Sabes a Chocolate
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006Im finally in a new country: El Salvador, the most violent country in Central America, and the most densely populated country in North or South America. Here they don`t eat tortillas, so there are no tacos, quesadillas, or any of that jazz. They just have these boring things called pupasas, which are like tortillas filled with cheese or beans or other things. I guess they`re OK, but my problem is that here they consider these pupusas to be a meal, while in other countries tortillas are just accompanyment to something more interesting. Also here the women are prettier, and people are friendlier, though the population is quite homogenous. There is no national beer company, unlike Guatemala or Mexico. It is both far better and far worse than the other places I`ve visited.
My last few days in Antigua were quite interesting. New Years eve was, as expected, a really great party. I was chilling and drinking in the park until about 11:30. I must admit that I skipped several cultural events that were going on because they all featured marimba music, which I hate. In any case, Tanael and I went to the central point of the celebration at midnight, and some of his friends and I drank champagne as the fireworks went off. Afterwards, we prepared for a big party. At 1, we arrived at the XL fieston, put on by the national rum company. It was big and crowded with people, and the music was great. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any girls we really liked (who were still without company) so we danced most of the night alone. At about 5:15, when there were virtually only couples left, we headed to the park. Tanael went home, but I met some cool guys from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. We listened to Reggaeton, drank a bit more, and talked until the sun came up.
The following evening, I was sitting with Tanael and some other friends on a bench in the park, when we were challenged to each come back in a half hour with a girl. We left optimistic, but were unable to find any interesting girls. We came back five minutes earlier, defeated. Several minutes later, however, three beautiful blond guatemalan girls passed by, and they lingered by us for a bit. Some fat, 30-something year old guy we knew went over to talk with them, so after a moment we joined them. They liked us, so we decided to meet later in the evening.
Later, Tanael and I met them in a bar, and we talked for about an hour. The girls told us that they work for Gallo, the national beer company, as dancers in special party events. Our new friends were the famous ¨Gallo Girls,¨known throughout Guatemala, the closest thing to national cheerleaders. We went to the park at 1 am, and spent a while dancing to music blasting from the car. The girls were extremely fun and charismatic, and we had a wonderful evening.
Yesterday, it was time to come to El Salvador. I got on a bus in Guatemala city for the border, rather exhausted for lack of sleep the night before. Somehow, I missed the border town when we passed through (it looks nothing like a proper border town), and I ended up one hour down a rugged dirt road in a tiny, dirty, impoverished village of several hundred people. I asked the bus driver about the border town, and he just shook his head. “Only one bus leaves town each day,” he said. “You could try to hitch a ride, if you want…” As it turns out, no trucks leave the town either. I was in a place with no restaurants and no hotels, one hour`s drive from the highway. In the end, somebody offered me a ride to the highway, if I paid him the price of gas to get there and back. It was expensive, considering that this vehicle, in the worst condition I have ever seen, was burning gas at a ridiculous rate. Nevertheless, I made it eventually to the border, and then on to the city of Santa Ana.
And here I am. It is the second largest city in El Salvador, with 400,000 people, but it really doesnt feel so big. It is a tranquil place, and not nearly as dangerous as I had expected. In Guatemala, people told me to be really careful in El Salvador, but here people tell me how dangerous Guatemala City is. In northern Mexico, people warned me about Chiapas. It is all ridiculous, really.
I think I`d like to live in Latin America. I like it better here, overall. Nobody worries so much about the little shit that people are always stressing over in the states, and people just do whatever they want. It is funny, coming from America, the land of limitless opportunity, to say that impoverished Latin American countries are more free, but in some ways it really is true.
Keep it real,
Dan
Neocoltrane