Tin tin's adventures in el salvador
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2005
1
2
Trip End
Ongoing
Suchitoto, El Salvador
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
holiday. Ok, everyone, shut up, I know I just got back...
Anyhoo! As part of my master plan to conquer the world I wanted to explore a small country that wouldnīt take too long. El Salvador seemed to be just the ticket. All I have heard was that the surf was good and that the pupusas were killer. Y'all know how much I love my food, now. I arrived in San Salvador and immediately took a bus to La Palma, a tourist center (at least as touristy as it gets here). The bus took 3 hours and cost $1.40.
It was a chicken bus but blessedly had no chickens on it. La Palma is small and friendly. Actually, everyone Iīve met has been exceedingly friendly! I have yet to feel unsafe or threatened. An ease that I didnīt expect to feel! It was a quaint town with your standard donkey drawn carts and cobbled streets. The place I stayed was lovely and $8 a night. Canīt beat it. The homemade pupusas were divine as well! After a night there, I moved on to Suchitoto and it was interesting getting here. The main bus takes me to a small highwayside town. I hop out and begin looking for the bus to take me to Suchi. Not so easy. I realize how terrible my spanish is but slowly find my way to the alley where the bus is. Dirty children abound on this bus and the adults are working class to be polite. The bus takes me thru 1 hour of seriously impoverished villages. Slash and burn agriculture dominates and homes are nothing but mud and plastic. Peering into thier homes on the slow bus ride I see open fires and beds in the kitchen. Trash is all over the yards but the children seem happy. I really donīt think that they have any idea of the squalor in which they live. If they have ever seen an American tv show, they probably donīt believe that anything like that could exist. Itīs very sad but how can you miss something that you donīt know exists? Arriving in Suchitoto I get a little lost with my backpack looking for a hotel. But at no time do I ever feel unsafe or even watched. The people are incredibly nice and when I finally found a place to stay itīs a really nice one! Well, nice for $10. The town is colonial and cobbled and I havenīt seen one gringo. I only saw 2 in La Palma. This place is definitely not the next Nicaragua. Hell, most people donīt even know that Nicaragua is the new Costa Rica! Itīs hard to get around and NO ONE speaks English. The accomodations are...lacking. But the pupusas are damn good and the people are very nice and patient! Stay tuned for more...
tin tin
