Finally out of Guatemala after being there really a little longer than I anticipated. I don´t think being able to say two phrases really indicates that I am fluent in Espanol just yet but there´s a whole three and a half weeks to go yet. One of the virtues of El Salvador for me at present is that most people who claim to speak English seem to speak as much of it as I speak Spanish so I guess that I´ll be practicing more and more. There haven´t been what I would call major incidents so far - there was a minor incident when I was getting the bus from the border at San Cristobal to Santa Ana when all the men had to get off the bus and the police checked their documents and looked through a list of faces of suspects.I had only been in the country for about half a day and I thought I was going to be on ´El Salvador´s most wanted´or whatever their local version of the US programme is. There was another search earlier on on the bus when some police went through the bags of several of the passengers so I can´t complain that the police aren´t doing anything here. I don´t mind the frequent stop and search policies - I don´t know if there is any bias in terms of who is being searched most frequently because most of the population here seem to be of an Hispanic-Mayan heritage if that doesn´t sound condescending. Consequently, I´ve felt safe here so far and I haven´t seen any form of brutality that I have had to turn away from. It was a little similar in Venezuela - the police searches didn´t bother me there either.
From Santa Ana I had to get to Ahuachapan in order to then get the bus to Apaneca and the travelling has not been too difficult so far. The bus drivers do seem a fairly reliable source of informtion on where to get the next bus and things have gone smoothly to say the least. I got here to Juayua about half an hour ago and have found it to be a relatively pleasant little town in the extensive amount of time I´ve been here. The hotel is $12.00 US a night and has wi-fi access which is about as much as you´d pay for wi-fi access alone in the UK for an hour or two without the double room with private bathroom that I have. I´m to explore the town which I understand from the guidebook will fill up with ´capitolinos´, that is people from the swinging metropolis that San Salvador is.
I did want to start the blog with the words "The smell of burning plastic, the far off sound of gun fire, relax with a local coffee and enjoy life in El Salvador, but everyone here has been pleasant and peaceful so far and I hope they´re not going to play the pipes of peace or do anything in a manner that is as bad as Macca´s acting in the video. I can hope....I did see someone on a bus in Guatemala who looked like my brother David, I can only wonder if any of his holiday´s in campsites in the 1980´s resulted in offspring. Also, the man who drove the bus to the springs, Fuentes Georginas, just outside Queztaltenango looked a little like Ricky Gervais. I don´t know if he would do the dance from the office while you sit in the hot springs for twenty quetzales but it could give a relatively straightforward day tour that little bit more alternative.
Off to explore the town.....and hopefully do something a little original - I did think it was Peter Bardell´s photography that I´d been copying but I´ve checked out his site and it´s not him. I think it was the Peter who used to wear architects glasses and looked like he spent all his spare time drinking cappucinos and being bohemian - I don´t know if anyone can contact him or tell me his name I´ve tried googling "peter SBPS cappucino bohemian architects glasses birmingham "and it didn´t really produce results. Maybe I should reflect on the opposites that I am with so many people and think about the contrasts in life that make it worthwhile. I may even find a little bar that plays just a touch of Mayan music although I have a sneaking suspicion that they´re taking the piss out of my dancing but I´m classed as paranoid....and missing Antigua a little.
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