Monday, August 15, 2011

Oh yeah, that blog...

Okay, so it turns out that I'm really pretty shit at blogging!

Current location - La Estancia hostel in San Salvador, El Salvador. San Salvador's the first capital city I've been stayed in since Mexico so I was quite excited about checking out some big city lights, some culture and the nightlife (apparently, San Salvador has the best nightlife in Central America).  Just a bloody shame the only day I'm here is a Sunday and most things are shut! Well the museum (if you get the chance, check it out - it looks cool: Museo de Arte Popular) I wanted to go to was shut and so are the two bars I thought I'd check out. I'm on my own again so figured it best not to venture too far away... The hostel is in Boulevard de los Heroes which is a pretty chilled out (muy tranquil) neighbourhood with some good restaurants and bars nearby (just not on Sunday) and I could probably find some excitement in the town centre or Zona Rosa but San Salvador is also one of the most dangerous cities in Central America (erm... like every other major city in Central America. Actually, surprisingly, Mexico City is probably on the safer side of the spectrum!) plus I couldn't be asked to work out how to navigate around an unfamiliar city using the buses. I nearly went to the cinema to see a dubbed Harry Potter but decided to use the night in to upload photos and hell, now I'm writing a blog post so hurrah!

I did make it out for a wander earlier in the day to find the closed museum and closed pupuseria recommended in the guidebook. The streets were pretty quiet - but also just pretty. Lots of flowers and the couple of people I asked for help with directions were super helpful (so far, we week into El Salvador and I can happily say that El Salvadorians have been some of the smiliest and friendliest people I've met - they also just seem really pleased you're here!). I did end up finding an open pupuseria and managed to stuff myself with 3 pupusas - queso and jalapeno, queso and zapote, queso, chicharonnes & something else I can't remember (can you tell I love queso?). I think two is the optimum number of pupusas you should eat... especially if you're having a licuado con fresa y leche to wash them down. I'm still full! Aside from the food, the lady serving me was really lovely and gave me the card to the restaurant so I'd remember where it was.

San Salvador
Flower spotting whilst wandering around Boulevard de los Heroes

El Salvador has been a really pleasant surprise - I initially thought I might skip it altogether and now here I am a week into it and having been to Santa Ana, Juayua, El Tunco already.

Tomorrow, I'll be leaving early to make my way to Perquin...