On to Santa Ana

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Avocados

We originally planned to spend today hiking to the Laguna Verde and Laguna Las Ninfas, 2 lakes outside of Apaneca.  However, we were a bit tired from our treking the day before and were disappointed in how Apaneca looked.  So after sleeping in an having a leisure breakfast, we decide to head to Santa Ana.  We packed quickly and headed out to the bus stop. We are in luck there is one leaving in 20 minutes (at 2:00) that goes directly to Santa Ana.  The bus eventually leaves after 45 minutes, the Central American version of 20 minutes, and we creep through the mountains on our way to Santa Ana. Our bus driver is all business and very safe. It is quite a relief from the other drivers we have had in the past. He has no stickers on the dash, no radio playing and no Jesus is my Co-Pilot logo on the window.  An hour and 10 minutes and 90 cents per person later we are in Santa Ana.

Avocados 2

Santa Ana (population about 300,000) is the second largest city in El Salvador and we are not sure what to expect.  The bus drops us off right at the chaotic market and we are trying to figure out which way we need to go to get to Casa Frolaz  ( www.casafrolaz.com). We finally found our notes and make our way the 6 long blocks to the hostel. When we get to 29th calle we walk right by the hotel (address 42-B) as it is very nondescript.  When the door opens we are greeted by a smiling Javier, the owner,  and a beautiful house.  We grab two beds ($7 per person per night) and join a Swiss couple and a single German traveler in the beautiful garden.

Santa Ana gothic church

Javier´s garden contains a couple of orange trees, a banana tree and two of the biggest avocado trees I have ever seen. The tree produces avocados that each weigh 1.5 pounds and are as big as an eggplant. Not kidding. The house itself is also amazing. It has a beautiful wood staircase leading to the second floor, a huge kitchen with every utensil you can imagine, floor to ceiling windows at the back of the house and beautiful original artwork on the walls. If you look close you will notice that some of the art has been painted by Javier. It feels more like staying with a family friend than in a hostel. There is nothing hostel-like about it. After a few slices of pizza we decided to walk over to the shopping mall (MetroCentro) and purchase some food. When we got there we were really surprised because it was a very large mall. El Salvador has malls that are the same size as the ones at home and they are packed with people. It is actually hard to comprehend when the average income is less than $150 US a month.

The Theater in Santa Ana

Kay read the paper a few days earlier and learned that the El Salvador National Symphony  was playing at the Theater in town at 7pm.  She suggests we go there to check it out.  We quickly changed and grabbed a cab into town. The Theater was busy but we were able to get tickets. They only cost $4 bucks for the two of us and were general admission. The theater was built around 1902 and has been beautifully restored and was very impressive. We had orchestra seats and were ten rows from the stage. This was actually the second to last row. It is not a very big theater, but has beautiful paintings on the ceiling and decor. The symphony (comprised of the orchestra, 4 solo singers and a chorus) played for a little over an hour and was incredible. The sounds were very rich and full and the singing superb. The performance was by the El Salvador National Symphony Orchestra and they only play here four times a year. We got very lucky as this was there last show before Semana Santa (Easter Week)

Yummy

Back at the Hotel we enjoyed some wine with our new friends and had a very relaxing evening.

Cheers, Frank