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1/2/10 - day 54.
up at half 9, in no hurry to leave, went for food in a cafe in the main square which was dead compared to yesterday. left the hostel about 11am and got the bus to san salvador. when i got there i was gonna taxi it to the other bus terminal in the city that i needed to be at but they wanted 4 bucks for it when the city buses only cpst 20 cents. since it was daylight (12.30 in the afternoon) although i had all my stuff with me i thought it would be safe enough.
a guy showed me which bus to get and where to get it from. he even walked me over there and said to me to be careful. id heard all this before though about dangers in cities etc so knew the drill. after a few minutes of being on the bus a guy came at sat infront of me and asked me for my phone and wallet. i didnt know what to do so i played dumb and pretended not to understand even thought it would have been pretty hard to misinterpret what he wanted!! after a few minutes of this, i said to him no several times, hoping he wasnt gonna attempt to use any more persuasive techniques. fortunately he didnt and got off the bus not long after. travelling solo, basically, if i dont have my wallet im screwed so i was gonna do everything to hang onto it. admittedly i was a tad scared and happy to get the hell out of san salvador! made me a bit paranoid for the rest of the day everytime i saw someone looking at me!
normality was restored when i reached the other bus terminal though, when a guy selling razors on the bus started talking to me told me where to get off the bus. an hour and a half later i arrived in a sweltering santa ana, along with 3 irish girls who were on the bus in front of me. we shared a taxi as we were all going to the same hostel. unfortantely it was full so for no extra cost, we were driven to another hostel. this didnt have enough space either so the guy there (carlos) said he would call him mate and see if i could crash there for the night. there was a hotel just around the corner though and although a couple bucks more expensive, it was close and near the centre of the city. plus i was desperate for a pee and a shower and just wanted to get somewhere.
one of the first things i noticed about my room was that there was a solitary poster on the wall demonstrating the correct way to practice safe sex. draw your own conclusions about the sort of clientele that might frequent this abode. anyway, i thought it'll have to do for tonight and i took a freezing cold shower and then went to the central park where there were dozens of street vendors (had beef tacos). santa ana looked like a typical city (el salvador's 2nd biggest) with loads of shops, big smelly chaotic market, dirty streets, etc and i was just using it as a base to visit other things close by.
went online for a while, and when id finished it was dark. so i made the nervy walk back to my hotel as fast as i could! bed about 9pm.
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