At Playa El Tunco

So, yesterday was my last full packed day in San Salvador.

The buses had a strike, or atleast a few of the numbers did, so it led to a little bit of a bump in moving around.  It was awesome though because people with pickup trucks were swinging by and picking up people, packing us into the back of the truck and zooming off on the same route the bus would be going had it been running.  Kind of like a communal taxi I suppose.

First, we walked to the Museum of Words and Images. This museum had original images from the insurgents during the war, and a whole room dedicated to Radio Vencemoros, it was the radio that was trying to share with the people of El Salvador the human rights atrocities and warn towns before military got to them.  The group that ran the radio was about 20 and they hid in a cave, and that is the only way they were not found out, because of the location and jungle coverage of the cave. It was very moving.  There was a man, Chiyo, that, through interpretation, shared his story of the war.  He wrote a book, published recently, titled 7 hummingbirds.  He was 7 when the war broke out and his neighbor shot his mother and sister while they were in a hammock in their front yard. He saw it happen, and still sees this man every day.  He lost 7 siblings and his mother. His story is one of forgiveness and finding peace.  It was a museum very worth going to, including the others I have been to.  I would like to visit Morozan, where the radio was and a massacre, but it is in the far corner of El Sal. near Honduras... next time.  But this city is ripe for studying peace, nonviolence, and healing.

Later we went to the National Exposition, a museum located in a large park bordering Franklin D. Roosevelt Avenue.  This museums current exposition was on Land and Art - temporary time based art that took place in nature.  There were videos of the creation and large scale photographs of the final art pieces.

Then we went to Santa Tecla, a sprawl of San Salvador.  In the large mercado we ate pupusas... again!  They are so good and cheap here.  You can eat a whole meal with a drink for $1.50, 2.00 is a splurge!  This market is like a lot of the others we've been to along the way, animals, lots of cheese, freshly slaughtered meat, live chickens, and everything else you could imagine.  A woman with about 100 bras dangling from her arms, and another woman with 1000s of underwear to choose from.  It's all a mix.

From there we went up to the San Salvador volcano.  It is a volcano collapsed in on itself and they have made it into a pleasant walking trail, very accessible.  The inside of the volcano is still active, but the last erruption was in 1917 when it dried up the lagoon that was there.

After this was when we climbed aboard the truck that zoomed off for our destination.  There was a lot of chaos because of the strike, and buses that were running had people hanging all over the sides, just brimming over.

This morning before taking off on the bus to the beach, only $1.50, I stopped at the Museum of Popular Art which was a worthwhile visit.  I also spent 45 minutes trailing through winding streets asking directions from so many people to find Archbishop Romero's house, one older man even took the time to walk me 3 blocks out of his way.  The people here are so friendly, but I have found it to be true that you have to ask directions from more than one person because I often get conflicting information, and I think it is just that if people don't know the answer, they want to give you one.  At least they are friendly doing so!  Anyway, when I got to Romero's house, it was 12:00 and they were closed until 2:00.  I asked and asked please please let me see his house, and they said no no no.  They take their 12 - 2 lunch time seriously here.  So much hard work, to be turned away! Oh well.

Now we are at the beach though!  We came over to Playa El Tunco and have so far spent hours body surfing the large waves and eating some good fish.  Our hotel has a nice swimming pool, hammocks, and lots of manicured greenspaces.  It is very nice and lots of people out and about.  El Tunco is nice so far... I look forward to trying out some surfing tomorrow!