Honduras for an hour and classical surprises
After a little deliberation taking into account time, desire, sights worth seeing, and political unrest, I decided against spending anytime in honduras and went straight for El Salvador. This was another one of those bus, rickshaw, walk, van, walk, bus, taxi, etc. etc. days, being particularly long because I was attempting a double border crossing, and besides investing in a fake casio watch (a "cassiq", if you will), I passed Honduras with little to no impression.
Similarly, I expected almost nothing of El Salvador. I hadn't heard much from other backpackers and, admittedly, when planning out my itinerary I had completely forgotten of El Salvador's existence. So I shifted some dates around and allowed a small week to give it a chance.
First up was the small town of Suchitoto, largely chosen for its mountainous location (after Leon I simply couldn't take anymore heat) and appealingly quaint description in my guide obok. And, fortunately, it was just what I was looking for. I checked into a filthy little hotel, but couldn't complain because out back was a gorgeous lake view, all possible to lazily enjoy from a hammock. I even had my own bedroom complete with comfy bed and mosquito net, and a thick copy of Anthony Kiedis' autobiography to pick up in the book exchange (jesus, that guy did a LOT of drugs).
During the month of february there was allegedly some festival on, of which I saw no evidence of save the free performance the Duena informed me the moment i arrived. "A free concert!" she exclaimed, so I decided to stop in to see what the hullaballoo was about. To my surprise, it was a free classical concert, a cellist and pianist from Germany, and damned good ones at that. I was so impressed that all the way here in a small tiny village in El Salvador I would have one of my more "classy" cultured experiences. The only take aways were the rather uncomfortable plastic chairs set up in the theatre and the long, emotive speech in spanish by an adorable owlish man with coke bottle glasses about the war. Then we had to stand for the national anthem--that is, the ENTIRE national anthem. The El Salvadorean anthem, like our own Star Spangled Banner, actually has multiple versus. But while we usually sing the first verses and get on with business, the El Salvadorean (or at least THESE el salvadoreans) insisted on singing the anthem in its entirety. This led to a string of comical pauses between verses where I would half make a move to sit down, thinking it was over, only to promptly jump back into a bewildered, yet respectful standing position for the rest of the seemingly neverending song.
The Germans, thanksfully, managed to keep their anthem to a respectable few minutes.
Similarly, I expected almost nothing of El Salvador. I hadn't heard much from other backpackers and, admittedly, when planning out my itinerary I had completely forgotten of El Salvador's existence. So I shifted some dates around and allowed a small week to give it a chance.
First up was the small town of Suchitoto, largely chosen for its mountainous location (after Leon I simply couldn't take anymore heat) and appealingly quaint description in my guide obok. And, fortunately, it was just what I was looking for. I checked into a filthy little hotel, but couldn't complain because out back was a gorgeous lake view, all possible to lazily enjoy from a hammock. I even had my own bedroom complete with comfy bed and mosquito net, and a thick copy of Anthony Kiedis' autobiography to pick up in the book exchange (jesus, that guy did a LOT of drugs).
During the month of february there was allegedly some festival on, of which I saw no evidence of save the free performance the Duena informed me the moment i arrived. "A free concert!" she exclaimed, so I decided to stop in to see what the hullaballoo was about. To my surprise, it was a free classical concert, a cellist and pianist from Germany, and damned good ones at that. I was so impressed that all the way here in a small tiny village in El Salvador I would have one of my more "classy" cultured experiences. The only take aways were the rather uncomfortable plastic chairs set up in the theatre and the long, emotive speech in spanish by an adorable owlish man with coke bottle glasses about the war. Then we had to stand for the national anthem--that is, the ENTIRE national anthem. The El Salvadorean anthem, like our own Star Spangled Banner, actually has multiple versus. But while we usually sing the first verses and get on with business, the El Salvadorean (or at least THESE el salvadoreans) insisted on singing the anthem in its entirety. This led to a string of comical pauses between verses where I would half make a move to sit down, thinking it was over, only to promptly jump back into a bewildered, yet respectful standing position for the rest of the seemingly neverending song.
The Germans, thanksfully, managed to keep their anthem to a respectable few minutes.
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