Greetings!
El Zonte was awesome. I made friends within five minutes of arriving and we spent most of our time there together. Our hotel had a shaded rooftop terrace with hammocks and a great view of the Pacific. There was also a pool complete with a bar/restaurant and hammocks. It was a great place to relax and enjoy the company of other like-minded people, but there was not much to do there otherwise. It’s usually a great spot for surfing, but it’s not the season right now and the waves break heavily and close to shore, so I decided not to surf there. Instead, I swam often, went for walks/runs on the beach, and enjoyed our pool with friends. On one of the days, we went on a mission to La Libertad, the largest city nearby with a large grocery store, ATMs, and a post office (supposedly). I needed to send some stuff home to get rid of some weight in my pack, but we couldn’t find a post office. Before we left, I grabbed a plate of beans, rice, and tortillas for $0.70 from a local restaurant.
After 3 nights, I was content with my laziness and was ready to go back to doing stuff. So I moved to El Tunco with Dusty, one of the members of our makeshift social group, where we met two of his friends from home and stayed there for 3 nights (though I had only intended to stay for one). El Tunco’s surf was a little better and kinder than El Zonte’s, so I took a board out one day. The rest of our time was spent going back and forth from the pool to the beach. We also went on another mission to La Libertad and I found the post office this time and got another great meal for $0.60 this time.
So after 6 nights of being semi-lazy on the beach, I really needed to go do and see stuff. So yesterday I hopped the local bus, transferring once, to get to Juayua (pronounced “why-you-a”, a town along la Ruta de las Flores (“The Route of Flowers”). La Ruta is a string of charming mountain towns where colorful wildflowers bloom from October to February. The area offers some great hiking and the highest town in El Salvador (Apeneca). Today I went on a hike that included seven waterfalls. It was steep and slippery with dead leaves and debris in lots of places. The trail wasn’t very well defined and we were often fighting our way through branches and scrambling over and under roots and fallen trees. I loved it. I was a little tired for a long hike, but it was just what I needed.
So far, I’ve enjoyed El Salvador. It’s so easy to meet other travelers here to the point where it’s almost impossible to be alone. The locals have all been really nice and helpful. In fact, I would’ve missed my bus yesterday if it hadn’t been for a local woman at her street stand. Later, when I was getting off the bus, I asked if we were in Juayua. I don’t know if the woman I asked was trying to be nice or misunderstood me, but she said “Si. Si.” and grabbed my small bag and started to continue down the bus aisle. But I was stuck behind my big bag and a crowd of people shoving down the aisle. I didn’t want to be rude, but I keep all of my valuables including my camera, computer, money, and passport in my small pack (as most backpackers do), so I had to politely decline her offer with an “Esta bien” and a tight grip on the little pack before she could get too far down the aisle.
The culture in Central America seems to be somewhere between that of SE Asia and home. Things are still much cheaper here in comparison to home, but more expensive than Asia. It’s just as hard to find vegetarian food here (especially if they make the tortillas and beans with lard) as it was sometimes in Asia, but at least I know how to ask for it here. Some people speak English here, especially in the coastal towns, but for the most part they speak only Spanish. True to their form in SE Asia, the food stalls here also sell some of the most delicious and cheap homemade food available. Religion and family, like in Asia, are by far the two most important things to the people here.
One difference that I appreciate here are that they seem to treat their animals with more respect than in SE Asia. Dogs and cats are beloved pets in many places here, whereas in SE Asia, most people treat them as disposable guards that control the vermin population. Women also seem to have a higher status here. They are not nearly as submissive as in Asia and it’s just as easy to ask for their help and advice as it is a man’s here, although this may be in part because the women in Asia rarely learn English, while here, I’m communicating with both sexes in their native tongue. But I still get the general feeling that women have more value here. El Salvador also uses the American dollar as it’s form of currency which is fantastic because I don’t have to do conversions in my head and I don’t have to try to calculate exactly how much money I need in the last few days to avoid losing a lot when I exchange it (because I’ll just keep it until I get home).
Tomorrow I’ll be joining a few other travelers I’ve met here at a lake house they’ve rented in Alpeneca. We’ll stay one or two nights and then I have one more stop I’d like to make in El Salvador before I head to Honduras.
Here’s the picture link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2920484&id=8369089&l=bf948f0012
I hope you are all doing well,
Sierra
