Time Moves Slow Here

I finally found some high speed computers here in Juayua, so this cybercafe is the most popular in town with the kids who come here to play Grand Theft Auto & other games. (These boys are in their school uniforms--are they skipping school to sit in front of a monitor?) Everything else around here is purr-ity darn slow, though . . .but I´m starting to get into the pace of things & enjoy the overall scene.

Salvadorans are generally very friendly & helpful people--even for a gringo like me. I´m still looking for a place to get "stuck." While the Ruta de las Flores ain´t a bad place to be, I´m not feeling really like sticking--after all, my ostensible mission is to get to Merida, Venezuela. But I found someone to do my laundry, and when that happens I have to take advantage of it ´cause I´m traveling way light.

We also have some rain today, so I´m not inclined to hoof it around looking for my bus connections to the coast (in other words I had a late start! See? Time moves pretty slow here) .
Again, how doable is this Merida mission anyway?

To have any realistic chance of pulling this off, I need to be in Panama City by June 15 at the latest. The quickest way to get there overland is by Tica bus from San Salvador via Managua & San Jose, Costa Rica--a three day trip. But of course, I want to mosey a bit, too, with stops on the Pacific coast (if not here then in Nicaragua) and then I want to revisit my student´s uncle Marco in San Jose & maybe go to Tortuguero on the Carribean side. How long will this take? I have exactly six weeks to be back in Guatemala City for my flight home.

Daytripping on the Ruta de Las Flores (Day 9)

Considering the fact that this part of western El Salvador is a major coffee producing region, it sure is difficult to find a good cup of coffee! Sure, I´m a latte snob but this is getting ridiculous. Today, however, I scored a home run with the discovery of The House of Coffee, an upscale joint in the village of Ataco which has the first espresso machine I´ve encountered since Guatemala City.

Follow the winding Ruta de Las Flores east out of hot, stifling Ahuachapan for just a few miles and you are transported into a totally different climate of misty, fog covered mountain greenery dotted with several large finca--coffee plantations--and just two or three very easy-going market villages. Ataco is one of them.

Further along the route you arrive in Apaneca & Juayua, where I´ve snagged a room for the night. Up here it´s cool enough not to require AC & it looks as if it might even rain again. We hope not, however, as El Salvador also suffered its share of mudsliding this past weekend--the evidence of which is apparent all along the roadside where workers are still busy cleaning the debris three days later. MSNBC says El Salvador reported 10 killed in the storm.

My cash situation has mysteriously resolved itself: yesterday I was able to draw enough dollars to last me for the week.

Tomorrow: to Sonsonate & then Playa Mizata/El Zonte for some Pacific beachside doings. . .