OUR EXOTIC VACATION TO EL SALVADOR
There is so much to tell!
On Friday, January 19th, we left for the airport the moment Ryan got home from work. We got there early, just like the airlines say, but got through to our gate in practically no time. So we waited and waited and waited. We taught Jared how to say Hello in Spanish, and he and Ryan rolled a ball down a big ramp. Jared and Zach both liked the flight to LA, but the overnight flight to San Salvador was a bit much for all of us. Ryan and I got NO sleep, and Jared only got two hours that night.
The San Salvador airport wasn't what we expected. It's very small for being the only airport in the entire country! My Portuguese came in very handy for understanding what everyone said, but it was absolutely useless when I tried to answer their questions! Immigration was quite an ordeal, only because I couldn't speak to the officer. Finally we got outside the airport and were awaited by a huge mob, held back from the building by tension barriers. We saw my parents, but couldn't get to them. We had to walk all around the building until their was a break in the crowd. I felt like we were on parade! But we managed to find each other, and my parents got to meet Zach for the first time.
We barely got all our things into their Rav4, then barely managed to get ourselves in, too! We visited the beach, which was amazing! We were prepared only to wade, but Jared couldn't hold back. He ended up wet to his neck. It was his first time to the beach, and he was in heaven.
Mom & Dad's apartment is nice! Well, for El Salvador. The kitchen is lacking, and the bathroom sinks are stupid (one kept falling off the wall during our visit), but it's nicer than anything I lived in on my mission!
Sunday we went to church in Jolla de Cerén. It's a poor town, which looked quite a bit like Brazil. The church looks very shiny compared to the rest of town! I understood quite a bit of the talks in Sacrament Meeting, and while I was concentrating on that, my baby disappeared. The women in the branch passed him all around the chapel, which suited Zach just fine. I did get a little nervous when, after the meeting was over, I couldn't find him. The Young Women had taken him to their classroom and were taking pictures with him. This was the first inkling we had of what was to come! Zach was mobbed constantly by admirers. We started to worry about kidnappers!
Jared didn't enjoy church at all. He was tired and cranky, so we left early to take naps. It was a nice relaxing day.
Monday we packed up and toured the church institute where Mom and Dad work. It's a beautiful building! It sparkles among dirty downtown San Salvador. Zach charmed everyone there, too. Then we drove up a volcano. The road followed the sharp ridge at the edge of the crater, and we got out to take a look at the lake that fills it. It was beautiful! Also a little scary, since the inside of volcanoes are quite steep. We continued on up the road and saw coffee pickers carrying huge bags of beans down the mountain. We stopped at a clearing where they began to sort the red beans from the green, and Dad asked all about the process. It was very interesting, even though we don't drink coffee. It's amazing how hard those people work for about $5 a day.
We continued up the mountain to a national park called Cerro Verde and had a picnic. We hired a guide for $.25 per adult. She took us on a little hike through the jungle to see some volcanoes, neat trees, and another view of the lake. The trail had some signs explaining some basic ecology. We thought it was interesting because it seemed so elementary to us, but we're used to going to national parks. Salvadoranians don't usually have that luxury.
We drove to Sonsonate to eat at Pollo Campero. It's basically KFC, only with a waitress. I missed the excitement when the armoured car came to pick up cash. Ryan and Dad said that four guards armed with sawed-off shotguns accompanied the man carrying the cash. Sonsonate is the most dangerous city in El Salvador, so we didn't want to stay long after dark. We stayed that night in an awesome little bed and breakfast in Jayua (why-YOU-uh). There was a cute little patio outside our room, which overlooked the fountain in the courtyard. We had to climb quirky brick stairs to get up to our room. The only words to describe it are "quaint" and "charming."
In the morning, we toured the town of Jayua, then headed to Tazumal (tah-sue-MALL), which is an ancient Mayan ruin. There wasn't much there, but it was cool to see our first glimpse of ancient Mayan history. There was also a large carved boulder that dates back to before 600 B.C., or the Jaredites. Of course Jared needed a picture by a Jaredite rock! We had fun buying souviniers across the street. I guess we'll carry on the Eagar tradition of having Mayan-style decorations in our house.
We stayed that night back at the apartment, but not for long! The next morning we left on a road trip through Guatemala to Honduras to see the ruins of Copan, another ancient Mayan city. But we took a wrong turn and got to the city Copan Ruinas (it's the tourist town near the ruins) too late to do anything but find our bed & breakfast, settle in, and get some dinner. This was another cool B&B, with hammocks hung between the pillars and terraced gardens. The top terrace was a lawn with cute tables and chairs, where we were excited to be served breakfast. But the next morning, we discovered that the lawn was infested with biting flies! We moved indoors to the dining room, but not before I got 108 bites all over my feet, ankles and legs. It looks like I have the measles!
The ruins were amazing. We hired a guide named Fidel (not Castro, he assured us), who carried a long stick with a macaw feather at the top. He used this to point to things, since we cannot touch anything. As we walked into the park, there were a dozen or so rainbow macaws hanging around on the fence and entryway. Jared was enthralled. We walked toward the excavated temples and stellae among large mounds. These were more ruins, yet to be unearthed. Fidel said, through his thick accent, that only a small percentage of the ruins have been uncovered, and it would take 300 years to excavate it all. He showed us a large shed that is covering piles of random artifacts that were found, and many more have been shipped off to museums.
We entered the huge courtyard and saw lots of altars, stellae, and statues standing about. The courtyard is surrounded by stone steps 12 feet or so high. People would sit on these steps to watch ceremonies and such. Fidel had us clap to demonstrate the amazing accoustics that allowed everyone to hear one person speaking in the center of the courtyard. He taught us a little about the Mayan written language and told us a lot of the history of the ruling dynasty. We got to climb up the temples and see the king's bedroom chamber. He told us of how the Mayans sacrificed humans by tying them up, then rolling them down the steps of the temple into a pool of alligators. Eew! The whole day was so overwhelming, it made my head buzz. It was very, very interesting. We wanted to stay another day and see the museum, but we just plain couldn't. Besides, Jared and Zach were bored silly. The long drive back to El Salvador didn't help much!
We were glad to sleep in the next morning and have nothing much to do. We found the El Salvador Scout shop for Ryan, where he bought a cool patch for his patch jacket.
Saturday, we drove up to El BocarÓn, a volcano that overlooks the city of San Salvador. The top 1/3 of the cone is blown off, leaving a huge crater. That's why it's named "The Big Mouth." On the drive up, Jared asked us why "he was on the back of the car." We didn't know what that meant, so we sort of ignored him. But then Ryan noticed that a kid had jumped onto our bumper and was hitching a ride up the hill! Mom was right--she said he was going to offer to be our guide on the short hike to the mouth of the crater. Jorge and "JM" (we only know him as that because his initials were written in gold on his front teeth) showed us the local flowers and where to see the crater. They even carried Jared down difficult parts of the trail, and once I caught Jared on JM's shoulders. We gave them $2 each for their services, and then Jorge hitched a ride back down the hill on our bumper.
That afternoon we visited an interesting archeological park called Jolla de Cerén (near the church where Mom and Dad go). They found a village that had been suddenly covered by volcanic ash, and was thus preserved as it was. They call it the Pompei of El Salvador, or of the Americas, or something like that. It is believed that the villagers fled when they felt earthquakes, so there are no human remains in the area, but their homes, pottery, and utensils are intact. Ryan was amazed at how new the pottery looks! Some of it wasn't even broken. And you can still see the furrows of the gardens and corn fields. It was quite strange to look at!
Sunday morning we awoke at 4 am. Ugh. We watched the sun rise as we drove to the airport. The flight was long and we were exhausted already. But we had to laugh at our flight attendant. He was exasperated with his Salvadoranian passengers, who seem to pay no heed to the fasten seat belt sign, nor the announcements of the crew. He says it's a very "dramatic" route. They don't just ask for water, they clutch their throats as if they're perishing of thirts, and exclaim, "Agua, AGUA!" And we laughed when we counted 15 boxes of Pollo Campero being carried off the plane--and that was only 1/3 of the passengers! Again, our flight attendant was exasperated at all the chicken. He said there was less than usual, though. He also said that they don't like KFC because the chicken is fried in oil instead of lard, so they bring Pollo Campero with them, probably to family members who want a taste of home. Ryan and I didn't think it was tasty enough to haul day-old fried chicken on a 5-hour flight, but apparently they do!
The rest of our evening is detailed in an earlier post. I will post pictures soon!