San Salvador

Today has been a whirlwind in San Salvador.  Yesterday, Jesse flew out of Guatemala City and Tyler and I started south by taking the TICA bus for $20... the best ride we´ve had yet, it felt like a luxury first class experience.  So, now we are in San Salvador, El Salvador!

This city was pretty quiet yesterday, the 1st, most everything was closed, so we walked around a lot and orientated ourselves.

Today was a day of seeing and experiencing the city.  San Salvador has been filled with friendly people.  I have been lost and people will help direct and tell me what bus to get on.  It has been great!  I have seen no other tourists around except at my hostel... the tourism industry has not hit here yet.

First, for breakfast I had a fried plantain stuffed with creamcheesefrosting-custard topped with raisins... mmmm!  I will have to have another one of those.

We took the bus to the Historic District where we went in the Catedral Metropolitana. This is the cathedral where Archbishop Oscar Romero (assisinated in 1981) was priest and is not entombed.  It was a beatiful cathedral and very moving to see the dedication that is in the basement to him, and the artwork that is his tomb.

Then we saw National Theater and the National Palace.  The market was already bustling open with load music booming and pupusas on the grill.

We continued south on a bus to the Playa del Diablo.  This is a lookout over the city that has an almost 360 degree view.  From here you can see the Volcan San Salvador and all the way to the ocean.  It was awesome.

Then we returned to the city to find the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe.  This was a cathedral dedicated to the Black Virgin, and it was in stark contrast to the previous cathedral because it was purely feminine and adorned with Mary.

We walked over to the University of Central America, which has a nice pleasant and well manicured campus.  Here, they have the Centro Monsenor Romero, a museum dedicated to the assisnation of the Archbisoph Romero, the 6 priests, and the many massacres that occurred between 1977 and 1991.  The exhibit was very worth going to, very moving, and kind of scary.  The UCA campus was where one massacre happened, and it is now restored but there were pictures of the room we were sitting in after the killings.  I could not look at all the photo albums but they have original photos of the assassinations, things that a person should not necessarily see...  They did have photos of some of the missing children.  Anyway, it is all very moving and a very recent history here.  A woman who has lived here for 18 years now (moved here just after the war) said it took many years before people started playing ball in the parks again and coming out to say hi to neighbors.

After this we went to Museum of Modern Art and were happy to see the rich diversity of the Latin American artists on display.  Beautiful place.

It´s amazing how the museums here are anywhere from free to $1.50... and to take a bus anywhere in the city is between .20 and .32 cents. 

Off to get a good night sleep after all that moving around!  Tomorrow I have another day planned of museums and seeing the Santa Tecla, a city that is attached to san salvador, also known as the new San Salvador.

Buenos Noches!