Monday, April 26, 2010

The Road to El Salvador

We left San Marcos around 5am again and headed on with high hopes of reaching El Salvador by the end of the day. We got directions several times and different points and everyone told us to follow this particular road straight and it would take us to the road we were looking for. Let me tell you, this road went anywhere but straight. It would come to dead ends, splits in the road, through towns, everywhere! Somehow we managed to stay the right direction and were making good time.

In the mountains we passed stands on the road that were selling very cool purses and bags and stopped to buy something. I got a bag and got Liliana a miniature version. It was so cute. The guy had 2 children with him and we gave them some treats we had with us for Liliana. it felt very good to share with these people. The man spoke to his wife in their native Indian tongue. She didn´t even speak Spanish, which I thought was awesome. That was the best part about Guatemala. Theare very in touch with their heritage and customs. A lot of women still wear the traditional dress and they all wear their babies on their backs or in make shift slings! It was so awesome. I know my mommy friends will appreciate this.

That is something El Salvador is lacking. It is actually against the law here to wear any of the old traditional clothing or speak the native Indian tongue. The wars here really did a number on the country and the old customs have been banished away. It´s actually very sad. Eduardo´s Grandma is 93 years old and is one of the only ones left that still follows the old ways.

Back to the road, we did take a wrong way at one point but found our way back and were headed to the border. Once again we experienced a horrific border crossing and to get out of Guatemala and into El Salvador took 3 hours! It was deadly hot and it was 5pm by this point. We finally got through and it was only 45 more minutes to Eduardo´s house!

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