Salvador. In 2001 El Salvador began using a dual currency system, but no one uses the Colon and I think it has made things more expensive. On the way I saw lots of cool stuff. Like this guy mowing his front lawn with a machete and came to the conclusion that salvadoreños are very handsome.  I stayed in a hostel on the lake shore. It was a lazy day and I slept on a hammock most of the day. I originally planned to stay here only for two days, but I think I am going to stay for 3.
One for the books: I am staying at this hostel on the lake shore and it started raining like hell... I felt secure in the confort of my room, the first one with a mosquito net, until the cealing started leaking. Then this weird bird started honking outside and thunder helped the weird bird make some more noise

I didn't get a good picture to illustrate how awesome Lago de Coatepeque is;

 But its basically in the crater of a volcano and it's semicircular

I took this picture on my way out as I rode in the back of some Asian guys' pickup truck 

Cerro Verde July 5
Although today started kinda slow, it ended up being a pretty awesome day. After taking a "shower" in what seemed pretty cold water to me, I went outside the Hostel (Amacuilco... you have no idea how bably i keep messing up the names here) and waited and waited. Eventually four Spaniards from the basque country came and waited as well. When the bus finally came... it was way too late and we missed our connection to Cerro Verde National Park. The owner of the hostel told us we could still make it if we took a different bus and then hitch hiked the rest of the way. Which we all decided was a good idea. So we hopped on the late bus and then on the other bus where we meet another three Salvadorians going to the park and got off a whamming 14K away from the park. We hadn't waited but 2 minutes when a pick up truck came by and one of the Spaniard girls waived it down. Anyways what was so funny is that she managed to get everyone waiting for a ride into the pickup truck. It was about 11 people. She insisted that since we were the last ones there we weren't going to get on the truck unless everyone else got on...
Once we finally arrived at Cerro Verde, we paid our coffer's entrance and parking fee. We then looked for the guide and began the tour which costed about a dollar. This was such a heavy hike. First we had to go down Cerro Verde (an inactive Volcano). There were steps built into the mountain and I think the guide mention it was something like 1500 of them. We then had to go up Volcan Izalco which is an active volcano but has no real trail and there is lose stones and pebbles and huge boulders that look very scary. Finally you go up Cerro Verde Again. This took about 3 hours and lots and lots of stamina. I took some amazing pictures and met some really nice people on the way :o) Oh and had what appeared to be some of the best pupusas so far
As I write this I can hear that little screaming lizard in my room... and the dogs are going crazy outside. I can also hear the wild chicks from NJ screaming and doing what girls do that are from NJ lol It was nice to have the hostel to myself for at least one day. I hope it rains again. 

Volcan Izalco

Some guy rocking it...

Lago Cuatepeque y una cerbeza salvadoreña de preferencia