So we decided to make the most of the weekend. Having Celenia visiting automatically livened things up. Yesterday we went to see the military history museum, which matter-of-factly and somewhat proudly recounts the more violent aspects of El Salvador's history. The one thing I really did like, though, was a huge outdoor 3D relief map of El Salvador. The whole thing is about the size of a basketball court, with vertical scale exaggerated by a factor of five to make the topography really jump out at you. It's loaded with details, showing towns, roads, lakes, rivers, lava flows, etc. Cool! Every county and state in the U.S. should have something like this in a public space.
The 3-D map
Our friend Mirna came and met us as we were winding up our visit to the museum. She drove us out to the town of Olocuilta, reputedly the best place in El Salvador to eat pupusas. Then we went to the zoo, which has a nice animal collection and pretty grounds, but like most zoos I've seen in Latin America, does a pretty atrocious job of caring for the animals and keeps them in too-small enclosures. The animals looked even more depressed and neurotic than they do in U.S. zoos. Still, the place obviously makes many people, especially children, very happy and may help raise consciousness about biodiversity.
In the evening Basilia, Celenia and I went to have dinner at Kyle and Francisco's. Eduardo and Claudia gave us a ride there, and Kirian and René were there too, as well as Francisco's brother Nelson (easily the most common name among men I've met in this country!) and his wife. We had a great time sitting around telling stories, mostly about travel and dealing with big corporations. Later we went dancing at Café Don Pedro in Santa Tecla with René and Kirian. They are such a fun couple. Finally our first night club experience in San Salvador. It was OK, kind of a seedy place with hookers and a couple of drunken fights, but it didn't seem too dangerous. We had fun.
Today Basi and Celenia and I took a bus downtown (now that we've broken the ice, we're suddenly going down there at the drop of a hat) from where we caught another bus out to Panchimalco. This is a quiet town with lots of indigenous people that's only 17 km from downtown San Salvador, but feels much farther away. We just wandered around, watched a wedding procession leave the church and meander through town. Our most interesting find was a cultural center that looks small and nondescript from outside, but turns out to have beautifully landscaped grounds wandering over a hillside with sculptures all over and quiet little nooks where local young folks were working on paintings and drawings. A gallery at the front of the building offered local works for sale, some of them quite nice.
When we got back to downtown San Salvador, we went to see Monseñor Romero's tomb beneath the metropolitan cathedral. The catacomb is a quiet, calm space just a few steps below the hustle of the city center. There were only a few people there. The tomb itself is a beautiful sculpture by an Italian artist. A good place for Salvadorans (and foreigners) to contemplate what this country has endured and gather strength to make a better future.
We're pooped but happy after an active weekend.
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