Guatemala Journey: La Antigua - December 4 - 8, 2015

Our next stop was La Antigua, a destination for almost everyone who travels to Guatemala. And for good reason: it is a lovely town with a well developed tourist infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, tour companies, etc.). La Antigua's current status is a testament to the positive effects of a tourist-based economy. Here's a short history of the town: 

• 1543: Span established Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemalan (City of Saint James of the Knights of Guatemala) as the third capital site of the colony which spread from modern-day Chiapas to Costa Rica (bad things happened to capitals one and two);  
• 1543 - 1776: Spain (read: its indigenous subjects) built lovely homes, government buildings, churches and convents; universities and hospitals were established; it was a good time to be in Ciudad de Santiago;
• 1776: after a series of devastating earthquakes the capital was moved to present-day Guatemala City and the majority of the population began to leave, taking parts of buildings with them to build Guate - but not everyone leaves;
• 19th century: the coffee boom somewhat revives the town, now known as La Antigua Guatemala (Old Guatemala);
• 1979: UNESCO designates La Antigua as a World Heritage Site and restoration begins in earnest. 
• Today: La Antigua is a testament to the "build it and they will come" principle:

El Arco: A Bridge From One Convent
Building To Another -
To Shield The Nuns From Civilian View

A La Antigua Street Scene

And Another Street Scene

There are more ruins to see in La Antigua than most tourists can remember (at least more than these tourists can remember). We spent our energy/attention on:


          El Paseo de Los Museos (the Museums Promenade) at the Hotel Casa Santo Domingo. The hotel looks beautiful and beyond our travel budget. Happily for lower-budget travelers the hotel was built into the ruins of a Dominican church and convent and the Santo Thomas de Aquino college and was apparently required to grant public access (for a fee) to a portion of its grounds and to host several small museums. It was well worth our time.

Modern Day Pilgrim

Rows of Burial Chambers

Among the Ruins: A Destination Wedding Venue

A Favorite: A Chocolate Store!

          Walking Tour:  We also hired a tour guide to take us on a walking tour. It turned out that the usual walking tour itinerary spends a lot of time at the Paseo de Los Museos which we had already seen, so our guide had to come up with some additional things to visit. He did an admirable job of showing us through the other public spaces and the many other ruins in town.

City Hall

Ruins

And More . . . 

Ruins

As with other day tours we have taken, the most interesting part of our day was hearing our guide's personal story and his take on present-day Guatemala. Our guide, whose English was quite good, had studied to become an attorney but had decided that life as a tourist guide would be safer (and who knows - possibly more lucrative). He told the story of a judge he knew, who had received a telephone call explaining that "bad things" would happen to his children if he failed to reach a certain conclusion in a case. Our guide didn't tell us what the judge decided to do . . . but we would not be surprised to hear that justice was not well served. His story put life in Guatemala in perspective for us.

A not-unexpected part of the tour was a visit to the Jade Museum where (surprise) we were given the opportunity to purchase jade jewelry. The tour was more interesting and the sales pitch less cringe-worthy than we expected. We actually learned a bit about jade: Jade was more highly prized by the Maya aristocracy than gold. And, apparently "jade" can either be jadeite or nephrite and Guatemala is one of the few sources of jadeite. 

Jade Museum

We still didn't buy any - but that had more to do with our budget than with the quality of the jewelry offered for sale.



          Christmas Prep:  And of course the best part of any trip is the unexpected. We happened upon two very different Christmas season parades. 

The first parade represented the more commercial aspects of the season:

The Requisite Beauty Queens

And Cartoon Characters

The second was a religious procession, with acolytes carrying statuary:

The Crowd

The Ladies' Auxiliary

The Band

And The Generator . . . ?

But not all unexpected things are necessarily good. 


          Travel Has Its Risks: We attended the annual (every December 7) Quema del Diablo (The Burning of the Devil) ceremony. The devil's effigy is burned in order to eliminate evil spirits and make way for the Christmas holidays. Not all the evil spirits were expunged apparently.

The crowd thronging the streets surrounding the burning grounds was huge and more than once it occurred to us that the situation had the opportunity to become a two-inch story in the Sacramento Bee; something about dozens crushed in a stampede at a religious ceremony in Guatemala. Molly, who is height-challenged, saw nothing of the event, and Bryce saw this:

Something's Burning. Must Be The Devil.

While we were trapped in the total scrum that surrounded the event, someone with a very sharp blade sliced into Molly's purse (yes, she was stupid to take it to an event like this) and liberated her wallet. Happily she felt nothing even though she was clutching her purse very closely to her stomach - otherwise the very sharp blade may have sliced open her arm!

As violated as we felt when we discovered this theft - several hours later when we were back at the hotel (that's how clean the cut was) - we had a lovely experience the next morning that helped restore our faith in the people of La Antigua. There was a small clothing store with a sewing machine in view (we will alter the clothes for you!) at the door of our hotel. Molly took her purse there and asked the proprietor to do whatever he could to put her purse back together. When we returned after breakfast he had done a splendid job (she's still carrying the repaired purse) and refused to accept payment for his services because he was so upset about the theft. 

And of course, our banks have come through and covered us for our losses - so our story is one of fright and inconvenience rather than economic loss. Live and learn, but don't be disheartened. 

Travel Tips: (1) Always expect that you may end up in a hyper-crowded situation. Everyone knows that pick-pockets work crowds but as a traveler one doesn't always know what situations will be crowded. We didn't foresee the scrum that the devil burning event would become. Recently a sailing compatriot underestimated the density of the crowd in the Mexico City subway. So, every time you leave the hotel anticipate a pick-pocket encounter and leave at least one credit card in the safety deposit box at the desk. (2) A friend once had her purse snatched in Italy - sadly she was carrying her husband's wallet in the purse! They had no way to pay for a taxi back to their hotel and a long, hot walk without even a bottle of water ensued. With that situation in mind, we each carry money when we are traveling. Good plan - as far as it goes. What we had failed to think about (duh) was that though we were each carrying credit cards - we were carrying the same two cards. Thus we had to cancel both cards when Molly's wallet was stolen. Lucky for us a third card was left at the hotel - otherwise we would have been on a pure cash economy for the rest of our trip. Going forward Molly will carry card A and Bryce will carry card B and the other cards will be left behind. (3) Apparently debit cards on the Visa system can be used as credit cards - no pin number required. Molly's debit card was used to buy $15 worth of food at McDonalds - four times - before we cancelled the card.]

Yes, we would still go back to Antigua. Just not to the devil burning.


          Miscellaneous Stuff: For anyone planning a trip to La Antigua, here are some miscellaneous thoughts:

• Tourist Shuttles: We traveled from Guate to La Antigua by tourist shuttle van. The shuttles that run between tourist destinations are more comfortable and correspondingly more expensive than the colorful "chicken buses" or other local buses that many Guatemalans use because a shuttle ticket guarantees the rider a seat. That said, if the shuttle is fully booked the seat may be a very small seat or a negotiated portion of a bench seat. Also, many shuttle routes begin very early in the morning in order for the van to return to home base before dark. We're talking 5:00 a.m. early. 
• Private Transportation: We traveled from La Antigua to Lago Atitlán by private car (see above re: problems with shuttles). Many tour companies will be able to arrange a private car and driver if the shuttle doesn't meet your needs. Not all of the cars will be in great shape. We didn't ask about insurance.
• Food: If in La Antigua don't miss Mamma's. Okay wine list and deliberate service - but great food. We ate there twice! 
• Planning: If you're going to La Antigua, check out The Revue - an English language magazine about what's going on in Guatemala (really mostly in La Antigua). The magazine has a nice website. 
• Hotel: Hotel Casa Rustica is clean and comfortable. Our room had a nice patio. Downtown La Antigua is noisy at night. Bring earplugs. There were guard dogs.

The Three-Legged Guard Dog

In sum, for those traveling after us: Have a good trip. Use the safety deposit box at your hotel. Eat at Mammas.  



Next we travel on to Lago Atitlán (Lake Atitlán) and find those people we went to high school and college with that didn't become civil servants! 

Guatemala Journey: Guatemala City -- December 2 - 4, 2015

Campaign Planning

When we ordered our replacement dinghy in late November we were told it would take four-to-six weeks for delivery. We considered spending that time at the dock e-mailing anxious requests for delivery updates but that didn't sound like much fun . . .  so we decided to spend the waiting time seeing more of Central America. Additionally, our 90-day authorization to be within the Central America Four (Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras) was set to expire in December. One way to get a new 90-day tourist card is to take a 72-or-more hour trip outside of the CA-4 and get a new 90-day tourist card upon re-entry. Rather than travel south to Costa Rica, which we hope to sail to - someday soonishly - we decided to accomplish both goals by taking a trip in Guatemala with a side trip to Belize. 

We will share our almost month-long trip in several posts: recollections, travel suggestions/tips and many pictures. For those for whom that may be TMI, here's a short version of the trip:

The Text Version

December 2-30, 2015:

• Ciudad de Guatemala: lots of cars and buses, too few emission controls; 3 good museums; 1 quetzal = 13 cents U.S. (too much math) 
• Antigua ("everyone" loves it): very walk-able; Spanish-period ruins; good coffee; nice restaurants; big tour groups visit here; Molly's purse slit open (felt both bummed and stupid); forced onto a primarily cash economy to protect 1 surviving credit card; very nice man fixed purse for free
• Lago Atitlán: volcano views; funky hotel in village of 750 souls (Jaibalito) accessible only by foot or boat; day-trip to Chichicastenango market ("everyone" goes); visited villages around the lake by water taxis; lots of U.S. and European hippies of all ages (yes, they are still with us!)
• Quetzaltenango: hiking; village tour (more fun than expected); pleasant family-run hotel; better place to hang out than to be a tourist
• Flew Guate to Flores; overnight in Flores; bus to Belize
• Belize: excellent family-run jungle lodge; enjoyable fellow travelers; 2 big Maya sites; toucans and spider monkeys; 1 Belezian dollar = $.50 (easy math); English is the primary language (easier communications)
• Hitched a ride back to Guatemala 
• Tikal: jungle lodge at archaeological site entrance; great pool; much pyramid climbing; howler monkeys; turkey and tamales for Christmas Eve dinner
• Flores: tourist central; good people watching; more Maya ruins; day trip around the lake (more fun than expected)
• Flew Flores to Guate and bused to San Salvador; late dinner of appetizers in the Sheraton bar; back to US currency (no math required)

For those interested in more, we invite you to follow along:

Too Much, Lux'ry Bus (Our Apologies To The Who)

We hitched a ride from the coast to San Salvador with friends Jean (an operator of the Cruisers Rally to El Salvador) and Cherry (fellow cruiser). They dropped us at Pullmantur, a luxury bus line that runs between San Salvador and Ciudad de Guatemala (aka Guate). The Pullmantur terminal is at the Sheraton hotel, so we waited for our bus using the free Wi-Fi at the hotel restaurant. There we struck up a conversation with our waiter, who had worked at Hotel Bahia del Sol on the Estero Jaltepeque and knew Jean -- we got very good service when we told him she had dropped us off that morning!

The bus departed on time and was almost as advertised. [Travel Tip: WiFi never works on buses - we don't care what the ads say.] Best of all, the luxury treatment included a Pullmantur employee to take care of the border formalities - we didn't have to stand in line at or carry our bags across the Guatemalan border. The 233 kilometer ride, frigid air conditioning (they handed out blankets!), two movies, sodas, snacks and border crossing assistance = $35 each. It's the way to go.

[Travel Tip: Travelers familiar with Mexico's extensive system of luxury buses may be disappointed to find that in Central America luxury buses are limited to international routes (generally from one country's capital city to another). Our experience is that intra-country travel is somewhat . . . less luxurious.]

Guate - December 2 - 4

We didn't find much charm to Guate's pedestrian / tourist zone. In fact, as far as we can tell there are two reasons for non-business travelers to overnight in Guate: to make a travel connection or visit one of the city's many museums. If you do find yourself staying downtown, here are some thoughts:

• Hotel:  We booked the Hilton Garden Inn using Hilton points, and paid $45 plus points a night for a lovely, big room. Like other big cities in the developing world Guate is pretty grubby and staying in a hotel that wasn't upped our enjoyment factor. 
• Food: Pitaya Juice Bar - good coffee and fresh salads and sandwiches. The lauded nearby steak restaurant and the hotel restaurant - underwhelming. 
• Tourist Shopping: The only good tchotchke shop we found in the central area was in the Holiday Inn (along with the Pullmantur terminal). The one at the Museo Ixchel is worth a visit. 
• Taxis: Guate is a complex system of mostly one-way, turn-restricted streets and boulevards. When negotiating with taxi drivers keep in mind that even if a destination looks close on a map it may require driving several blocks in the wrong direction and executing some bizarre cross-traffic maneuvers.
• Walking: Don't try to go too far on foot. The risk is that you'll end up on the wrong side of a miles-long subterranean road and end up walking way too far in choking smog to cross it. Trust us on this one.

Guate's general lack of charm aside it is the home to some very nice museums:


          Universidad Francisco Marroquin

The university has lovely grounds and is home to two museums - the Museo Popol Vuh and the Museo Ixchel. There's also a walkway of replicas of Maya stelae with an interesting back story. 

Stela - Replica

In the 1970's an American woman, Joan Connolly, approached the Guatemalan government with a proposal to create concrete replicas of Maya stelae and donate them to the national museum. Her idea was that the museum could use the replicas as a fundraiser by making them available for visitors to make rubbings (similar to the "brass rubbings" popular in Britain - now primarily limited to rubbings of replicas). 

The information on display at the university is a bit vague on this point, but it seems Ms. Connolly believed her proposal had been accepted because she made several spectacularly uncomfortable-sounding trips into the jungle to make molds of stelae. But apparently after several molds had been made the government said something like: Oh yeah, that replica idea. Well, uhm, we appreciate the effort but . . . no thanks.

Ms. Connolly went ahead and made some replica stelae in her back yard. Eight were displayed at the airport in Guate and were authentic-looking enough that one of them was stolen! When Ms. Connolly returned to the U.S. in the 1980's she donated her replicas to the university. One might guess the cost of shipping concrete stelae to the U.S. was prohibitive - but it was a nice gift anyway. 

We didn't make any rubbings - but we enjoyed seeing the replicas and reading her story.

University Grounds From The Deck of the Student Deli
(View Better Than Food)

           Museo Popol Vuh

Museo Popol Vuh

This small museum, on the grounds of the university, is named for the Popol Vuh (pronounced sort of like: poh-pohl vhoozh) a book which contains the K'iche Maya creation myth, ancestral stories and cosmology. The Popol Vuh was transcribed in Spanish and K'iche in the early 18th century by Father Ximenez, a Spanish Dominican priest. Scholars can't tell whether he was working from oral history or a written K'iche text that has since disappeared. 

A number of the stories of the Popol Vuh are reflected in Maya pottery that is much older than the Good Father's book.  For example:

The creation of mankind as described in the Popol Vuh took three different tries. First the gods created mankind from mud; this early prototype dissolved in the rain. Persons 2.0 were made of wood but lacked minds and souls and so were destroyed by the gods who, we are told, were bored with them. Finally the animals (who were apparently perfected earlier) gathered corn and the gods used that to create men and, while the men were sleeping, their wives. The Maya often refer to themselves as The People of Corn.

A Man of Corn

Another story in the Popol Vuh is of the hero twins, the Hunter and Jaguar Deer. These twins were born of Xquic who was impregnated by a skull that spit into her hand. The twins outsmarted their half-brothers and caused them to be turned into monkeys. They (the twins, not the monkeys) were then summoned to the underworld because they were playing ball too noisily (as had their father who, as a result, had become the aforementioned skull). The twins escaped and became constellations. 

Jaguar Twins

We wonder whether the hero twin stories were influenced by Father Ximenez's knowledge of biblical (betrayal among brothers), Greek (humans becoming constellations) and/or Roman (founding twins) myths  . . . or whether they are examples of cross-cultural psychological universality. We invite you to share a rum and some Joseph Campbell and think about that.


          Museo Ixchel (Del Traje Indigena)

This museum, also at the university is, as reflected in its name (Traditional Clothing of the Indigenous) a display of the clothing of the various indigenous groups (mostly Maya) of Guatemala. It rivals the textile museum we visited in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas. 

A Close-Up of a Weaving

Embroidery - The Yoke of a Huipil

The curators have displayed some of the Maya textile art in many ways - some very dramatic.

Fajas (Belts) Used To Close The
Sarong-Like Skirts Worn By Maya Women
Suspended From The Ceiling

The museum also has displays of traditional clothing organized by the many Maya language groups of Guatemala. This knowledge would have come in handy throughout our travels in Guatemala . . . had we only been able to absorb everything we saw at the museum! 

           The National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography

Our third museum was the national museum of archaeology. It might have been better to visit this museum after our tour of Guatemala. We saw many stelae that had been removed from their sites, and visiting some of the sites first might have helped put the display into perspective. Or maybe both before and after. Or maybe just having better memories . . . .

Museum Courtyard

What Are These Guys Talking About?

Universal Pose

Context: Model 6'1" +/-

And that was our stay in Guate. We don't know if we'll return . . . but if we do pass through again, we'll want to see these museums again!

Next: La Antigua - a former capital city and today's charming tourist capital.

          

El Salvador's Ruta de Las Flores - November, 2015

Later in November we took another "project break" and spent a weekend traveling along the Ruta de las Flores (Route of Flowers) with friends Bill and Jean (operators of the Cruisers Rally to El Salvador and a mooring field in Bahía Jaltepeque). The Ruta de las Flores is one of the eight tourist routes established by the El Salvadorian tourist board. Along this route, which runs north-south in the western part of the country one can take a canopy tour (aka a zip line tour), hike to a water fall, go mountain biking, ride horses and generally engage in all sorts of energetic activities.  

None of which we did. 

And we weren't bowled over by the flowers along the route either, though that may be because we've been spoiled by the tiny but beautifully maintained grounds at the Paradise Fishing Lodge (Gracias, Rigo!). 

But we had a very nice weekend looking at charming, sleepy little towns:

Murals in the Naive Art Style Very Popular in El Salvador

A Pedestrian Street - Without Pedestrians

Iglesia San Andrés in Apaneca - Closed For Renovation

On our first afternoon we stopped in the village of Salcoatitán for lunch at a food stall along the main square. Following all the rules we chose a clean, popular stall where the food smelled good and three of us (Bill was the culinary outlier) ordered the specialty - Caldo de Gallina (chicken soup). It looked great and the vegetables in chicken broth tasted delicious. But the side of grilled chicken was, well . . . we began to suspect it was rubber-joke-chicken though we could not find any hidden cameras.  It was so tough and rubbery we could not pull the meat from the bone and put it into the broth. We wrestled with our chicken for awhile and then did the only thing one can do in such a situation - we laughed, called it a loss . . . and headed back to buy another bag of the fabulous freshly made potato chips that we really wanted to eat anyway.  

Our home for the night was Finca Santa Leticia a coffee plantation and hotel outside of the village of Apaneca. The rooms are in rustic-looking cabins spread around the property and the main building/restaurant is very High Sierra. The grounds are lovely and the restaurant - well, it's okay. 

Reception and Restaurant

Pre-Thanksgiving Turkey Spotting

Happily we had brought our own pre-dinner drinks and snacks and were so full of cheese, crackers and wine that the main meal wasn't really necessary.  It was nice to talk with Jean and Bill about the life they have built for themselves in El Salvador. 

The next day we asked the woman at the front desk about the archaeological sight we had read was on the hotel's grounds. She waved us toward an open gate across the highway from the hotel and told us there wasn't a charge, but that we might want to tip the guide. There was no literature about the site at the hotel. If we hadn't asked about it we would have come and gone without knowing it existed! 

We drove into the open gate and up a rutted dirt "road" though acres of coffee trees, glad to be in a rental SUV. We came to a gate that had a nice "Archaeological Site" sign above it - but no guide was in evidence. We opened the gate and drove through continuing until the "road" became too narrow to drive even a rental car. We got out of the car, followed the path and were soon met by several barking dogs. By the side of the path a woman was tending to the front yard of a little house. She quieted the dogs and waved us forward, telling us that the site was "cuatro cuadras" (four blocks) ahead. Hmmm. . . an interesting measurement (not meters or portions of kilometers, but blocks) to use in the middle of a coffee plantation. 

And then there we were. Under two different palapa structures, surrounded by nicely-tended gardens, were two gigantic "potbelly style" stone monuments. And the cutest little man with a giant machete who seemed to be the care-taker of the area and the guide.

Bill and Our Guide At One of the Monuments

The Second Monument

Our Guide -
Alas We Failed To Write Down His Name and Have Forgotten It

Bill And The Necessary Cell Phone Camera

Our guide explained that these monuments are believed to be from a pre-Maya culture that flourished in the area some 600 year BCE. And there we were - touching them. 

We tipped our guide as we left, and the second best 'site' of the day was his big grin. It must be hard to make a living looking after an archaeological site no one knows about.


[Travel tip: In El Salvador you may find that not everything worth seeing is well marked. If you find a note on a map that piques your interest -- keep asking. It may be of no consequence to the locals and not well advertised.] 

And speaking of archaeological sites that ARE well marked - our next posts will be about our four week trip to/through Guatemala.  We hope you will enjoy that trip as much as we did.

Suchitoto, El Salvador - October / November, 2015

Anyone who has read the few, but universally grim stories in the U.S. or Canadian press about El Salvador is probably wondering why we choose to travel in such a violent place. In other posts we've shared our personal "lightening strike" theory of life and travel in statistically dangerous countries, so we won't repeat that here. In this and our next post we'll just share our experiences traveling inland in Salvador -- and perhaps show you a bit about the everyday story which doesn't make good newspaper copy.  

[As an aside we can't help noting that, according to Facebook there are thousands of armed people wandering through Walmart stores in the U.S. every day . . . you're on your own if you want to brave Walmart.]

Around Town

The town of Suchitoto bills itself as the cultural center of El Salvador. And while it's not exactly London or Paris it has a nice art center; lovely, human-scale 19th-century architecture; 

Sleepy Suchitoto Above Lago Sucitlan

a couple of nice restaurants; a good coffee bar (Casa de la Abuela); a funky Marxist-themed bar; a good climate; cool-ish weather; a theater (nothing showing during our visit); and at least one very nice hotel (the Los Almendros de San Lorenzo - we neglected to take pictures, but the hotel's website is very nice).

The central plaza is sweet and the church that occupies one side has a beautiful, wooden interior (unusual to those familiar with Mexican churches).

Iglesia Santa Lucia

Wooden Interior 

Walking around town one can see other evidence that faith plays an important part in the life of the community . .. . 

A Plaque Honoring the Recently Canonized
Archbishop Oscar Romero

Abigail's God Bless You Store

. . . people living their everyday lives . . . 

Grocery Shopping In The Newly Renovated Market 
(Gotta Love The Market Ladies' Cute Apron Frills)

Commercial Tortilla Factory (Tortillaria)

. . . and signs that many people are committed to addressing the community's domestic violence problems which we were told stem in part from the separation of families and the general culture of violence resulting from the civil war. 

"In This House We Want a Life
Free of Violence Against Women" -
This Stencil is On Many Houses In Town

Suchitoto is the home of the Center of Art For Peace, opened in 2005 for the expressed purpose of supporting peace through the arts. What's not to like about that?

We Were There

A Wood Screen Detail - The Center Is Housed In A
Beautiful Ex-Convent Building

An Oral History Interview Took Place 
While We Were Visiting

Art Lessons Are Available -
Differing Views of the Oral History Interview Space

On a less elevated plain, Suchitoto is also home to the Museum of a Thousand Plates.  For only $1 one can see over 1,000 . . . plates. It's very kitschy -- but the operator is nice and he gave Molly the best tourist road map of Salvador that we've found yet. The map was worth the price of admission. The plates - not so much.

)

One Of The More Than 1,000 Plates

Another visit that most tourists make is to the El Necio bar, decorated with Che and FMLN posters. 

[Side note: The Frente Farabundo Marti Para La Liberacion Nacional (the Farabundo Marti Front For National Liberation) was named to honor Farabundo Marti, the leader of an ill-fated 1932 peasant revolution. The FMLN was the leftist guerrilla umbrella organization during the country's civil war and now, as a result of democratic elections, the country's ruling party.]

We appreciated the bar's theme and enjoyed the breeze in the upstairs seating area but were thoroughly confused when the bartender couldn't make a rum and tonic. The menu listed gin and tonic, vodka and tonic and Cuba libre but we couldn't communicate to the bartender (despite Bryce's relatively good Spanish skills) how to take the rum (Cuba libre) and the tonic (gin/vodka and) and make . . . a rum and tonic. Perhaps our comrade needs some bartender 're-education' . . . 

A Fair!

A little fair was going on, which enlivened our walks around town.

Preparing the Ferris Wheel (Look Bottom Right)

A Kite Flying Event In The Plaza

Night-time Merry-Go-Round
Complete With Watchful Moms

Beauty Contestants In Training

Church Fundraiser

Out of Town

We hired a guide through the hotel to take us to a couple of the "must see" places outside of town. He arranged a boat ride on Lago Suchitlan. The lake is covered with water hyacinths (though this picture doesn't show them) which we thought might be an invasive species problem, but our guide assured us they act to purify the water in the lake. 

Lago Suchitlan

We also visited the Los Tercios waterfall which is quite beautiful, even in a relatively dry year. 

We Were There

We were fascinated by the geographic formation of the falls - Bryce's comment was that it was like walking through the beginning of time.

An Great Upheaval Took Place Here

The best part of our guide experience was our conversation over coffee about his family's life during the war. Both of his parents worked for the FMLN as educators and traveled the country explaining the FMLN's political and strategic positions. He gave us an interesting perspective on the effect this disruption had on his family and told us a bit abut his parents' lives since the end of the war.

Dia de Muertos

Our last day in Suchitoto was Dia De Muertos in Salvador (November 2). We stopped by the local cemetery on our drive out of town and were interested to see the public celebration of the day. The streets around the panteón (cemetery) were choked with traffic. The road leading into the panteón was lined with stalls of plastic flower vendors calling out "Ooon doh-lahr! Ooon doh-lahr poor flohress!" (Un dolar por flores - One dollar for flowers!) [Reminder: El Salvador's currency is the U.S. dollar.]

Un Dolar!

The panteón was absolutely jammed with people of all ages. Those entering the cemetery were carrying several dolars worth of plastic flowers. 

El Panteón

The atmosphere was energetic. Friends and family greeted each other with hugs and handshakes; there was live entertainment; it was not at all a solemn occasion.

Not Exactly Funereal Music

We had to laugh at ourselves. For years we had avoided going to cemeteries for Dia de Muertos thinking we might intrude on solemn family events. We knew that in some towns in Mexico the community is used to seeing outsiders in their midst - Oaxaca and Pátzcuaro are famous for accepting visitors at their celebrations. But we were never in those places, so we didn't know how our presence would be received. But clearly, unless Salvadoreños and Mexicanos celebrate very differently, we would not have been intruding on anything solemn! 

Travel Tips

Suchitoto is located in the northern part of El Salvador, about 60 kilometers (but at least a 1.5 hour drive) north-east of San Salvador. Driving in Salvador has its challenges but you shouldn't miss a trip to Suchitoto or a stay at Los Almendros. That said, having made the drive from San Salvador to Suchitoto in the dark (due to a very long day at the customs office at the airport) our recommendation is to make the trip in daylight hours. The roads are sketchy, the signage even more so, the country doesn't seem to have real road maps (see above re: tourist map) and Mapquest directions are not terribly helpful. When the nice man at the gas station gives you directions - tip him. 

Another related driving tip: the market area of San Salvador is vibrant, crowded and exciting. But don't try driving through there at 5 p.m. on a Friday. Unless you have a fully insured rental car.

Next?

A drive along the Ruta de Las Flores.