home at last!

yasser and alejandro
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after my hearty breakfast of salt and sugar, i caught a taxi to the ticabus terminal and sat in the sunshine with the other passengers waiting for the bus. what a great atmosphere :) there were a few backpackery people like me, and guatemalan/salvadorian families, playing music, sharing out sweets and the kids running around smiling at everybody. when we got onto the bus i realised i'd forgotten to get my ticket stamped so they almost left without me! arrrg! lovely journey climbing up higher through the mountains looking down on the city, going past cornfields and i swear i saw a field full of weed plants, stopping every now and then to pick up local women and children who came onto the bus with baskets stacked on their heads, selling all kinds of food and drink. at the border i was cornered by men determined to blow kisses at me (if i hadn't have known where i was, i'd have guessed i was in el salvador!), and we set off on a slow ride winding around the mountains, stopping every now and then at army checkpoints (making the bus almost 2 hours late), i was hopping up and down on my seat in excitement at the sight of all the volcanos looming in the distance and was so giddy i almost forgot to get off at san benito. knocked my three friends flying as i jumped off the bus and onto them! yasser, alejandro, alfredo and i drove to del arco to get some beers so i could finally relax for a bit and enjoy some company! and then for my first salvadorian pupusas... soon to become a tradition for me and alfredo.

alfredo
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let me stop for a minute to describe a pupuseria. you can find them on every street corner of every street in san salvador. sometimes they have tv's (always with football on!), they all have wooden or plastic tables with jars of curdito (picked cabbage and carrots) on each, and a paper slip for ordering. the women make the pupusas on a griddle and they're served on one big plastic plate (can cause confusion if you've ordered different kinds!) with smaller plates for everybody. i didn't dare try the curtido, somebody warned me they spent 4 nights on the toilet after giving it a go! but you get bottles of light salsa to have with them too. aaah pupusas.... i do love them!

me and yasser
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after pupusas it was off to buy a couple of bottles of rum and get a bit drunk! i sat under a ledge in alejandro's back garden listening to the rain hammering down on the tin roofs, this stuff sounds lethal! like gunshots! we spent a hazy night catching up, taking silly photos, and eventually collapsing into bed in the early hours.

chaos... it made me feel so at home!