Alright, catch up time. I was out of my site all of last week, first for an in-service training (IST) in Apaneca, Ahuachapan, and then for a couple days of R&R in San Salvador. Going to Ahuachapan was like stepping into a different country. We stayed in a resort in the mountains that, if it had been covered in snow instead of greenery, I would say belonged in upstate New York or Vermont. The hotel owner went to school with our boss, which is how we ended up going there for IST. The site of the hotel was beautiful, and the food was outstanding – I almost cried when they brought out big plates of lasagna for lunch one day. When one of my friends tried to sneak a bite of mine, I almost smacked her. I’m like Garfield, I don’t share my lasagna.
There was also a zoological park on the back of the property that had macaws, toucans, peacocks, foxes, rabbits, raccoons, a butterfly enclosure and – my favorite – monkeys! They started showing off when we got there, swinging by their tails from the chain-link fence and ripping branches off the trees. I think the brown one had a thing for me, but my standards for men are slightly higher than simian. (Albeit not much, after almost 8 months in the campo.) Unfortunately, like a complete dope, I forgot my camera, so I don’t have pictures of the zoological park.
On the first night we were there, we took microbuses to the nearby town of Ataco. They were having some kind of festival that night, and the whole town was lit up with these beautiful colored lanterns. Ataco has a great vibe to it. The first thing that strikes you about it is how colorful everything is. That tends to be true of El Salvador in general, but even more so in Ataco. Most of the stores and houses are painted in bright limes, sunny yellows, hot pinks, stunning blues, and lively greens. There are murals on just about every free wall, and cute little cafes, bars, and coffee shops on every corner. In short, it’s the perfect little tourist town, tucked away in the hills of El Salvador. Once again, I forgot my camera (of course), so I got sneaky and borrowed some pictures from my friend Adrianne’s facebook page. She took some absolutely beautiful photos of Ataco during the day.
Things were kind of quiet once I got home, but yesterday was El Salvador’s día de independencía. I went to visit my friend Elena in her site, which is just up the road from mine. They had a “parade” which consisted of marching school kids and (I can’t lie) probably one of the worst marching bands I’ve ever heard in my life. There was one boy who was playing the big bass drum, and every other beat or so, he’d hit it just a split second too late. It was exhausting to listen to. But hey, you gotta hand it to them. In a school system that barely has paper and pencils for all the students (forget about textbooks), they somehow scraped together the money for some trumpets and drums. More power to ‘em.
The parade ended in the main square of the town, where there were numerous long, civic speeches. (Just a not for future reference: don’t give a Salvadoran a microphone and a public platform. You won’t be getting the microphone back any time soon.) After the speeches, some of the local students did some dances, and sang some super-cheesy Spanish love songs (which seemed really relevant). Don’t worry, for once, I took bastante photographs for you guys…
Okay, I lied. These are the photos from the resort, as well as the ones of Ataco that I borrowed from Adrianne’s facebook page. The internet cafe’s computer is being a butthead and not letting me upload anymore photos on my blog page, so you will all just have to check out my facebook page for the día de independencía photos.
