MUNGO EATS Latin America

We have just experienced the strangest 2 days of our trip thus far.  Let me explain.  In the north east coast of the country, is an area called Moraza’n.  It is a mountainous region, which equates to cooler temperatures, it is not heavily populated and it has some of the nicest waterfalls, rivers etc in all of El Salvador.  It also happens to be an area which was heavily affected by the civil war of the 70′s-80′s.  In pictures, it looks like a heavenly spot, so I wanted to visit it.  The “catch” was that to visit any of the waterfalls, rivers, etc, you need to hire a mandatory guide.  This guide leads you to the various sights you wish to see, “protects you” (not sure from what), and tries too teach you a bit of the history of the area, especially as it pertains to the civil war.  The guide assigned to us was named  Rafael.  He was a 40ish year old fellow, that was a guerrilla during the war. 

The first problem with the situation was that we were never really sure on the plan of the day.  Rafael spoke NO English, so all his words were directed to me.  We told him that we wanted to see two things, the Sapo River (where we wanted to camp)and the waterfalls at LLano del Muerte.  So first we were off to the waterfalls.  There was some confusion as to whether or not we wanted to eat at the waterfalls, but we had had sandwiches before meeting up with Rafael, so we did not wish to eat.  I think that Rafael was a bit hungry.  The waterfalls were amazing.  I LOVE waterfalls.  Let me show you some pictures.

We have explored many waterfalls back in Alberta, and I can tell you that we never get tired of sitting near one.  Also, we all love to climb around, them, stand in various pools etc.  Sara especially loves to jump from rock to rock and climb around every nook and cranny.  I thought we were going to give poor Rafael a heart attack.  I think he kept hoping I would stop Sara from jumping around and running off on her own.  When it was obvious that I was not concerned (she is a very sure footed little goat), he thought he should intervene.  Here he is “helping” her onto a large rock, so I could take a picture.  You can tell by Sara’s expression how grateful she was for the help. Far too soon for our liking, Rafael thought it was time to get moving.  During the driving, we were glad  to have a guide.  None of the areas were particularly well signed and the roads were ridiculously rough.  We were guided to a farm where we discovered we were to spend the night.  It had a pool, but you couldn’t have paid me to dip a toe into that pool, it was so dirty.  Then after we had “looked” at the campsite, we had to drive back out of the farm, on the crazy bumpy road, to the Sapo River.  Here we had to pay our guide to view the river.  The river as well was beautiful.  We were told that it is the only unpolluted river in the country.  Of course, unpolluted does not mean the area was free of empty pop bottles, wrappers, etc.  But if you could look past that, it was very nice.  For your viewing pleasure…

Again, we were hurried away from the river faster than we wished to be, and we headed back to the farm.  We were told that supper was included in the “tour’, and we asked that supper be ready about 6pm.  (By the way, it wasn’t really included, we paid $22 for the camping and the supper).  At 5:30, supper was served.  It was quite small, which is the custom in Central America (large lunch, small supper), but we were done eating at 6pm.   This by the way, is the time when it gets dark as well.  So then what do we do?  Now we have 3 and a half hours to kill with a guy we hardly know, because the guide stays with you the whole night.  Normally we would do homework, read, blog, play a game, but all these things seemed rude to do with a “guest”.  Eventually, we settled on the kids and Kevin doing homework and me listening to a very difficult to understand history of the war.  I think I only understood 1/5 of the account.  I had the biggest headache by the end of the night.  One part of the history that I did understand (kind of), was that in this region a large massacre of people occurred.  Men women and children were brought together in one town and were killed, 1,200 of them.  I was told that we were to visit this site the next day.  So ended the first awkward day with Rafael, and we went to bed eagerly anticipating the next day. 

The awkwardness, started right off the bat.  We slept in the camper, but truthfully, I have no idea where our guide slept, maybe in a hammock?  We had our own breakfast fixings in the van, but I have no idea what, when of if, he ate.  Anyway, we left the farm  and headed to El Mozote, which is the site of the massacre.  A monument has been built at the site and a church which was rebuilt on the site of the old church, which was destroyed, had murals painted on it in honor of the victims.  I found this to be a very sad place.  It certainly makes you realize how lucky you are to live in a peaceful country. 

After the tour of the site, we were brought to the “gift shop” where we could buy handmade items from the area.  As well, we were directed towards a box where a donation to the upkeep of the site could be given. 

Finally, we were taken to the Museum of the Revolution.  This housed various photos, arms, uniforms, etc of the conflict.  Rafael led us through this as well.  I would have  been happy to stroll through the museum, reading the various signs at leisure, but he thought it better to explain every photo in great detail.  By this time, our time with Rafael was getting painful.  I was tired of his voice, and tired of him telling us how hard life was and really how  hard life still is.  He spent a HUGE amount of his 24 hours with us talking about money and how little he had.  He asked how much our van cost, how much our camera cost(adding that he wished he had a camera, but he couldn’t afford one, and maybe I should send him one from Canada), how much beer cost, etc, etc, etc.  He told us that this is really the only way he makes money, and that if there are no tourists, that he makes no money.  I just felt like he thought we were a bunch of spoiled rich people, that have no idea what it is like to struggle.  Okay, we haven’t been through a war, but I don’t think we should be made to feel guilty that we are where we are today.  I didn’t dare take out the computer last night for fear that he would comment on the cost of it as well. 

I enjoyed the beauty of this area, but I wish we could have visited it without having to be chaperoned. 

Tonight we are back in the same hotel in San Miguel.  It hasn’t gotten any cooler.  We will be here for 2 nights as we prepare to invade Honduras one more. 

We are in San Miguel today.  The drive was uneventful.  The roads in El Salvador have really been the best that we have encountered since leaving the States.  There are essentially no potholes, the roads actually HAVE shoulders, the roads are well signed and there is not a lot of traffic.  What traffic is present seems to behave itself (at least misbehave less than in other places).  It also helps that it is a tiny country, with only a few roads.  One thing that we have seen in this country, and not elsewhere, is that people use the road shoulder to dry their corn on.  Maybe that is because, there were no shoulders in any of the other countries

This picture shows the corn still on the cob and drying, but later, the kernels are pulled off the cob and the loose corn is dried on the roads as well.  then you can see people turning their corn kernels over with shovels and sweeping it nice and neatly into piles with brooms.

Anyway, we are in San Miguel and are hanging out in a hotel for the night.  I know the beach is nice and all, but man, it is murder on the van and all the things in the van.  There is sand everywhere…every nook and cranny.   Also, on the beach there are two other elements that render a van almost uninhabitable…heat and moisture.  Between wet bathing suits and towels and sweating husbands (and wives, to a lesser extent), we seem to have created a very rich aroma in the confines of our little house.  Phew, does it stink!

So first order of business in the big city (right after find a hotel that will accept dogs), is wash EVERYTHING.  Nothing was spared: sheets, pillow cases, dog beds, clothes, people, etc.  (Hmm, hound is not on this list?).  If only I could shampoo the upholstery as well.

It’s crazy hot in this town, so we are very grateful to be in an air conditioned room.  When we first got to El Salvador, we were given a free guide book from the tourism board, which tells you all you need to know about the country.  One of the “facts” it mentions is that the normal temperature for the country is between 19 and 29 degrees Celsius, year round.  I think someone forgot to tell the weather gods that little tidbit of info, because there was NO WAY it was between 19 and 29 degrees today.  I think it was near 40.     

We spent a lot of time on the internet today, trying  to gather as much info as possible with regards to Honduras.  I am still not sure what we will be doing in the next few days.  I don’t know if the border will be open, if we can get the dog in, etc.  A lot of what we read today told us that if we do get into the country, we should be prepared for a lot of stops made by police officers and to be expected to pay (or not) a lot of bribes.  I’ll say one thing, if we are allowed in the country, we will be crossing it in record time and getting out the other side as quickly as possible!

   Tomorrow we will likely head north towards Perquin and the river near there.  Let you know how we make out as soon as I can get back to civilization.  

Despite the wonderfully cool breeze, Kevin and I did not have a real restful  sleep.  Kevin thinks he is suffering from a flu or something.  I am not sure why I did not sleep well.  Maybe the altitude made it hard to sleep.  In any case, we left the mountain top today and headed for the coast.  On the way down, we were treated to a breathtaking view.  You could see all the way to the ocean.    To avoid San Salvador, we have decided to cross the country along the shoreline.  Hopefully we will not regret our choice.  It is amazing how you can move from one climate to another in a matter of half an hour.

We are parked tonight at the Roots Surf Camp near La Libertad.  Sean jumped into the water about 5 minutes after arriving, with Sara hot on his heels.  It is amazing how much fun they can have in the water.  At the moment, the breeze is blowing and it is quite bearable in the shade.  We will see how it is as the breeze dies down later in the day.  Pray for no bugs!!  If the night goes well, we will be here for one more day, if not, we will strike out again tomorrow. 

Yesterday when we were hiking the volcano, the American couple that came along a little later, said that they were supposed to go to Honduras, but their flights were canceled because the borders were closed.  They are only supposed to be temporarily closed, but I guess it throws a loop in our plans.  We will see in a few days what the situation is.  If the borders are closed, we  will have to investigate the ferry option further.  If the borders remain open, we may make a mad dash across Honduras in record time.  I will keep you posted. 

Just so you all know, we are really enjoying El Salvador.  It is a beautiful country.  A lot of the roadways have trees arching over them.  The ocean is lovely, rugged, lots of waves for surfing and the people have been very friendly.  Glad we came. 

We woke up this morning to find a giant toad in the swimming pool of the campground.  He must have jumped in when it was nice and dry, and then started to second guess himself as the water started to fill the pool.  The kids thought he was fun to watch and eventually, Sean rescued him and put him back on solid ground.

We left the lake today and headed for higher ground at Cerro Verde National Park.  Cerro Verde (green hill) is a dormant volcano.  There are 3 volcanos all lined up in this area.  Cerro Verde is the oldest of the three and is completely treed to the top(cloud forest at the top).  Volcan de Santa Ana is the next youngest and is only partially treed.  The youngest of the three volcanoes is Volcan de Izalco.  It  is not treed at all.   Today, we hiked up Volcan de Izalco.  First we had to hike down Cerro Verde.  I hate hikes that end uphill in both directions.  The hike down Cerro Verde was all a series of stairs.  The stair sizes were awkward, and the stairs were covered with acorns about the size of golf balls, so we had to be very careful of our footing on the way down.  Once we got down to the valley floor, we crossed over to Volcan de Izalco and started back up.  It was quite a ways up and a little sweating happened.   Luckily it was quite cool.  We were hiking with another family of four who were Americans, now Salvadorean.  We were accompanied by a guide, which we had to pay $1.00 each for, and 2 tourist police guards.  The tourist police go along for security sake.  Another American couple started the hike a little late, but they caught up to us at the top.  The Salvadorean family were obviously not big hikers, and they started complaining on the way DOWN Cerro Verde.

Near the top of the volcano, we started passing some steam vents.  There was no lava to see, but it was cool to look into the crater of a not too dormant volcano.  We got to walk all along the rim of the crater.  Looking down over the edge, it was neat to see the lava fields, still jet black with no growth. After half an hour on the top, it was time to go back down the one volcano,through the valley and up the other volcano.  Tiring!!!

When we got back to the van and Mungo (who was not allowed on the hike), we found a bus load of Salvadorean teenagers in the parking  lot.  They started practicing their English with us, and it was quite funny.  All the words they knew started falling out.  They got a real kick out of the dog and they all wanted to touch him, but not really.  Just looking at him from a foot or two away was fine, and any sharp movement on Mungo’s part brought up a squeal from all the teenage girls, which Mungo thought was great!  Too funny. 

Tonight we are camping in the parking lot of the Park.  The gates are closed and we are secure within the gates for the night.  Unfortunately, they turned the water off to the bathrooms.  All around us are clouds, and we just float along in a mist.  Very cool.   

Ah, day 2 on this beautiful lake.  We all slept in a little today and then we had pancakes for breakfast, but as soon as all that was over, Sean was off to the lake.    In total, I think that Sean spent about 6 hours on the lake.  He played in the kayaks, he snorkeled, he swam, he played with clams.  Quite the water boy. 

Sara also spent quite long time in the water, but not nearly as much as the boy.  Kevin and I went for a paddle this morning.  There are some beautiful lakefront properties.  Most have their own docks, speed boats, sea-doos and decks.  There certainly seems to be a bit of money around this lake.

It is nice to see the kids enjoy themselves so much.  Here are a few photos to show you their fun.