El Salvador- April 5, 2000
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Greetings! From Honduras I traveled overland to El Salvador,
another horrendous but interesting travel day. Since Costa
Rica, Guatemala and Honduras were so awesome, I was surprised
that my time in El Salvador turned out to be the best part
of my entire Central America trip. Traveling there from
Copan took 12 hours, with four changes of buses in Honduras,
a walk across the border with stops at the immigration offices,
a long and rough bus ride on very bad roads from the El
Salvador border town of El Poy to San Salvador, and then
a final ride by taxi (and the driver got lost) to the home
where I was staying. I arrived with at least a quarter inch
of dust covering my body head to toe, but all in all it
was a fun and interesting travel day in which I met lots
of interesting and curious people, and it brought me to
the most amazing destination!
I owe a million thanks to my friend Ana Turner for arranging this part of my
trip and to all those who made my visit there so special.
I worked with Ana at iPass and when she heard that I was
going to Guatemala, her hospitable Latin nature emerged
and she urged me to visit her niece Claudia in San Salvador.
Claudia and her husband Jordi are a beautiful couple, the
same age as me, with an adorable six year old son, Jordi
Jr. Words can never express the amazing experience I had
visiting them. They are the most generous and special people
I've ever met with an extended family that I felt was my
own by the time I left. They all treated me like I was part
of the family, but in a way that was so comfortable rather
than overwhelming. I am hoping that they will come visit
me sometime.
San Salvador
Claudia and Jordi have a newly built peaceful home, spectacularly
designed and decorated, up on a hill that overlooks the
city where the air is clean, crisp and cool. During my visit
they had a party for a neighbor who is getting married,
we toured downtown San Salvador, including the cathedral
and famous buildings, we went to the University de Centro
America which is like a wonderful park with lots of tall
trees, the museum dedicated to Monsenor Romero and the Jesuits
that were massacred in the north of the country, and the
Ruinas de San Adres and Joya de Ceren. These are sites inhabited
by Mayans a couple of thousand years ago. Joya de Ceren
is especially interesting because in 600AD the Laguna Caldera
Volcano erupted and this small Mayan settlement was buried
under volcanic ash and the intense heat from the eruption
preserved not only structures, but also pottery, plants,
seeds and animal remains. The museum has lots of these findings
on display and it is really amazing to think that many of
the things we saw could be that old because they were so
well preserved.
Two other highlights of San Salvador were eating pupusas and visiting
Jordi's candy and bubble gum factory! Pupusas are one of the most
typical "after 4pm" dishes of El Salvador and are now one of my favorite
foods. They are a corn meal mass like a thick tortilla, filled with
delicious farmers' cheese and sometimes refried beans. Jordi's candy
factory was also very interesting because I've never seen the production
of candy and gum. This was especially fun for me since I have such a
sweet tooth. Jordi also has a very large collection of butterflies from
El Salvador in his office. It's really more like a museum than a
collection. He has virtually every butterfly that exists in the country.
I've never seen creatures so unique and beautiful.
Costa del Sol
We also spent an entire day on the Pacific Coast, on a private section
of a pristine beach called Costa del Sol. I was surprised because I
thought we were just going to the beach for the day, but it turned out
that we went to a spectacular beach home of the boyfriend of Claudia's
cousin. They had a lot of family and friends there who were really fun
to get to know; we relaxed in hammocks and ate awesome food (Claudia's
aunt Nena made her special Ceviche because Ana told her it is one of my
favorite things to eat!). In the afternoon we went boating and
waterskiing, and then watched the sunset from the boat as we headed back
to the beach house. What an amazing day! Life doesn't get better than
this.
Hasta luego...
Karen
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