Not the Best of Days/Everything Eventually Okay

Friday, Apr. 22, 2011 (Good Friday)--Santa Ana to San Salvador 

I knew Easter would be a problem, but I had no idea it would be so bad already today.  Knowing that it was only 1 1/4 hours by bus to San Salvador, I was rather slow at getting up, reading online newspapers, eating breakfast at the hotel, and getting off.  I walked out around 9:00 headed for the bus station.  Everything was rather quiet.  As I neared the station which is beside a large market, there was very little activity in market stalls and I could see no bus activity.  Sure enough, the terminal was dead.  I walked ahead in a rush to meet a man carrying a small bag.  He said for me to follow him indicating that due to the holiday the buses travel through town on the major streets rather than turning into the station.

When we got to the stop where he said we should wait, there were two others there.  Time passed, and more people came.  More time passed.  Over the next hour and a half, the crowd grew, but no buses for San Salvador came by.  On the opposite side of the street, 3 buses eventually passed going from San Salvador to Ahuachapan.  It soon became obvious that the buses for our direction were taking a different route.  By that time, I was talking to two men who both spoke English and agreed with me.  The man who brought me to the stop had left after an hour on a pickup for his destination.  Just as we were about to give up and search for the route the buses were following, a mini-bus bound for San Salvador pulled up, and all 13 of us at the stop got on it.  At the next intersection, another 10 or so people got on.  By the time we reached the edge of town, we were packed like sardines in it.  I had found a small place behind a seat and before the back door where I could rest my bag on a wheel cavity.  I had my left foot on the floor and my right on on the curved floor over the wheel.  All my weight was on the left foot which I could not move at all because of two other feet being against it.  A large woman was squeezed against my side, and a person standing in the back door exit was against my back.

I was thinking how horrible the trip was going to be having to stand like that for 1 1/4 hours when we were pulled over by the police.  We stood there for probably 10 minutes in misery including heat as the police had the driver open  different compartments.  Then they wrote him a ticket for some reason.  Eventually, however, we were on our way again.  But that just brought us to more people who needed to be picked up and crammed into the bus!

In addition to all of this, I had been told that I should get off the bus on the edge of town and take another bus (Number 44) to get to where I needed to go.  My two friends from the bus stop had already gotten off before then, so when the conductor indicated the stop to me, I got off and found myself standing along a major roadway out in the country on the edge of town wondering if there would even be a #44 bus today.  When a 101 B bus came by and stopped, I got on it thinking that the closer I got into town, the better it would be; I could at least walk if I got close enough.  Well, it stopped a couple of miles ahead and indicated I should wait there for a #44 bus.  Fortunately, all mini-buses were stopping at that spot without having to be flagged down.  At the previous place, they were whizzing by and it was sometimes impossible to see the number before they were already headed away.  While waiting for a #44, I heard a man saying "Metro" for a #48 mini-bus.  I asked if it went to Metrocentro, the big shopping center just a block from where I had made a hotel reservation, and he indicated yes.  I climbed on board, followed our route on my map, and got off at Metrocentro.

I walked north to the light and crossed the street to go to the Hotel Grecia Real where I had reserved a room for 3 nights at $39 per night.  When I walked into the hotel, I could see the nice pool and bright garden around it.  But when they took me to the room, it was on a dark hallway without a window other than one to the hallway, and even that one had opaque glass panels meaning that they had to stay closed while the air conditioning was running.  They took me to another room that had a similar window facing outside.  With the opaque glass, it was still going to feel like a jail cell, and they wanted $45 for it.  I told them I couldn't stay there and would look elsewhere.  It was just another problem in a day of problems.  In fact, when I left there to search elsewhere, there were clouds in the air and light sprinkles; rain before I found a room would really compound the situation.

I walked down the street to a private home that rented rooms, but they were not renting out during Easter.  I walked down the block and around the corner to a place that is supposedly popular with Peace Corps Volunteers.  To me it just looked like a cheap, dumpy hostel, and the woman wanted $30 for a room!  I started walking toward another place that sounded nice in my guidebook, and a man in an SUV pulled up and asked me where I was going.  He said he would give me a ride.  He seemed sincere, and he was my age, so I climbed in.  He said he knew of a doctor who rents rooms and asked if I would like to see if they had a room available.  It was back near the Grecia.  As before, they were not taking guests during Easter.  He then drove me to the place I had chosen in the guidebook, and I finally hit pay dirt!!  It is Hotel San Jose Hostal.  It is clean and bright; includes breakfast, cable TV, and wifi; and my room has glass doors going out to a small balcony. At $32, it is FAR better than the Peace Corps place and much better (other than the lack of a pool) than the Grecia.  Plus, the owners' young son Ernesto speaks perfect English.  It was 5 hours after I had left my hotel in Santa Ana for the 1 1/4 hour trip to San Salvador.

After some time on the computer in my room and washing pants and socks in my bathroom, I dressed and went exploring for a place to eat.  Almost everything was closed.  I found two burger places (one local and one Burger King), a Subway shop, and a local pizza place.  I decided to have pizza.  It wasn't very good, but it served as dinner.

The rest of the evening, I read, I watched TV (CNN and an old Bette Midler concert), and spent a bit more time on the computer. Tomorrow, I'm hoping the city will be half-way active so I can go to the center of town and see some of the buildings.  My guess is that the museums are completely closed until after Easter, so I won't even try to go to that part of town.