colonial style chill out

the bus to Suchitoto from the capital was rammed to say the least. I had to pay for two seats as there was nowhere to put my luggage and by the time we passed the city of san martin, the bus was full to bursting yet, as they surely can only do in Central America, they still managed to fit more people on by yelling into the bus and making everyone squash up like sardines! I arrived hot and sweaty but was immediately impressed by the quiet charm that Suchitoto possesses. It is dominated in the main square by an impressive cathederal, yet the whole city (more like a small town!) looks like it hasn`t changed since the 1900`s! It seemed hard to believe that this was the scene of so much bloodshed and violence during the civil war years, yet bunkers and bomb shelters on the nearby hillside attest to a history full of death and destruction.

I found my hostel, Gringos, fairly easily and was amased and slightly dismayed to find i was the only one staying there. It appeared that the lull after semana santa madness has truly begun! On the upside i had a nice double bed and lounge area with cable Tv all to myself!

I spent the first afternoon just wandering around and taking in the atmosphere before returning to the hostel to chat to the owner over dinner (awesome pupusas- i think i`ve found the best in el salvador so far!) The owner is an interesting fellow, half american, half salvadorian who is heavily involved in promoting tourism in the area. He knew all about the good tours but sadly, with only me in the region, the costs were too prohibitive for me! that evening, we went to the only bar in the town, a little place called El Necio (meaning the nuisance- che`s nickname in these parts!) and had a drink but were unable to find other tourists to persuade to do a tour with me. I was, it seemed "the only tourist in the village" and had to be content to sip rum and coke and try to figure out some of the rapid fire spanish conversation around me.

the following day i had a lazy morning and then made the 2km walk down to the lake. It was a scorchingly hot day and i was once again the swaty english tourist on arrival but it was worth it for the beautiful tranquility that lay before me. Thr lake is pretty huge and is a source of hydro electric power to the surrounding area, but it also houses an island full of native birds. Sadly, as i was once again the only tourist, i wasn`t able to take a boat trip due to excessive costs so i had to content myself with chilling out and paddling a little to cool me down.

I was relieved to see that there was a bus to transport me back up the incredibly steep hill and on my return to town i flumped in front of the tv (guilty pleasure!) for ages to try to cool down. Over dinner in town i finally met another tourist, a dutch film maker on an assignment here, but we were unable to find anywhere open after 9pm so our evening was cut rather short! He expressed the opinion that El Salvador was a very dangerous country and I had to srtongly disagree- outside of the capital where there are a few dodgy parts, just like any other major city, i haven't felt safer anywhere! The people here go out of their way to help all the time and are so curious about the rarely seen tourists that they have yet to develop any kind of annoyance or violent tendencies towards them!

Having had another lovely nights sleep, i discussed my options with the hostel owner and we decided that, with only 2 days left, my best bet would be to head up north to La Palma, which he described as a lovely little town with a good art scene and excellent hiking.