I left Guatemala on January 12, but I haven't really had a chance to sit and sum everything up. Right now I am sitting in El Taller with some friends. El Taller replaced Café Verde after I left. It is owned by my friend's family, who are also the owners of Café Azteca. Now that I've made it all the way back to Massachusetts, back to the restaurant I used to call home (or at least the building), I feel like my journey is finally over. For now.
Where had I left off?
I did get to go swimming in El Remate. It was super nice. Then I headed back to Xela. I spent my last few days packing, getting rid of stuff I didn't want to take home with me, and saying goodbye to friends.
The Whole Family in Hawaii
From Xela I went to LA for a week of hanging out with my grandparents and intense culture shock. I slowly re-adjusted to speaking English and driving a car. I'm still not entirely used to the US computer keyboard or throwing toilet paper in the toilet yet, but I'm getting there.
From LA I went to Hawaii with my grandparents, mother, aunt, uncle, and adorable baby cousins. It was an amazing vacation! Afterwards I went to Santa Cruz for a couple days before returning to Massachusetts and winter.
So I'm back now. It's definitely weird. Most of my Massachusetts friends have moved away and I miss my amazing Guatemalan friends something fierce. But it's time to get a grownup job, settle down somewhere, and start being a contributing member of society. I figure if I find a job I love, I'll stick with it. If I don't, I'll save up to return to Guateamala and/or travel the rest of the world. Right now I just have to focus on finding some sort of a job. So if you know anybody who's hiring...
I'm sad to see this adventure come to an end. My time in Guatemala was incredibly fun and educational. I made some wonderful friends, learned Spanish, gained experience and insight, and fell in love with a land, a people, a culture...and some food and music too. I said it last time, and I'll say it again: I will return to Guatemala some day.
That's all for now, but I will probably pick this blog back up on my next international adventure. Stay tuned! And thank you so much for reading, commenting, and supporting my journey!
I'm sorry I was so harsh. I was just really mad at you for not being Livingston.
Love,
Maya
I should say that the river itself is BEAUTIFUL! The boat ride from Livingston to Fronteras was awesome. And once I got over being frustrated, I went to Sundog Cafe and enjoyed a delicious lunch with a whole bunch of foreigners. This was my view (and my Indonesian style avocado shake with chocolate):
And then I took off and went to Flores, Petén. I took a cab to the hostel my friend recommended. They said they only had a hammock available. I was too lazy to go look elsewhere, so I took the hammock. The first person I encountered upon walking into the hostel was my friend, Panda, who lived with me at Casa Argentina in Xela. Craziness. The hostel is very cool, but it's a big party hostel. It was full of really drunk Australians and other partying gringo-esque types. I wasn't really feeling the party vibe, so I went to explore Flores.
It's a cute little town. Not a ton to do. I met a 22-year-old, Columbian tattoo artist. I ate some tacos. Then I went back to the hostel to go to bed. After 2 hours in my hammock, I woke up to use the bathroom. Half of my mouth was swollen and tingly and I was finding it a bit hard to breathe. I figured I had 2 choices: I could pop a benadryl and go back to sleep in the super uncomfortable hammock that was probably causing this allergic reaction somehow, or I could go to the emergency room. I opted for the latter, and took my second free ambulance ride to a Guatemalan hospital. There I got filled up with good drugs and oxygen and got a great night's sleep in a bed. Worked out very nicely. Here's me and my swollen face in the hospital. It got quite a bit worse after this, but I don't have any pictures:
So the hospital stay threw off my schedule a little, but I decided to go to Tikal anyhow. I went back to the hostel for my backpack and a delicious breakfast (which I forgot to photograph), and set off. On the way to Tikal, we passed through the tiny town of El Remate. It's all peaceful and on a beautiful lake, and I thought, 'this seems so much lovelier than the party hostel in Flores.' So that's where I am right now. From Tikal I came back to El Remate and checked into Hostal Sak Luk, which Lonely Planet describes as a "little slice of hippie heaven," with "huts, dorms and hammocks in adobe constructions scattered around a lush hillside," and a good restaurant. Plus you can see the beautiful lake. It's way cool. And there happens to be a guy living there right now who spent one day in Xela a while back, and on his one day in Xela bought one of my sandwiches. We've been hanging out and cooking together.
But right...Tikal. Tikal is cool. It's in the jungle. There were jaguar crossing signs on the road in. You thought deer were scary...
The ruins were very neat. There was lots of walking. I don't have much to say about it, honestly. I recommend checking it out if you're ever in the area. I think Isaac would have a blast climbing trees and vines and pyramids and looking at monkeys and stuff.
Today I was thinking about checking out another jungle park thing or going swimming or something, but it's been rainy all morning. I'm ok with it though. We cooked breakfast, relaxed, played with kitties. Now I'm spending some time on the interwebs. If the sun ever comes out, I'm already in my bathing suit and ready to go! Trying to decide if I'm going to spend another night here...or in Flores...or what. I'm really sad that I only have 6 days left in Guatemala, but it will be nice to be reunited with family and friends stateside.
Grrr... I am sooo frustrated right now! I'm having an awesome trip in general. Don't get me wrong. It's just Livingston was amazing and I really REALLY wanted to spend another day there. But I thought... No. I should go to Rio Dulce Town/Fronteras and spend the night there and then catch a bus to Flores tomorrow morning. Rio Dulce could be cool... This town effing blows! AND there are busses to Flores twice an hour ALL DAY. So I could have easily stayed in Livingston another night, taken the beautiful lancha ride to Fronteras, and gotten a bus to Flores tomorrow. Instead, I'm gunna chill in this overpriced internet cafe for a minute (they charge 10Q an hour AND they only have Internet Explorer AND it's slow!), grab some lunch, and peace the eff out. I'll be in Flores a day ahead of schedule. >:-(
But anyhow... let me tell you about my awesome adventures!
So I have a pretty epic head cold right now, but I'm not going to let it ruin my adventuring. I left at 5:30AM on Wednesday, and got on a super crowded, super uncomfy bus to Guatemala City. It was pretty awful. But then once I got to Guate, I got to ride on the TransMetro, which is their T. They just don't call it the T cuz they're silly. Then I got on a super comfy Litegua bus to Puerto Barrios. The seats were comfortable, and there was almost enough room for my legs to fit, and we had bathroom/food stops and yay! Then I got to Puerto Barrios, bought some memory for my camera, and found a hotel.
My Lonely Planet book says Puerto Barrios is sketchy, and tourists shouldn't really spend time there except passing through. I think Puerto Barrios seems really chill. It's much more pleasant than Fronteras. Puerto Barrios is old United Fruit Company territory. They set it up as a company town, so the streets are in a super functional grid with street signs and everything! Right by the bus station, there's big stores and a market and fast food and stuff, but once you get a couple blocks away, it's just people's houses. It seems like a real place, where people live.
Once I settled into my hotel, I was starving! I had only eaten a small chicken sammich and some ice cream. So I found a comedor, and ate this:
I know, right? The tortilla-plate-thing tasted like naan. There was a hefty portion of carne asada AND a sausage. Mmmmm! And they were playing intense Christian music, which reminded me of something I've been meaning to comment on. People here address God with the informal "tu." It's God! If you're gunna have respect for anybody...
So yeah. Next morning got up early and took the 7:30 lancha to Livingston. LIVINGSTON RULES! I could easily spend a few weeks there. Or a year. It totally seems like a different country. For one thing, there are no roads connecting Livingston to the rest of Guatemala. Then there's the fact that the majority of Livingston's population are Garífuna. Garífuna are black, Caribbean people, descended from indigenous Carib people and shipwrecked West African slaves. According to my trusty Lonely Planet book, when the British finally established colonial control over the island of St. Vincent in 1796, they kicked out all of the surviving Garífuna inhabitants. So now they mostly live on the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They have their own language, music, and rich culture. And OMG good food! I think most of the Garífuna in Livingston are trilingual. They all speak Garífuna, Spanish, and English really well! I'm impressed.
Livingston is super chill. Everyone is super friendly. Everyone knows everyone. I had lots of really cool conversations with random strangers. I get the feeling, however, that everyone is also super badass. Like if you try to mess up the laid back, awesome vibe of the place, you will meet with an unfortunate accident. And by unfortunate accident, I mean you will be assassinated. My first glimpse of this was in my guidebook. It says, "The beachfront between Livingston and the Río Quehueche and Siete Altares had a bad reputation for some years, but the locals 'took care' of the troublemakers (we don't really want to know details)" (Lonely Planet Guatemala, 262). Then I met a cool guy on the beach. He invited me under his shelter when it started downpouring, and told me the story of the owner of my hotel. I have no idea if it's a true story, but it seemed pretty Livingston to me.
So I stayed in Hotel African Place. It is built to look like a series of Moroccan castles. There's a "moat," which supposedly contains turtles. It's pretty cool. It's also in pretty icky shape, but the rooms are reasonably priced. The not-super-friendly lady who worked there hand-washed my clothes for me for 20Q. But anyways... the story... so my friend Tino or Dino or something like that told me that the owner of the hotel is an Israeli guy. "He's from Israel, but he was living here, like a Garífuna... But he was violent!" Apparently there was a dispute with some local guy over drugs, and the owner killed the guy's son or something. So now he can't ever come back to Livingston "...because we'll kill him."
The moral of the story: When in Livingston, enjoy the good vibrations...and do NOT piss off the locals.
I ate Tapado for brunch. You can't go to Livingston and not eat Tapado. You just can't. It's got coconut cream and curry and lots of spices and a fish and some shrimps and a crab and bananas and yumminess. It looks like this:
It was a lot of work to eat though. The fish and other critters were all in there whole. Head, scales, bones, shells, leggies...everything. Soooo yummy though.
Oh right... so I forgot the part where I woke up with one of my famous, puffy eyes. Except this time, everything I try to do--steroid cream, eye drops, benadryl, ibuprofen, ice--just makes it angrier. After lunch, I tried to go to the multicultural museum to learn about "the history and culture of the area, focusing on the ethnic diversity, with Garífuna, Q'eqchi', Hindu and ladino cultures represented" (262). The building was pretty abandoned. I could see torn up walls inside and the outside smelled like pee. A local later told me that the museum workers weren't getting paid, so they left. Oops. Then the benadryl hit me, and I had to take a nap.
After my nap, I walked around. My book recommends walking to the Siete Altares, "a series of freshwater falls and pools" (263). It says it's worth it to do the long walk along the beach, to see the natural beauty and the Garífuna people. I didn't go to the Siete Altares, but I did take a lovely walk along the beach.
Then it started raining and I met T/Dino. Then I went back into town and got me some braids from a woman named Jasmin. It was supposedly her 30th birthday. She's a cool character. Then she braided a stoned, Belgian chick's hair, and the girl took off without paying. I would not have the balls to rip off anyone from Livingston. Good luck to her. Jasmin and I ate tamales together. It was good times. Then we went to Rasta Mesa to see if there was a cooking class. There wasn't. It was super closed, but Jasmin introduced me to the owner guy and then ran off to buy some weed and never came back.
Rasta Mesa is pretty awesome. The owners are a couple. He's from Livingston, but spent a big part of his life in Belize. She's from Baltimore originally. They've both travelled a lot, and they have 2 kids together, and they made the cultural center Rasta Mesa to educate the community. They also have food. Here's a video with some photos of them. He makes music too...
She has a project and might be looking for English teachers soon. ;-)
That's pretty much all I got for now. Oh... coconut bread tastes like...bread. In case you were wondering. I bought a small bottle of Guifitti, the local liquor. Haven't tried it yet though. Will report back.
I'm going to come back to Livingston some day. I was gunna pop in to Belize or Honduras for a day, just to say I did, but then I decided I just need another trip. Next time...
I have not felt like blogging lately. Oops. I guess it's cuz I know I'll be back in the states soon, and I'll see you all. And I'm a little sad about it, just cuz I don't want to leave Xela and my friends and stuff (I got offered a real job today, painting buildings. I could make enough to live off of.)
But...I feel like I can't let December 21st, 2012 pass by without some explanation. This, of course, is easier said than done, as Mayan calendars and astrology and stuff are SUPER complicated and I don't really get it all. But, I've been doing my research, hitting up museums and books and Mayans and stuff. I hate to admit it, but XelaWho magazine kind of had the clearest explanation I found:
The Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar uses a linear method to track time forward from a mythical creation date, generally agreed to be on the 11th of August, 3114 BC. This day marked the creation of the fourth world, or age: the world in which us human beings were placed by the Gods. Each world in the Mayan calendar consists of 13 b´ak´tuns and the completion of the next thirteen b´ak´tuns falls dead on the 21st of December, 2012 – effectively bringing us into the fifth age. For those wondering what the hell a b´ak´tun is, it´s easiest to think of the Mayan calendar like a tally system that goes up in counts of 20: starting at a k´in(1 day), going to a winal (20 days), to a tun (18 winals), to a k´atun (20 tuns) and then onto a b´ak´tun (20 k´atuns, or 144,000 days). So another 12.19.19.17.19 occurs on the 20th of December, and the 21st marks the start of the 14th b´ak´tun, 13.0.0.0.0, and the beginning of the next age. Phew.
So it is kind of the end of a world, but not the end of the world. What does this mean? For the Mayans, it is an exciting time of change. It is something spiritual and energetic, but not at all apocalyptic. There are big, exciting ceremonies happening all over Guatemala tomorrow. (In the Xela's Parque Central, there will also be a chocolate event tomorrow with chocolate from all different parts of the country. Thought Grandma Nore would appreciate that.) Tourists and crunchier Guatemaltecos have been flocking up to El Petén, where the cool pyramids and ruins are. To some Guatemalans, however, it is just another day. When I asked my boss if we still had classes on Friday, she said, "Of course! I'm not crazy! I don't believe in that stuff!" My student cancelled anyway, and when I asked her about her 13 B'ak'tun plans, she told me, "I don't know. Watch lots of movies, probably. I like Red Dawn. Have you seen Red Dawn?" So that's the "Mayan Apocalypse" for you. The dude at the free Mayan astrology museum slash expensive jade jewelry shop in Antigua said that some Spanish guys were the ones who started the whole apocalypse thing. They found some Mayan prophecies on stone or something. They couldn't read all of what it said (or necessarily understand any of it)...and they decided the world was going to end on December 21st, 2012. That's how rumors get started.
For me, December 21st, 2012 is the day that my English student won't be coming in, so I'm going to be working all day in Henry's mom's comedor in the parque central. All the cool festivities in Xela will happen in the central park anyhow. Henry will be playing at a wedding with one of his bands, so he can't work. And my relative bilingual-ness has proven very useful with the tourist crowd. Plus, Henry's mom is an amazing cook, and I'm hoping it might rub off on me.
Saturday will be my last day of work at the English school. My boss told me I need to find a replacement, but we'll see... But yeah. I plan to do a trek with Quetzaltrekkers on the 26th. I could write a whole post about Quetzaltrekkers, but briefly they're an organization that takes tourists on "treks" and runs/finances a school for street kids. It's cool because they go through complete staff turnover a couple times a year (it's a 3-month commitment), yet they somehow continue to function quite well. Their office is in Casa Argentina (AKA my house). They tend to have a bad reputation, and I honestly couldn't stand them a few months ago. The nice thing about the rapid staff turnover, however, is that bad groups are quickly replaced with better groups. Right now I don't mind them at all. And my friends have all been leaving Casa Argentina, heading to El Petén for the end of the world or home for Christmas. So my only choice for trekking companions seems to be the Quetzaltrekkers. I'm gunna do this trek.
After my trek, I plan to leave most of my crap in Xela (there's too much of it and my room's cheap), and hit up El Petén. Then I either want to see Belize or Honduras. Then I plan to run back to Xela and say goodbye to everyone and maybe have a party. Then I have to leave. I don't want to talk about it.
While Walmart put up their Christmas display well before Thanksgiving, I will say that Christmas lights and decorations in general are much more reasonable in Xela. They've been slowly appearing over the past couple weeks. What's weird to me is that there are lots of lightup snowmen, but no snow. It's like LA.
The only major difference between Christmas lights here and in the US is that it's all the rage here to have obnoxious singing Christmas lights like these:
These aren't popular in the US too, are they? It's also weird because the sound that comes out of them is something I associate with those electronic dreidels Grandma Nore always has. Every time I pass singing Christmas lights, I expect it to be singing Rock of Ages or I Have A Little Dreidel, but it's playing Silent Night or Santa Clause is Coming to Town. Weird.
Another weird thing is that, at least in malls and stuff, they have the same Christmas songs here as they do in the US. As in... in English. Which also means they overplay Feliz Navidad horribly. Of course, as I write this, this internet cafe is playing a real Spanish Christmas song, so maybe it's not as bad as I think. Weirdness though.
In other news, I have a new English student, and I'm not 100% better, but I can eat latkes and pizza, so I'm happy.
I want to blog about my hospital stay last night, but I'm so sleepy I don't know if I can be coherent.
Well, I officially overdid it in El Salvador. I gots an intestinal infection and parasites. Yesterday the pain eventually got so bad that I couldn't wait any longer. I asked the dueña of my hostel how much an ambulance costs, afraid I wouldn't be able to afford it. I was informed that it was free. She called one for me.
In addition to the ambulance ride, I also received fairly quick attention, an overnight stay, 2 different types of lab work, lots of IV fluids, 2 types of pain meds, a tummy pill, and 2 doses of IV antibiotics. All free. Apparently Guatemala has this crazy idea that if a person is very sick, he should receive care, whether or not he has money.
There were some very noticeably different things about the ER here. Nobody asked me what medications I was on. I volunteered what information I thought might be relevant. Nobody asked me if I could be pregnant, and they didn't even do any blood work till this morning. The first time they offered me pain meds, I insisted on knowing what type they were giving me beforehand. They took this to mean I wasn't interested in pain meds. Then I came out of the bathroom, and there was a sick girl lying in my bed with her head next to my backpack and my water bottle. I like to think my OCD traits have gotten way better, but hospitals are really germy and my immune system isn't so hot right now! Ewwww! When I said I didn't want to get back into a bed with dirty sheets, they took that to mean that I didn't want a bed. After a while of sitting in a chair with my IV fluids though, I started crying and begging for pain meds and they got me into a new bed and took better care of me.
What else? They still use those silly glass mercury thermometers from the old days. I think I had a bad fever but I'm not sure. They didn't take my temp for a few hours. The first time, the nurse looked at it wide-eyed and said she wanted to take it again to be sure. This was all right as I was being given the awesome pain meds. I woke up a couple hours later to the nurse trying to dig the thermometer out of my armpit. :-p
But...it was free! And I like to think they did a pretty good job overall. Now I have to take Cipro (antibiotic), Nitazoxanide (antiprotozoal), some pill called Sertal that is apparently an antispasmodic and analgesic medicine for gastrointestinal problems (my understanding based on the Spanish), and Enterogermina (probiotic) for a week. My grand total at the pharmacy came to $40. No insurance. Something is seriously wrong with the system in the US.
But yeah. I already feel much better today. Not great, but I was able to ravenously eat a bagel for breakfast. I've also had some plain oatmeal, a baguette, and a chicken Cup Noodles. Big improvement from not being able to eat yesterday. And definitely helps the meds go down.
I learned my lesson, OK?
I very much regret googling my parasite, cuz that thing is nasty! But assuming I recover quickly, and it doesn't do horrible things to my insides, it was probably worth it. My El Salvador adventure was awesome, and my hospital experience was a whole other adventure--and much cheaper than travelling anywhere!
In other news, I built me a menorah today out of tinfoil and duct tape:
I wanted to have a Hanukkah/Jewish birthday party on Saturday! I was gunna make latkes and stuff. I'm afraid that nobody will want to celebrate on my real (Gregorian) birthday because it's a Sunday in between 13 B'ak'tun (December 21) and Christmas. Everyone's going to party hard Friday and Saturday, spend my birthday sleeping and puking, and then go to grandmas the next day for Christmas. My Hanukkah idea was a great alternative...until I found myself unable to eat latkes or drink for a week. But maybe towards the end of Hanukkah... :-)
Sooo... I just got back from an extremely random, but very fun, week in El Salvador. This is what happened. I had met Bertoni (pictured below) a few times while hanging out with my artesano friends around Xela. OK background: So I have discovered in my Central American travels that if you don't want to grow up, and you want to travel around the world forever, and you are artistically talented, and preferably circus-type talented too, and you like dreadlocks...you can be an artesano like many of my friends from Casa Argentina. These guys make beautiful jewelry and crafts and sell it for travel/survival money. They go to all the cool places where all the cool stuff is going on, because there will be lots of people to buy their stuff. It's a sweet deal. So... last Wednesday I was selling sandwiches when I ran into Bertoni. He's an artesano, and is therefore friends with a bunch of my friends. He bought two of my sandwiches, so I figured I could hang out and chat for a minute. He told me that he was off to El Salvador the following day to hit up the big carnaval in San Miguel. I told him that I was jealous because I want to see El Salvador. I've been feeling a little lame lately for staying in Xela and not-travelling. He said I should come with him. We decided to meet in the park at 6:30 that evening to talk about it. I wasn't really planning on going. It's a little crazy last-minute. And yet we sat for hours and planned everything out, and I found myself getting into a taxi at 4:30AM with my backpack.
El Salvador is interesting. I'm glad I saw it, and would even considering going back some day to see the beaches, but I wouldn't want to live there. It's like a weird mix of the US and Guatemala. Somehow the fast food chains and shopping malls, which are totally present in Guatemala, seem more dominant and obnoxious in El Salvador. They also use US dollars, which is very weird. There is very little indigenous culture visible. Someone told me that there is only one department (like a state) of El Salvador in which an indigenous language is still spoken. It's a sick kind of irony that the US funded the civil war that destroyed much of El Salvador's culture, and now they have replaced it with US culture. Eek.
People also talk a lot more about the war in El Salvador than in Guatemala. I find that interesting.
What else can I say about El Salvador in general? The weather's really nice. After the extreme cold of nights in Xela, the hot and sweaty climate was beautiful. And I didn't get at all sunburned! :-) Salvadoreños also listens to A LOT of bachata. And they seem to listen almost exclusively to the album, The Formula, Vol. 1 by Romeo Santos. Holy crap. But yeah... for the benefit of my family, this is bachata/Romeo Santos. I chose this song because a bunch of it's in English...and because it's my jam...and because WTF Usher's doing bachata?
So that's bachata. The carnaval was very cool. It was very much like Xela's Independence Day feria, but with more rides. Bertoni and I slept on the ground in a tent, in a little tent village of artesanos. I would like to acknowledge that my mother, whether it was intentional or not, did something ingenious during my childhood. Apparently both of my parents truly prefer to sleep on super hard futons. I don't know what's wrong with them. But I always had the most uncomfortable beds ever. My friends thought my parents were crazy. Surely they can buy you a mattress! Or like box springs or something? But the result was that any bed--be it the bunk beds at summer camp, dorm beds, bus seats, or the ground--now feels super comfy to me. I can sleep anywhere!
I also had a new bathing experience at the carnaval that I found surprisingly pleasant. Every morning I got up, grabbed my towel and shampoo, walked to the bathroom, paid the 25 cents to enter, and went into the farthest stall from the door. Here, instead of a toilet, was a large vat of water with a faucet. It was like a bathtub, but far too narrow and far too tall, and full almost to the top. There was a bucket. And that's the shower. And it was lovely. And it wastes far less water than actual showers.
I will admit, I've been getting very comfortable with street food lately. I will basically eat anything in Xela now (of course, still using my eyes and common sense). I don't know if it's because my stomach has acclimated to the local buggies and stuff in 5 months, or because I have a tummy of steel, or because the food's not as bad as they say, but I've been fine so far (knock wood). I even drank the tap water one time (although I'm not gunna push it with that one). However...four days of living in a carnival and eating only carnival food will do horrible things to your gut. I am currently in the process of "giving it a few days," waiting to see if I'm just recovering from way too many pupusas and candy apples or if I'm sick. I think I'm fine though.
After San Miguel, we spent a day in San Salvador. I wanted to see the capital of the country, since we had to pass through there to get back to Xela anyhow. One of the vendors from the carnival offered to let us crash at his place and show us around the city. We were very grateful for his offer after a half an hour of looking for a hotel. Apparently the city center has far more amenities for prostitutes and their clients than for travellers. All the affordable hotels wanted to charge separately for the day and the night, and they didn't have locks on the doors. Eek.
San Salvador was a cool daytrip though. I could see spending another day or two there, but that would be enough. There is very interesting architecture and parks and museums. I'm also told you straight up don't want to go out at night in the center of the city because of the amount of gang activity. Everything's kind of crowded and dirty, although to be fair, Guatemala City is the most populated city in Central America. San Salvador is number 5.
(Oh god they just started playing Romeo Santos The Formula, Vol. 1 in this effing internet cafe! I can't escape!)
There were two very cool/powerful things I saw in San Salvador. I read about both of them in this blog. After TripAdvisor let me down, I turned to fellow gringa travellers, and was quite satisfied with much of their advice.
1) The Iglesia de Rosario is right in the central park. It looks like this on the outside:
I know, right? But on the inside, it's super cool! It's got this awesome stained glass rainbow thing going on and it's very modern-art-y:
And it's got what I'm pretty sure is a very modern, abstract stations of the cross sculpture thing:
2) The Monumento a la Memoria y la Verdad, or Monument to the Memory and the Truth was seriously moving. It contains the names of about 30,000 people who were killed or disappeared during the war, arranged by year. As my blogger guide-lady points out, this is less than half of the total count, and "The wall does not include the 30,000 plus Salvadorans killed during genocide that took place in the country in the 1930s, but sometimes it takes baby steps to get to the truth. It’s a start." Damn. Looking at the wall, you can see how entire families were wiped out at once, as groups of 10-20 people with the same last name appear in clusters.
I was possibly most moved by the 1989 section. The year my mom was pregnant with me and I was born into my cushy, happy life, people were being massacred a couple thousand miles to the south. What if we had lived in El Salvador, and not in the US?
I also took the blog lady's advice and visited the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose assassination is said to have started the war. My local guide said that the blog lady was mistaken in her food suggestions, though, and brought us, instead, to a cute little comedor to eat. The food was cheap and awesome, so I believe him. Also, we were served by what appeared to be an orthodox Jew. Could it be? Turns out he's a Chabadnik in the process of converting. We chatted about kosher kitchens (he's trying to make his diner as kosher as possible, but it's not easy in Central America on a low budget...not to mention nobody cares whether or not their food's kosher here). I thought to myself, 'maybe San Salvador has a Jewish community!' I asked him excitedly if there is a synnagogue, and was told that no, there is not. The Chabad dudes have their own, but I'm not invited. Fine then. Then my friends were very confused as our host shook their hands one at a time and then waved goodbye to me...and I, of course, didn't think anything of it and waved back. So much explaining followed.
On the way back to Guatemala, the customs lady wrote the wrong number of days on my visa. It now says that I can stay here past my return date, which means I don't have to go back to Mexico! Even if the airport dude realizes her mistake, my days in El Salvador don't count towards my 90 days, so I will now be 13 days over. They charge 10Q a day for being here with an expired visa. That's 130Q, or $16.47. Way cheaper than a trip to Mexico.
Got to see Guatemala City a bit. It's pretty cool, I guess. Very big and full of malls and stripmalls and other places to buy stuff. Their Christmas Festival was just starting up in the park, where they have an iceskating rink and some sort of ramp thing that you can sled down. So that's odd.
My closing words of advice from my El Salvador trip are as follows: If you are going to smoke a lot of weed in public and would like to not be caught by the police, don't wear a shirt covered in pot leaves every single day. Don't tattoo pot leaves on your body. Don't juggle machetes (although that was kind of impressive...especially considering his inebriated state). Don't be such an idiot. Or I will laugh at you as they drag you out of the fair. And I will not feel bad at all.
