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This is El Salvador!! Up early and ready for my first look at Santa Ana and El Salvadorian culture. I started off with some very famous Salvadorian coffee and then did a little research on things I can do around Santa Ana. Around mid morning a friend of Rene's came over and offered to drop me off in the downtown so that I could have a look around. The friend of Rene's dropped me off in the central plaza which was a buzz of life with food vendors, retires and kids running left, right and centre. I took some nice photos of the Santa Ana cathedral and the town hall before stopping off at the tourist info centre. The lady at the tourist office unfortunately couldn't speak any English but we did our best to communicate and she gave me a map and some directions of the city. It is quite obvious they don't get many tourists here and every where I went people were staring, pointing and looking in disbelief - this is certainly a strange feeling but one that makes me feel special and lucky in a weird type of way. It wasn't long before I discovered the market and wow what an awsome market it was: a huge building with dark alleys, bustling with people and goods and all the streets around crmed with vendors and various food stalls. I met some lovely ladies who wanted to take photos with me which is always fun and I even got a couple for myself. Some weird things from the market included boiled bananas, hand made cigars, horchata, pork and salad snacks, strange fruits and 100s of sweets. The market really was a delight and I enjoyed just wandering around observing all the going ons. One section was full of women making corn tortillas and I got to see the whole process start to finish - the women were cracking jokes and asking me to marry them and take them away with me. I brought some strange fruits, avocados, tortillas and anything else a little unique I could find. As I was leaving the market this lovely old lady and her 2 daughters stopped me and showed me what they were selling: chocolates, sweets, drinks and dried fruits - the old lady then offered me this chocolate stuff and said it was a welcome gift to her country and she would not except and money for it. I almost cried - I had forgotten this kindness that is always so prevelant in the poorest of people and the places less frequented. The kind act struck a cord and I remembered why I am out here; doing what some may call random wandering. On the way back to meet Rene I came across a dwarf and get friend about to buy coconut water and coconut fat from an old man and his cart - they wanted to talk in Spanish so I tried very hard and apologized for my bad Spanish. I didn't want a coconut but I Ofcourse brought one because the situation called for it. I am noticing I am becoming less worried about money and looking at things in life a little different - maybe because of my recent health issues or maybe because money really isn't that important. At 12:30pm I met Rene and we headed back to the market to buy some fruits before heading back to the house for lunch. I then had a really relaxing afternoon; washing some clothes, doing yoga and walking around the neighborhood. I finally feel like I can breathe a bit here and switch off a little - the last month has been hectic and I have spent most of the time stressed and unhappy when really I should be over the moon at all the amazing places and people coming into my life. So El Salvador will be the break, recharge and reconnecting part of my Central America trip and the huge reminder how wonderful couchsurfing is.
OBSERVATIONS:
- Santa Ana Explore
- Random Act of Kindness: old lady gifts me a typical chocolate drink from El Salvador
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