Last night I met an Aussie and another girl from Ohio who works in San Pedro, Guatemala at a bar called ‘Freedom'. They asked if I felt the earth quake earlier that day. I knew it was an earthquake! Some guy told me that it was just a big truck traveling close to the hotel, but I knew. The girls wanted to go out drinking with me but changed their minds after they had dinner. They had to get up early today to catch a bus, and actually so did I, at 5am.
I took a taxi to Les 3 Diables, a local pub in San Salvador. It's a smaller type place but very lively with the young crowd and some loud modern music. At the bar I ordered a Vodka and Coke and chilled out listening to the music. Two more drinks and an hour later I decided to move to a more comfortable sitting area. I bought a cigarette (yes, they sell them one at a time at the pub) and a Heineken and moved to a couch opposite where a few other guys were sitting. I never realized how relaxing it is to smoke and drink at the same time.
The guys soon invited me to sit with them and when they learned that I was American they quickly became eager to speak English with me. One of them is a seventeen year old tech support guy that works for MSN and earns five hundred bucks a month, which he considers to be a lot of money. The other guy I spoke to who knew English was a Mexican from Chiapas. They explained to me that all the rich people in El Salvador are foreigners who earned money in another country and live here because it's cheap to live well. The poor are from El Salvador. They explained that there is a middle class, but it makes up a small percentage compared to the rich and poor.
We sat around for a few more hours smoking and drinking. Later we moved to a party, a friend of one of the guys I was with. We all climbed into the back of a pickup truck while a semi-drunk kid drove us to the apartment where the party was. It really wasn't much of a party but more of a chill hangout. The owner of the apartment was a fat kid from Southern Cali who had an incredibly hot girlfriend with whom he lives. Don't ask me how he got her.
I got a ride back to my hotel with some people I met at the party. One of them reminded me of Bob Marley and the other I can't really remember because I was a bit messed up at the time. They weren't as drunk as I was but they were also pretty smashed. They started freaking out when we passed a cop. Bob Marley slammed on his brakes at a stoplight and I was for sure we were going to get pulled over, but luck was on our side.
It was three in the morning when I walked into my hotel room and I had a little over an hour before I had to leave to catch my bus to Nicaragua, which departs at 5am. I turned on the TV and shut my eyes for what I thought was a half hour but instead it as already five. I missed my bus. Oh well, I was drunk and tired - I really didn't care. I crawled into bed and woke up at noon today.
I decided instead to leave for Guatemala because the bus leaves at 3pm. Sadly, I took the first class bus. Five hours on an old American school bus with a hang over really didn't sound too great. El Salvador is great, but really not worth staying more than a few days. There's nothing to do there except for drinking in the evening to be honest.
The scenery from the bus was great because I was on the top of the Double Decker. Guatemala appears to be a beautiful place. But passing the border between El Salvador and Guatemala I was the only person who had to exit the bus and wait in line at the immigration. It was weird having the whole bus wait up for me.
There were more extremely poor people living in huts on the side of the road, hundreds of them. What's odd is that they were all in new clothes and had cars.
The bus arrived at the terminal at around eight thirty in the evening. I collected my bag and headed out. I was greeted by a friendly guy wanting to know if I was in need of a Taxi. Si, I said. We arrived at a hostel but all the rooms appeared to be full because right now I seem to be more or less in a closet. I thought the taxi driver was asking for ten bucks, which I thought was steep, but I realize now that he wanted ten Q (the local currency), which is around $1.25. I paid ten bucks. Oops. Shit happens. Ten for the taxi and twenty-five bucks for the closet. Not getting off to a good financial start here in Guatemala. I need that damn guide book to know where all the cheap hostels are. |
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