Well, it’s on to Central American country number 5 now, as I briefly skipped through Honduras on a ‘Ticabus’ this morning, and have now made it to Nicaragua. The mosquitoes are nibbling away here in hot sticky Granada, but I’ve just spritzed myself with repellent and, apart from that, life is good. I’ve found a nice newly opened little hostel to stay in, and am sitting in the courtyard thinking about and planning the next few days, whilst having a customary sample of my new national beer (here it’s called Tona – and it seems pretty nice).
I decided to move on from San Salvador this morning even though my debit card hadn’t caught up with me. Esme helped me call the ‘Correos’ on Friday and it looks like it’s going to be another week or so, thanks to the Christmas/New Year break and all the resultant holidays. Happy as I could have been staying in Simon and Esme’s lovely home a bit longer (where they so kindly told me I was welcome as long as I wanted to stay), I decided to press on and stick to my initial itinerary (also giving the newlyweds their house back!). I have a definite address where I will be staying in Bogota in a few weeks time with a friend of my Mum’s friend Erika. Therefore, Simon and Esme can forward the card onto me there by some special parcel/document delivery service that they have used in the past. Problem solved (hopefully!). In the meantime, I continue to use Dad’s credit card for cash (and he’s going to draw up and e-mail me my bill next time his statement comes through – hope that’s not too much of a nasty shock but I don’t think it will be!).
So, yeah, my alarm went off at 3.30am this morning and I got on the 5.00am bus from San Salvador to Managua in Nicaragua. It’s an 11 hour journey in total and could have been relatively comfortable. However, just my luck, I was allocated a seat next to a guy who could only be politely and euphemistically described in Spanish as somewhat ‘gordito’ (chubby). Therefore I probably only got about half of the seating space my ticket should have entitled me to, and catching up on lost sleep, as I had planned to, didn’t really happen.
Oh well, I read a good bit more of ‘100 Years Of Solitude’, which, in spite of my determination to finish it, I am pretty fed up with now (I can’t wait to trade it in at a hostel book-exchange for something remotely readable - preferably without loads of ludicrous characters who all seem to share the same name and spend their time melting down gold and turning it into fishes). Apologies to anyone who thinks it is a great masterpiece – it’s just not my cup of tea. In fact it was quite a relief to hear Simon (who is an English teacher) say yesterday that he felt it took him 100 damn years to read the thing, and that he thought it was far from the pinnacle of Latin American literature (he’s given me some other suggestions of books and authors to try, which I must follow up). He, Esme, Stuart and I went out for a bit of a farewell meal last night (a local Vietnamese – nice taste of home for me – followed by ‘Pops’ Salvadorean ice-cream), and it was interesting to talk about books, teaching and schooling in San Salvador throughout the course of the evening (all three of them work at the same school in the city and, of course, Esme has her own personal experience of having been bought up and educated in the country).
My final days in El Salvador were really nice and I will have some great memories of my time spent in a country which, I have to admit, very much pleasantly surprised me. On Saturday, Stuart, Esme and I drove up to a little lakeside town called Suchitoto to enjoy (as many Salvadorenos do at the weekend) the views, and to have lunch at one of the little restaurants down by the water (I had ‘Boca colorado’ – quite a meaty fish that is caught in the lake). The two of them went home that afternoon, but I decided to stay in Suchitoto overnight. I had half a mind to splash out a bit and stay in a posh posada that I had read about in various guidebooks, and that Simon had also recommended. Sadly this particular place didn’t have any rooms free, though, so I went for a more budget option (very basic - with a cold spider-filled shower – but otherwise adequate) and then just went to the posh place to have a drink and swim in their pool. Best of both worlds, I figured (I’m sure the bucks I saved can be used for a splurge somewhere else).
It was beautiful doing a few laps just as the sun was going down, with the misty view of the lake and mountains in front of me. Suchitoto was a lovely little place that definitely seems to have the potential to make some tourist dollars (as well as the great scenery there appears to be a burgeoning arts and crafts scene there with a colourful weekend market and several small galleries). I kind of hope it will remain relatively unspoilt. However, I also wish it well in terms of development, as I do El Salvador in general, given some of the difficulties the small country has had to contend with over recent years. I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to visit Perquin and find out more about the Civil War (although I’ve heard that some of what you learn if you visit the sites in that part of the country is pretty grim). There will be elections soon in El Salvador, and I think a lot of Salvadorenos are hoping for a swing to a more Socialist government. However, this could rock the boat considerably in a lot of senses – they will just have to see what happens.
First impressions of Nicaragua earlier today were a bit exasperating for me - bumpy roads, a crazy bustling bus station at Managua, over-zealous taxi-touts, and the standard dose of religious oratory from some ‘manic bus preacher’ who got on to join us for the ride on our connecting micro-bus from Managua to Granada. Once I made it to Granada a lot of that calmed down, though. It’s another really pretty colonial town (sorry, I’m running out of new ways of describing these places with their colourful houses and elegant tiled floors – there are only so many ways!) that actually reminds me a lot of Cuba (in particular Trinidad). Not surprising, I guess, when you consider the revolutionary history of the two countries (I'm still wading through the Rough Guide ‘history’ section on Nicaragua – and am just about made it to the Sandinista coup part).
I wandered round the square early this evening and stopped for some food at a seemingly popular stand on the ‘Parque Central’. I had ‘gallo pinto’ (mashed beans and rice fried up together) with cheese, salad and tortillas and – from what I have read – this is what I’ll probably be having for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day here! No bad thing, I suppose – it certainly seemed wholesome and I quite liked it (although whether I’ll be saying that this time next week, I’m not so sure!). They also have nice soft drinks here – I had a glass of orange that the waitress said was mixed with some sort of grain (maybe like orange barley water?). That went down well.
So, I have some sort of rough plan as to how I’m going to spend the next few days. Tomorrow I think I’ll just familiarise myself with Granada on foot and, perhaps, if I have time, cover some of the ‘pueblos blancos’ (literally ‘white villages’ – apparently there are some really sweet, scenic little villages near here). Then, I might try and fix another hike up one of the nearby volcanoes (I’ve heard these are pretty strenuous though) – perhaps the one on Isla de Ometepe on Lago Nicaragua. There doesn’t seem to be much of a Couchsurfing scene here. However, there are a lot of hostels and also a good few language schools, making me wonder if I might be able to fix up a few ad-hoc Spanish lessons while I’m here. I’ll investigate tomorrow… I think I’ll stay in Nicaragua for about a week and then head on to Costa Rica – in fact I must send a message to Jordan (who’s apparently been having some dramas with her Costa Rican boyf!) to see if she is still going to be around to perhaps meet up with me if I travel up to the Caribbean coast there.
Chao for now folks – everyone is now watching the Simpsons in Spanish in this hostel bar, so I might join them in the hope that it will be educational!
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