Ecuador Eve...

Well, here it is, the ass end of our Central American travels! Tomorrow, at 1025 in the morning, we take off from San Jose, Costa Rica, and should be landing in Quito, Ecuador by around 130...Pretty exciting, huh...

Let´s recap.

The show on Sunday was actualy pretty cool, it made me really happy to see that this music connects with people across linguistic barriers, like I know almost all music does.

It also made me feel like an old friggin´geezer!

Yesterday we walked around San Jose. It´s a pretty cool city, and MUCH more developed than ANYWHERE we´ve been so far.

Today we hit up a few museums, though the highlight of our excursion was by far the Children´s Museum. There were so many amazing, Hands-on exhibits, that, were I a mere 8 years old, I could have spent the whole day there and not have a care in the world. Exhibits included an AIRPLANE and a HELICOPTER. Jealousy from my internal 8year old rings loud...

Anyway, the Central American experience has been very positive. I definately feel more confident in my Spanish skills (but could always use more), and feel like I will do alright in Ecuador which has me really excited.

Anyway, there are lots of highlights and I will discuss them now...

Suchitoto, El Salvador- While looking for a hostel that may or may not still exist, we were approached by the matriarch of a new one. She gave us a good rate and cooked us some really excellent food. We also found bagels here, and hung out in a bar owned by a former FMLN guerila.

On a similar note is Perquin, the former FMLN headquarters, where we received a tour from a former guerilla, of the revolutionary museum.

Xela, Guatemala- The home stay made this a highlight, not to mention that the city as a whole radiates a really cool, authentic vibe.

Snorkeling in Bocas Del Toro, Panama- I snorkeled on a coral reef. That´s all I need to say. Add to that, running into two people that I had some degree of connection to- had a class with one of them, and shared a hometown with the other. Craziness.

Volcano boarding in Leon- I slid down a volcano. I SLID DOWN A VOLCANO. And hurt myself in the process...

Now lets talk about the food....

El Salvador had by far the best food all around. First of all, PUPUSA is the word. Greasy, yes, but cheesey and oh so delicious...get one with beans, add some hot sauce, and you just spent less than $.35 on food that will fill you for at least a few hours.

Also, the owner of our hostel in Suchitoto made quite possibly the most fantastic pasta sauce in the world. Simple, consisting solely of tomato and garlic, yet AMAZING.

Also springs to mind is the Torta de Chaco, which Rodrigo treated us to when we first arrived in San Jose...simply put, one of the best sandwiches I´ve eaten.

Gallo Pinto- let´s talk about this staple food throughout Central America...basically, it´s just rice and beans in some sort of mix, arrangement, or weird ass mold. Simple, but when you get it fresh and well seasoned, and maybe with a bit of salsa picante, delicious is the only word that comes to mind.

And, while I don´t really consider Bocas Del Toro part of the real Central American experience, we had some really tasty Carribbean style food, from Lili´s veggie special and veggie plate (with garlic bread) doused in their Killin´me Man! pepper sauce, to the vegetarian carribbean cuisine whipped up by some crazy rasta, Oh man, was it delicious.

And we never got sick, knock on wood. Also, America needs to do something about its juice problem. They make it much better here. They put fresh fruit, some water and maybe some sugar into a blender and make it into one fresh fruit licuado. And it´s cheaper than soda almost 100% of the time. And it´s better for you, none of those preservatives. Tamarindo and Pineapple, I think make the best licuados....

Anyway, that´s the roundup of Central America. WHen I can, I´ll begin to keep tabs on South America. Until then, I have to slog my way through airport hell tomorrow...