So what did we do for the next 10 days?
Since plans had changed drastically, we started asking questions about other towns in El Salvador. All we knew was that we wanted to get away from the beach that lead us to our demise, while never being too far from the capital (San Salvador). As I was prepared to call every day to check if my passport had arrived we wanted to be ready to go in the minute it was ready.
First we headed to Juayuà, a small town in the mountains known for coffee production and a weekly food festival. Luckily, the weekend we went there also happend to be a big stage with live street music and space for dancing. We made dancing friends and had a great time being stared at by the locals and learning new moves. The next day we felt like a long walk would do us good so we took a hike up to Laguna Verda - a poorly named lake in the mountains - and then back through town to some waterfalls to cool off.
After the food festival the town´s population declines immensly, so we took the cue to move on to our next destination, to ciudad Santa Ana. We finally arrived at 2:00 to Casa Verde a small but modern hostal with a killer kitchen and cool host. The next day we were up early to catch a bus to Cerro Verde, where we paid the $8 for a guide and a police officer to accompany us to the top of Volcàn Santa Ana. The view was decent but the crater stole the show. Not only 3km around but also 300m down from the rim was beautiful juniper-green laguna, with steam still pouring out and a strong smell of sulfer. Georgous! Along this trek we also met Adam, another Massachusetts Native, who decided to prolong his plans to Honduras and stay the night with us. We returned home in the late afternoon and promptly took showers.
Carlos, our host returned from work and asked if we wanted to go to Trenchtown Bar, ¨Of Course, when do you want to go?` `Temprano`, he replied with a huge grin. (It was 4:30). As you could guess, Trenchtown was a reaggae inspired local bar with an atmosphere beyond what we could find in a guide book. Kylie danced away, Adam got into the art, and Brian shared a little Whiskey with Carlos and his cousin Carlos. I attempted to speak spanish and danced with a crazy regular until the bottle of whiskey was finished and the 6 of us piled back into the car to go home.
Feeling we couldn´t top a day like that in Santa Ana, we decided to move once again to a small artist town, Suchitoto. After a horrible/hot night of sleep Kylie and I took 2 min showers and left to get some coffee and see what we could do for the day. We settled on a small walking tour with views of the nearby lake, a few stops at some galleries, a taste of michiladas and some ice creams. It barely filled our day or our stomachs, so we concluded with a stop at the market to make stir-fry wraps. However our lunch plans turned out to be a horrible idea once we saw how dirty the kitchen was.
The next day, Friday March 5th, was a gamble, we went into San Salvador so that on any chance my passport came in we could pick it up and be on our way ASAP. We left at 8:00 with plans to do a short hike on volcan San Salvador but after 4 hours on buses and bus stops we scratched our plan and heade to the Museo de Arte de San Salvador. A small but decent national gallery with air conditioning. After, a nearby Hilton Hotel generiously let me make my local call to the embassy and we found out my passport was in! It had only taken 7 days and we could finally plan for our departure.
Thinking we could cross the border into Honduras, we went to a SMALL town in western El Salvador, La Palma - famous for its art style and being the center for peace talks at the end of the revolution. Sadly though, I was not allowed to cross the border still, since I had no stamp in my passport. El Salvador would let me out but Honduras wouldn´t let me in. Kylie and Brian still went in to check out a town close to the border, with a potential opportunity for Kylie and I to volunteer.
So on Sunday we had to return to the San Salvador so that on Monday I could go to the office of Migration and finally get my stamp. Since our spirits were low and the city was modern Brian suggested we treated ourselves to a fancy Sushi dinner with plenty of Saki. Finally on Monday morning Kylie and I were up early to the office of migration where I paid $25 for but only got a 15 day stamp. Which meant I would eventually have to go to Costa Rica for 3 days but at least we could leave El Salvador!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Clumsy Muggers
As usual there have been many things to cover from over the last 3 weeks, some stories more exciting than others, and some even a little frightening. In a nutshell we´ve covered a lot of ground, ate a million more pupusas, and have had 4 different border crossings. And perhaps one of the bigger traveling changes is that we are now a solid Trio, since Bz has joined in the adventure.
So as soon as we had said our goodbyes to Brian´s parents and to Bz´s friend Sharon, we immediately planned our departure from Guatemala to El Salvador, and were ready for the travels to continue on.
Our first border crossing was a test to our nerves, and introduced us to fact that even though El Salvador has banned guns in most cities, carrying a machete around is fairly normal. After our failed attempt to take a bus across the border, we paid the extra money to have a taxi drive us in about half the time. Marvin our driver passed every truck, bus and cow that came across our path, but really proved to be useful as he battled the money changers while we got our exit stamps. One flash of his machete and some strong No thank yous, was enough to make them back off.
Our plan was to visit some of the highlights of El Salvador for about 4-5 days and still have time to go back to Honduras for the Copan Ruins and a Micro-Brewery. But our plans which are usually altered on a daily basis, took a complete detour with a memorable event on the beaches in La Libertad. On our first full day on the beach, we decided to take a 2 hour walk to the main town about 5km away. After about an hour into the walk 2 super skinny guys approached us and proceeded to clumsily mug us of the few belonging we had.
The first guy with no teeth, reached for my backpack right out of my hands. My first reaction was to pull back, but as Ia saw the machete being raised over my head I immediatly let go. Its money and a backpack, easily replaceable items, whereas my arms are far more important As we talked about it after- we all selfishly felt survival mode kick in and how to not get everything robbed from us. Kylie slyly turned her fanny pack around out of view which held her money, camera, and passport, and kicked off her shoes. In the caos and yelling they never even noticed it around her waist.
Brian seeing my backpack as already gone, backed up into the shore throwing his towel, his shirt, and his book into the water. The second Ladrón kept telling Brian to calm down and even picked the wet book back up and handed it to him. He eventally had to fork over the $15 phone to satisfy the ladrones
My survival mode kicked in to me begging for my sandels that were attached to the backpack, which the stupid ladron oddly gave back to me, even though they demanded Kylie´s sandels and Brians sneakers. In the end they got away with 2 watches, a cheap phone, old sneakers, worn Chacos, and an old backpack with a tank top, water bottle, $40, an ATM card, my license and Sadly my passport. Why my Passport was in my backpack has been the crucial mistake of this event and what has eventually altered our plans.
The Ladrones left us on the beach, kylie and brian barefoot, me in a bathing suit top, and the three of us in awe at what just happened. We walked back through a garbage filled river and hitched a ride to our hostal- El Roble, where we spilled the details to the manager. They were shocked,In the 3 years that they have been running the hostal this is the first time anything like this has happened.
Ana called the police- they showed up 2 hours later only to have us pile into the back of their sedan and show the officer where it went down. Finally we made it to the ¨station¨ aka, beach house where we filed a report. As the day dragged on it became apparent there would not be much of an effort to retreive our stolen items.
The next day Kylie accompanied me to the embassy in a car ride set up by our hostal. I got a new photo taken and filled out the forms. And with $100 and in 7-10 days I was told a new passport would be ready. So knowing we had at least a week ahead of us we began looking into where we could go.
So as soon as we had said our goodbyes to Brian´s parents and to Bz´s friend Sharon, we immediately planned our departure from Guatemala to El Salvador, and were ready for the travels to continue on.
Our first border crossing was a test to our nerves, and introduced us to fact that even though El Salvador has banned guns in most cities, carrying a machete around is fairly normal. After our failed attempt to take a bus across the border, we paid the extra money to have a taxi drive us in about half the time. Marvin our driver passed every truck, bus and cow that came across our path, but really proved to be useful as he battled the money changers while we got our exit stamps. One flash of his machete and some strong No thank yous, was enough to make them back off.
Our plan was to visit some of the highlights of El Salvador for about 4-5 days and still have time to go back to Honduras for the Copan Ruins and a Micro-Brewery. But our plans which are usually altered on a daily basis, took a complete detour with a memorable event on the beaches in La Libertad. On our first full day on the beach, we decided to take a 2 hour walk to the main town about 5km away. After about an hour into the walk 2 super skinny guys approached us and proceeded to clumsily mug us of the few belonging we had.
The first guy with no teeth, reached for my backpack right out of my hands. My first reaction was to pull back, but as Ia saw the machete being raised over my head I immediatly let go. Its money and a backpack, easily replaceable items, whereas my arms are far more important As we talked about it after- we all selfishly felt survival mode kick in and how to not get everything robbed from us. Kylie slyly turned her fanny pack around out of view which held her money, camera, and passport, and kicked off her shoes. In the caos and yelling they never even noticed it around her waist.
Brian seeing my backpack as already gone, backed up into the shore throwing his towel, his shirt, and his book into the water. The second Ladrón kept telling Brian to calm down and even picked the wet book back up and handed it to him. He eventally had to fork over the $15 phone to satisfy the ladrones
My survival mode kicked in to me begging for my sandels that were attached to the backpack, which the stupid ladron oddly gave back to me, even though they demanded Kylie´s sandels and Brians sneakers. In the end they got away with 2 watches, a cheap phone, old sneakers, worn Chacos, and an old backpack with a tank top, water bottle, $40, an ATM card, my license and Sadly my passport. Why my Passport was in my backpack has been the crucial mistake of this event and what has eventually altered our plans.
The Ladrones left us on the beach, kylie and brian barefoot, me in a bathing suit top, and the three of us in awe at what just happened. We walked back through a garbage filled river and hitched a ride to our hostal- El Roble, where we spilled the details to the manager. They were shocked,In the 3 years that they have been running the hostal this is the first time anything like this has happened.
Ana called the police- they showed up 2 hours later only to have us pile into the back of their sedan and show the officer where it went down. Finally we made it to the ¨station¨ aka, beach house where we filed a report. As the day dragged on it became apparent there would not be much of an effort to retreive our stolen items.
The next day Kylie accompanied me to the embassy in a car ride set up by our hostal. I got a new photo taken and filled out the forms. And with $100 and in 7-10 days I was told a new passport would be ready. So knowing we had at least a week ahead of us we began looking into where we could go.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Shields folks @ Tikal
Jezz, this was awhile ago since it´s March now and my folks were here in mid Feb. Thanks for visiting us; we never would have enjoyed such fine dinning or lodging without your generous spending, feel free to come again soon!
The Shields folks looked New England winter pale and tired from a long day of flying when we first caught sight of them walking out of the Flores airport terminal by late evening on Tues. the 16th of Feb. After dropping their bags off at the hotel room (sorry about the noisey construction the following moring), Kylie and I were treated to a fine dinner in Flores (and fine rum afterwards).
Cool Beans was the spot for breakfast before we called Santiago, our shuttle driver from the airport the night before, and got a ride to El Remante. Here is the back yard of our hotel there. The weeds that grew in the grass here closed when you brushed them; ask Kylie about the "touch of death" for more details.
By 3 P.M., so we could enter the following day with same ticket, the four of us had reached Tikal. We only had a few hours before the sun was set yet we did get a great idea of what the park was like. 
This is a back shot and front pic of temple one from the top of temple two, the iconic image of Guatemala. Some shakey steps we climbed to the top of the temples; recent additions to the park after too many visitors feel to their deaths on the original stairs. The park´s policy seemed to be, "people died on this temple, but no one has on this one, so enjoy!
The next moring we took a guided tour of the park. We would have never seen these animals if we hadn´t taken the tour. This is a cidcada which blended in with the tree bark perfectly. It´s about five inches long. 
"
We took a short hike outside the hotel after leaving the Tikal park that night. We got a get chance to see a howler monkey do its thing, but, like photos of Big Foot, we only have this blurry pic.
We left our hotel the next day and headed back to Flores, stopping at a nature reserve with six bridges over the canopy. Orchids and the calls of howler monkeys were plentiful. 
The flight to Guate City and later shuttle to Antigua was plesant. The dinner we had that night would be very difficult to top anywhere in the world. Our salsa dancing elderly couple were surely a hit with us! The climb up Volcano Pacya was eadier the second time. Glad to hear you two have made it home safely and thanks again for coming!
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