Experiencing El Salvador like the Locals Do
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
53
141
Trip End
Ongoing
Santa Ana,
El Salvador
Saturday, March 31, 2007
We spent the next couple of days hanging out with Javier (owner of our hotel Casa Frolaz) and Florian (German friend we met at the hotel) in Santa Ana. It really feels like we are staying with an uncle who lives in El Salvador. I actually think he should change the name of his hostel to Tio Javiers (Uncle Javiers). Over the course of our stay Javier made for dinner French Onion soup, an amazing filet mignon steak, and bacaloa (traditional Spanish white fish stew for Easter week) over rice. He also supplied us with fresh coffee and pastries every morning, ice cream and shared rum and beer with us and would not take a dime for any of it. When we left we snuck a 12 pack of his favorite beer in the fridge and over paid for our room as a thank you. For those interested his website is www.casafrolaz.com please stop by and say hello. You will be glad you did.
One lazy and rainy afternoon we decided to go over to the MetroCentro and check out a movie. The only thing playing when we went was "300" and we had no clue what it was about. Florin, Kay and I bought our tickets and headed into the air conditioned oasis
Frank, Francisco and friend
. I will just start by saying that this was one of the worst movies I have seen. It was like watching a video game but without having any control. Most of the plots and even some of the dialog was stolen from many movies that came before it. I felt like I was having my brain slowly sucked out of my head as I sat through it and even contemplated leaving. Yes me, the movie fanatic, thought about walking out of this film. I just felt like I was wasting too much of my life for this film. So if you are thinking about seeing it, donīt go. Save your money or give it to a homeless person, you will be better off. Kay read in the paper that there was a local football game (soccer for us silly Americans, some day we may realize what the rest of the world does) on Sunday and that the stadium is about 4 blocks away. She heard from some locals that the local team, the Santa Ana FAS, were the best in the country - cup champions. Javier gave us directions and Kay and I headed up the street. The local team from Santa Ana is know as FA'S and they were playing a rival team Metapan from the town of the same name about two hours away. All the way up the street we are seeing people wearing the jerseys of the FAS team. Kay asked two local fellas where the stadium is and they tells us to just follow them. The older of the two, Francisco, is wearing a jersey and a hat with stuffed a tiger on top. Their mascot is obviously Le Tigre. When we get to the stadium they show us where to buy tickets and tell us to come and sit with them
Soccer Game
. The tickets are only $3 US for general admission on the sunny side of the stadium. We enter the stadium through a cement portal and get wanded with a metal detector by the police. Once inside we head to the home team section where everyone is wearing the teams colors and they are playing drums and singing. We grab a spot on the cement slabs that serve as seats and watch the match unfold. Our local friends offer us some of their ribs and fruit and we buy them a beer as a thank you. The beers are full size and only a buck! Not bad considering I pay about 6 bucks for the same thing at an Eagles game. The match is really exciting and at the end of the first half it is 3-2 in favor of FAS (the home team). The sounds the crowd makes when FAS scores is incredible and we try to learn the song. They are equally loud and angry when the other team scores. Our local friend, Francisco, insists on buying us 3 more rounds of beer. Very typical in the generousity of El Salvadorians!During halftime the clouds start to roll in and it is getting really dark. Francisco hands Kay a plastic bag and instructs her to cover her purse and camera with it. Before we know it the rain is coming down lightly but we figure we will not melt so we didnīt move. Boom! Crash! here comes the thunder and it is now raining so hard we are not able to see the field or the players. It is as if a hurricane just decended on us out of no where. The game is called with FAS leading 4-3 after about 15 minutes into the second half
Soccer Game in Santa Ana
. Everyone is completely soaked but very excited that they won. The band is still playing and singing in the poring rain. We huddled up against the wall with our friends trying to stay out of the rain but it is not working. At this point I figure what the heck and walk over to where the band is playing and join the crowd jumping and singing in the pouring rain. All the while covering my beer for fear of dilution. This gets a big laugh from our new friends and they are really enjoying the gringo fool dancing in the rain. We were actually the only gringos we saw in the entire stadium. If I had to guess there were maybe a couple of thousand people there and at most it could probably hold ten thousand. The rain, thunder and now lightening did not seem to be letting up so we decided to just start walking back home. The four of us headed out of the stadium laughing and singing, sort of, the FAS fight song. My version is pretty much blah blah blah FAS blah blah blah FAS. The rain came down so hard and fast that most of the streets are flooded and Kay is now enjoying herself by jumping into any and every puddle she sees. (I can just see Bella, her 2 yr old niece doing this same thing) We get to our turnoff and say adios to our new friends but not before they invite us over for some more beers. We say thanks but want to shower and dry off and they tell us to come by whenever we like. These guys were so great they wouldnīt even let us pay for any of the other beers at the football match. They kept saying you can get the next round but that never happened. El Salvador for sure has the nicest people we have met on our journey.
Do not believe the US State Department warnings - come visit El Salvador. Any country can be dangerous just use common sense.
Cheers, Frank
