Speaking to Former Texas Prisoner/"Dancing" with Marilyn

Tuesday, Apr. 19, 2011--Juayua to Chalchuapa

There was no problem making my way today. It took two buses. The first left just one block from my hotel and took me to Santa Ana. There, I had to ask for where to catch the next bus, and I was directed around the corner. People are very helpful here in El Salvador.

When I arrived in Chalchuapa, I had not map except one in my head which I had seen on the Internet. I knew the street for the one hotel in town was supposed to be two blocks west of the bus station. But I couldn't tell which direction was west. Then I discovered that the bus had apparently stopped somewhere else. I asked some ladies, and they told me to go 3 blocks up and turn right. As I walked away, a man asked, "Did you understand?" He spoke English and knew the place. So this person also being very nice, I was personally walked to the hotel about 8 blocks away.

I'm at the Hostal Las Flores, although there is nothing about it that seems like a hostel. It is a hotel with a large garden courtyard. I have a large room with air conditioning (which is needed here), TV, wifi, etc. Unfortunately, however, the wifi doesn't reach well to my room, so I am sitting at a table in the garden writing this.

Chalchuapa is not a great tourist town. It is a more of a typical small Salvadoran town. That's why there is only this one hotel I could find in the city. It does have some ruins on the edge of town, so I decided to see them. Unfortunately, the Mayan ruins called Tazumal are not much to see. That's because in trying to "protect" them, they have used concrete on the outside of the stone walls. Instead of seeing stone pyramids, one sees concrete pyramids. I would not recommend that anyone come out of the way to see them.

Near the entrance of the ruins are several restaurants called yuqaterias (pronounced you-kah-tuh-ree-aahs). I stopped at one for lunch. The lady put a banana leaf on a plate, spooned a large helping of mashed yucca on it. Shredded cooked pork, including the crispy skin, and put on top of the yucca. Then added a picante sauce and some marinated cabbage on the side. Along with it, I had an ensalada drink--fruit-flavored water with various chopped up fruit floating inside. The drink was served with both a straw (for drinking) and a fork-spoon (for eating the fruit. It was a very good lunch for only $1.30.

Walking back from the ruins, I headed to the plaza downtown to see what was happening there. I passed the local cathedral where they were busy constructing a special entryway out of live plants for Easter celebrations. In the plaza, however, littler was happening. I had a seat and just relaxed. Soon, a man approached selling something. When I said I wasn't interested, he asked if I was American. Then he sat and started talking to me for a long time. He was dressed nicely in green cargo pants, sneakers, and a nice shirt. He was thin, attractive, had nice teeth, and had attractive gray hair. It was an interesting conversation. He said he is 56 and has lived and worked in the U.S. He was married to an Anglo woman there and they had four children. He said his father-in-law never liked him, however, and hoped that he and his wife would eventually separate so she could find another man. According to him, his father-in-law, who he said was the chief of police, set him up to get rid of him. He said a young boy about 16 approached him in a bar and asked him to buy him a beer. The man said he wouldn't buy him a beer but he would take him next door and buy him a cola. He said when they went outside, just before entering the store, the boy pulled down his pants and rushed in saying the man was trying to sodomize him. He was arrested, tried, found guilty, and sent to prison at La Tuna in Texas for 6 months before being sent back to El Salvador. What I found to be amazing is that this man has a positive attitude. He said being in prison was good for him because he got to take classes, to improve his English, etc. He likes Americans and thinks they are nice people. He has had no contact with his wife or children, and he says he understands she has divorced him and is living with another man now.

An interesting side story is that both the man who walked me to my hotel and the man who talked to me in the park are evangelical Christians. Both talked about God and about how important religion is in life. The one in the park quoted specific scriptures about topics he was discussing and had a Bible in his shirt pocket that was well worn from reading and was folded back to the page where he had read last. I've been quite surprised at how strong the evangelical churches are here in Central America.

I started to go out in the evening, and the lady who owns the hotel came out to speak with me. She showed me their party room. And she said the Easter processional would be coming by soon. To get ready, she wanted to move her statues out to the front, so I helped her. I don't see how they related to Easter. These were three life-size plaster sculptures--two of pirates, including a lady showing much of her bosom, and one of Marilyn Monroe with her skirt being blown upward. We rolled these to the steps, then we carried them down. As I rolled Marilyn, the lady said it looked as if we were dancing. Sure enough, however, when the processional came by, people following it stopped to take photos with the statues.

Downtown, I saw the processional again. Many people were out. Families have come home from the cities to spend Easter week. I stopped at a pupusaria and ate two of the best I have had--thick with lots of filling--accompanied with a fresa de pina--drink made with pineapple juice and water. Then I stopped at an ice cream place and had frozen tropical fruit on a stick, coated in chocolate, and rolled in peanuts. UMMMM!

Back at the hotel, I sat outside with the owner and a young man who speaks English and works here as a guide and assistant when having parties. I told them about the problems with their webpage and e-mail address. They asked me to show them, so I did. They said they wondered why they didn't hear from more people wanting to stay here. I uploaded information about the place on WikiTravel so people could find them there. They were very thankful.