Thursday, March 13, 2014

El Salvador, we meet again

Heading into the airport in Seattle I had the same daunting feeling in the pit of my stomach. No matter how many times I travel alone and how many foreign countries I conquer the same nervous feeling gets me every time. I so easily press the purchase button when looking for the flight, sure why not go to El Salvador and Nicaragua for 3 weeks by myself! I click buy and don't think much about it until the day I leave. That day as I head towards the airport my mind is loud with, "Danielle, you are crazy!", and "why didn't you just ask someone to go with you". Quieting my thoughts, I kiss my girlfriend goodbye and thus there was no turning back.

Upon arrival in San Salvador the sun had already set and all the busses/shuttles had long since stopped so I had to take a taxi. Unfortunately this means the difference between $2.50 and $25. Since San Salvador is about 50 km away from the airport, the taxi should be somewhere between $20-30 and on the higher side since it was dark. Immediately as I stepped out of the airport the familiar overwhelming men shouted "taxi, taxi" and pulled me towards their direction. The man who pulled me his way was asking $28 and when I countered with $25 he simply said "ok" and whistled over his friend. I got in the pick up truck aka taxi and we started off. When I told the driver the other man agreed on $25 for the trip he said some choice words and sped off. I think because he only had me as a passenger and we had established a lower price he wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible! Weaving in and out past every car, truck, and bicycle, we surely broke a record. The whole way I gripped tightly onto my "oh shit bar" but was just as distracted by the scenery that I was able to not care too much.

The hostel I booked before coming, thanks to the request of my girlfriend to not arrive with the first night stay unplanned (thank you baby), is called Hostel Cumbres del Volcan. For 10$ a night I stayed in a dorm room with 4 others, with a bathroom the size of a locker room. I really couldn't ask for anything better. The water was hot, the staff was friendly and helpful and there was a nice large community room, kitchen to use as we like, and front porch. That night, since I arrived at my hostel around 7:30 pm, it was too late and too dark to go out anywhere so I showered, relaxed and read my book.
My only complaint of my experience there was that I was stuck in a dorm with a man who snored so loud it woke the whole room up several times throughout the middle of the night. He was one of those people who will all the sudden not be able to breathe so they choke and then snore uncontrollably for about 5 minutes, then stop for just long enough to think you are safe to sleep, and then they can't breathe and choke and start the whole process over again. I don't wish this experience upon anyone! The whole night, all I could think about were the bags of ear plugs I have in the drawer next to my bed in Seattle and kick myself for not bringing any!

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