A New Life in El Salvador

Visits to Antigua

2012-01-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

I know that I have posted this comment before but if you tell a Salvadoran that you are visiting the country and ask what you should go see, they will tell you Antigua. The funny thing about that is, Antigua is in neighbouring Guatemala.

Me and the famous author!

But Antigua is amazing and only 5 hours from San Salvador. The drive along the coast is nice and I heard the Hachadura bridge is open after the crazy rain storm hit and took it out. Last time I drover over that bridge, I recall the stream below it was a good 40 feet below ... well during the storm, the water was going over the bridge. That route is quite scenic and it avoids Guatemala City and the traffic there.

The high plains drifter.

Antigua has great little inns, great restaurants and bars. It is great having a friend of Michael there since he is an insider and local now and knows all the best places and the good gossip. And if you don't have a friend like Michael living there, you can buy his insider's guide book at https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=our+man+antigua for only $4.99. It downloads onto any E-reader (I put it on my iPad) and it will give you a lot of good information for your visit. Plus he is a very witty writer.

My favourite place is the Hotel Aurora - very central, just a few blocks from parque central, some lovely rooms, beautiful flowers in the courtyard, decent breakfast and one of the cheapest places in town. We like to eat at the Welton and Hector's and drink wherever there is a lot of noise and where Michael and I can sneak in a good cigar.

And come to think of it, if you are visiting the area and are going to download Michael's local insider's guide, you should download Paige Penland's excellent guidebook on El Salvador that became available recently on Kobo at http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Explorers-Guide-El-Salvador-Great/book-X5HCdmjsekOnQieRy_hApg/page1.html.

HAV and SAL again

2012-01-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hanging out at a company end of year party in the country

I know that this is supposed to be about a blog about El Salvador but I was just in Havana and wanted to talk about the trip and some changes going on over there.

American Airlines plane leaving Cuba

At the airport, I saw an American Airlines plane taking off ... coincidence that they filed for bankruptcy protection and they are back in Cuba? Or a communist plot?

There has been a lot of talk about the new rights to purchase cars and homes. Of course it is just talk until someone actually buys a car or a house. I have friends looking to do both but, so far, I haven’t heard of anyone closing a deal.

Great art in Cuba: Jurgen Rodriguez - 'Sweet girl' 0.85cm x 1.00cm. acrilico/lienzo

Another big change has been the closures of the highschools and technical schools in the country. There were dozens and maybe hundreds of these spread out through the country. I asked a

Cuban friend what the reasoning was for their opening ... and he quoted Karl Marx and something about working the fields creates good socialists! Wowzer, what a reason. So the schools are closed (except for one or two), the kids get to stay in the cities with their families, and the government saves money on maintenance, food and transportation. Good one Raul!

Hey, you can buy cold Crystal in bottles at the liquor store at the side of the Melia Cohiba but good luck trying to buy ice anywhere! We checked 5 places in Vedado and no one had any to spare, even when we offered money.

Looking down the hallway at the new Chansonnier

Restaurants continue to be a new adventure in Havana.

Cool bar at Chansonnier.

Didn’t make it to Atelier this time but went to Hector’s revamped Chansonnier and saw the dude and his partner, the designer, Elizabeth? Beautiful place and nice drinks although they have a self imposed no smoking rule in the bar – there is one front room where you can smoke as well as the terrace.

Ruben singing his heart out at La Terraza - Prado esq a Virtudes 07 862-3626

Also ate at la Terraza at the top of Centro Cultural Astoriana again. Another great meal and Ruben was there playing the guitar. Unusually, there was a group of about 14American kids at the next table and they were so frickin loud! The Cubans, French, Spaniards and even the Italians eating there were disturbed by the level of noise. They have an art gallery now on the third floor and the curator, Hilda Barrio, has an exhibition called “Colorfull” with some amazing pieces. They are asking about a grand for each large piece which is a bit high for a young artist in Cuba but I hope to pick up some paintings the next time I am there.

Dayana, Fatima, Delia and a great photo bomb from Hector.

Also made it to Tien Tan and El Aljibe and both were quite good. Nice to see that some places have maintained their standards as other places (like El Palenque) have greatly diminished in terms of service and food quality – they just don’t seem to care anymore.

Ana Rosa and Grupo Ecos doing a tablada at the party.

Had a Christmas party and served tacos again. The usual suspects showed up and it was nice to see some old faces going back a decade or so dropping by. Grupo Ecos did a few flamenco numbers and that was nice but, as a sign of us getting old, I think the party folded at around 1:00 am!

Our typical dinner of tacos - a spicy corn and jalapeno topping and fresh pico de gallo.

On the flight back, Fatima took the direct 2 hour flight from HAV to SAL. I have turned into a frequent flier mile junkie and to make sure that I would hit elite gold, I booked my flight SAL SJO HAV LIM BOG SAL. So instead of 2 hours, my flight was 17! I did get upgraded all the way and the first few legs were okay. Flight left an hour late and had a few drinks on the way to Peru and a nap. Had to deplane onto a bus to get a ride to the terminal (even though there were a bunch of empty gates) but still, got to be outside in Peru for a few minutes! Cool and dry.

Pisco Sour at the Lima airport.

Then went to a nice bar right beside my gate in Lima and stupidly asked the barman if I could have a Pisco Sour. He looked at me like I was a “tired Asian-Canadian tourist hungover and very sleepy on a 30 minute stopover” idiot and said yes. Delicious and deliciously over-priced at $9 but he liked the tip I left.

Back onto the plane for a shorter flight to Bogota. 136 people turned left and I turned right into the departure lounge – no one telling me which way to go at 1:00 am but I figured I was one of few stopping over. Turns out, in the entire airport, there were only 6 of us. 3 cops, 8 cleaners and about 5 people staffing and stocking the kiosks (including a Dunkin Donuts). The next 3 ½ hours before the lounge opened up was a bit challenging. Quite cool so I was lucky to have a warm sweater. A dozen departure gate lounges, maybe a few thousand seats but not a single one that didn’t have big steel arms to prevent you from lying down. One smart person parked themselves behind a bank of chairs in a distant lounge and fell asleep on the floor. When the lounge finally opened – hot coffee, juice, fresh fruit, little sandwiches and big soft couches!

Went into the washroom and a sign in Spanish said, please do not flush anything into the toilets but I figured that no way do they mean the toilet paper. I mean this is an international airport! I was terribly wrong.

Jurgen Rodriguez - How tall you are? 1.85m x 2.20m. acrilico/lienzo

Back on the plane, short fight to San Salvador, quiet airport and Fatima was back, 12 hours after her arrival, to pick me up. Had a few cigars with me from Cuba as well as a pile of books that I was muling up to Toronto for Monica so thought that I would have to open my bags but the guy, after asking if I had anything to declare, told me to go and told me not to push the button (which randomly flashes green or red which means you have to open your bags for inspection). Don’t know what that was about since everyone is supposed to push it and it is supposed to be random so he wasn’t trying to ding the guy behind me.

Okay, so after this ridiculous flight, how many points did I get? Total miles earned with bonuses was 18,676 which ain’t bad since a ticket from HAV to SAL return is as low as 14,000. So one night of discomfort and a free ticket for a Cuban friend to visit me in El Salvador. Only 7,763 qualifying miles for the elite class target so don’t think I’ll be hitting the 70,000 diamond level very easily.

Corn pie with two cups of parmesan cheese!

Back in San Salvador and Christmas is just a few days away. I have been away for the past two Christmases so it was nice to cook for the whole family. Made a brined roast turkey with a sausage, onion, leek, bacon, mushroom and zucchini sage stuffing, corn pie with two cups of parmeian cheese, maple glazed carrots, roast vegetables, fluffy mashed potatoes, two types of cranberry sauce, and about a gallon of pan gravy with some extra chicken stock/broth that I made. Also a brined, rubbed, roasted and wine/coke braised pork shoulder with cider vinegar cole slaw and a Jack Daniels bbq sauce.

Snow in San Salvador!

Then the usual dancing and fireworks. I smoked a couple of cigars and enjoyed all the noise! New years we changed the menu with Fatima making some of her amazing lasagne and a cousin made a delicious rolled and stuffed beef tendloin that he had marinated in beer for a few days to tenderize. Delicious. Then a nephew gave us a real treat with the fireworks. The guy is quite the pyro and has had a few accidents with bottle rockets and firecrackers since he has no fear and even less after several drinks. H e was lighting fairly large firecrackers and letting the fuse burn down before tossing them in the air. They would explode in the night sky and the shredded paper would waft down like … snow! It was actually quite beautiful and made me think of Canada.

So after a week in Cuba and a week in El Salvador, the differences became a lot more crystallized for me. They are almost the complete opposite of each other. Cuba is full of charm and culture with great friendly restaurants and bars and lots of musicians and everyone is in your face. You can walk anywhere safely, day or night, but the public transportation sucks as does having or renting a car or finding a taxi. It may take years to buy a car, cell service is extremely expensive, and internet is difficult to obtain and very expensive for crappy dial up service. You can’t buy shit and there are only a few stores and everything is a pain in the ass. Everything is falling apart but the city is still gorgeous with beautifully designed buildings and charming and very unique neighbourhoods.

A typical highschool girl in Havana - Jurgen Rodriguez: Natacha la Especilista. Acrilico-Lienzo. 150x125cm. 2010 1000cuc

El Salvador is more buttoned up, a lot less culture (unless you count the excellent and very cheap modern movie theatres), has a lot of charmless places, and people are very proper and polite. You can’t walk anywhere but public transportation is everywhere (but not generally for gringos), cars are cheap and easy to buy (I could walk out of my apartment and buy, plate and insure a car in about 90 minutes), and you can rent a car for $10 a day. And you can buy anything you want between the Costco (signed Pricesmart here), Walmart, several grocery chains, and many huge and modern shopping malls. Cell service is excellent and cheap (I can call Canada/US on my cell for between 5 and 10 cents a minute and my Blackberry service only costs $14 a month) and there is wifi (often free) everywhere including a public park (which would be an excellent place for muggers to hang out). San Salvador is not the prettiest city in Latin America and most nice houses can’t be seen because they are behind 10 foot walls and razor wire.

They both have their advantages and I guess that I am lucky to be able to travel freely between the two.

The Rainy Season

2011-10-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Nearing the end of the rainy season and it has been pretty dry ... until Tropical Depression 12-E formed off the coast of Guatemala. Then it meandered up into Mexico, then a bit south, and then into the Gulf of Mexico.

All that time, it continued to drop rain and more rain. We are on our fifth day of solid rain - not continuous but almost. Enough rain to cause 24 deaths, 14,000 persons displaced to shelters, a national state of emergency, and the destruction of 30% of the corn and bean harvest.

On the news, I saw a Government Minister asking people to bring donations of food to the CIFCO Convention Centre. There was a warehouse filling with foodstuffs, beds, water tanks. I asked a friend if he was going to donate and mentioned that I wanted to do something and he told me that most of those donations would be stolen or “lost” and sold at the side of the road in a few months.

The largest grocery chain publicized that they had made a large donation for disaster relief and asked people to drop off food at donation boxes in their stores. Hmm, so they want people to buy food at their stores with their regular mark-up to donate. Making money from a disaster.

Rivers that are normally low enough to wade through are now 20'+ high and overflowing their banks.

I ended up at Pricesmart with the intention of buying bulk bags of rice and beans with no idea of how it would end up with people who needed it the most. Luckily, a perky young Pricesmart saleswoman came up to me with a clipboard and asked if I was interested in donating needed goods. She mentioned that Pricesmart had reduced the cost of certain food products to encourage people to purchase and donate. I said I was very interested but I didn’t want to take it with me and asked if I could buy it and leave it with them to take care of. She said that she didn’t know about that but would ask her manager later and I asked if she could get an answer now. Then she came back with a young high-school volunteer who said I could buy the food and leave it with their organization. So we got another cart and loaded up two bulk bags of rice and two of beans. The red beans were $17 for the bag but the same amount of black beans were only $10. We got into a debate of which would be better and the woman said that Salvadorans much preferred red beans while the kid said that this was aid food so they would eat anything if they were hungry. We got the red beans. Then some bulk packs of pasta for the kids and then two large bags of candies.

Someone else had three shopping carts full of rice, beans and oil. Another woman who looked to be a concerned liberal American had dragged her less enthusiastic Salvadoran husband to the store to get aid food and was checking out the pallets of rice and beans.

The woman said that Pricesmart guaranteed that the food would get to people in need - which was nice since I would be pissed and they would burn in hell if the food ended up on their shelves to be sold again.

Paid for the stuff and brought it outside where it was still pouring rain and left it with a group of high school students who were with some aid group. So I feel better having done something. But I wonder what is happening out there. There are maybe 14,000 people in shelters who need to be fed. There are maybe a few hundred families who have lost their home. Thousands have had damage or loss of property. And many thousands have had their crops severely damaged and may only have food for part of next year.

This is what a mudslide looks like. Nice house beside a tree covered hill until the rains won't stop.

My sister-in-law came by this morning to visit. Her husband is a civil engineer and works for Fovial, the national road works department. As you can imagine, they are working 24 hours a day clearing hundreds of land slides and repairing many bridges that have come down. I asked her about how aid was distributed and if she knew if much was stolen. She said she didn’t and I asked how I could contribute in a way that the aid would get to where it was supposed to. And unfortunately, she didn’t know, probably because they were not in the position to give much to charity.

So I lamented on how tough it was that people were in shelters and lost their crops and how many people would go hungry. I asked her what was going to happen in 6 to 8 months as these families ran out of food, if the government or any organization would help them. She said no, that they would have to get additional jobs if they could find them and maybe turn their kids over to orphanages. I don’t understand how a country where an $80,000 Porsche Cayenne is a popular and not uncommon car can allow people to go hungry. And she looked at me and shook her head and gave me a smile like she was talking to a child and said that this is how it has always been in this country.

The road from San Salvador to the Libertad port and beach. Most of the main highways in the country are partially closed with landslides and fallen trees.

Ugh, it’s pouring again! My friend in Antigua is starting to get very depressed from all this rain and lack of sun. I’m lucky that I got 8 weeks in Toronto this summer and just had a week in Havana so I don’t have the weight of all this rain on my head. Another friend from Havana was on business in San Salvador for the week and flew back on Saturday. Havana has done quite well for not having hurricanes this season - they all seem to fling northward after getting as far as PR or Haiti - but now 12-E is following Richard back to Havana and Cuba may see their first hurricane of the year and from the opposite direction than normal!

Nice to see that Salvadorans are helping each other and there are more and more donation points for food and clothes and household items. It is day 6 and still raining and now it is blowing hard. Rain is almost constant switching from a light drizzle to a hard downpour to a gusty blowing diagonal rain.

Most of the schools were closed this week to keep kids off the somewhat dangerous roads and to reduce the level of traffic. I saw two unusual things happen on the roads this week, both times from the window from my gym at the top of Escalon at the Masferrer roundabout. A guy was driving up the street and seemed to stall his car in the left lane. I imagined that he would back up into one of the many parking lots on the right hand side of the road. Instead, he backed up about twenty feet and then turned sharply into the curb blocking both up-hill lanes. Then he got out of the car to try to push his vehicle (uphill with the wheels sharply turned) into a U-turn across all four lanes of traffic. Wow. Amazingly, an old Beetle stopped and two guys got out of the car and pushed the guy through his U-turn so that he could drive down hill and, I suppose, jump start his car (although he could have done this in reverse down the hill without doing a U-turn).

The tail security vehicle stopped by the fallen motorcycle cop. You can see the main convoy at the top of the circle.

The other strange thing happened when President Funes motorcade came blasting up Jerusalem from his office. They take several different routes from his office and usually have 4 - 5 motorcycle cops who drive ahead to block roads and 3 - 4 vehicles with security and the Presidente. So a motorcycle cop comes up into the roundabout, heads down hill in the circle to block the traffic coming up Escalon. This is a very badly designed roundabout and is the scene of much honking and many accidents. The main problem is that the ingress roads into the circle approach and then turn sharply right so people tend to stop and block traffic instead of entering the circle and then merging normally. Another entry point has really tight curbs so cars and trucks routinely collide causing complete traffic chaos as a main artery is blocked for up to an hour while the cops and insurance investigators work the scene. Okay, so yesterday during the rain, the motorcycle cop stops in front of the cars entering from Escalon, puts up his hand, and a woman nails him and drives over the motorcycle. The trailing motorcycle cops stop to check on him and then the first security vehicle. What looks like Funes SUV pulls up and they check out the guy and he looks okay and they can’t be sitting around like that so they take off to the residence. The last security vehicle stops and guys with very big guns get out of it. They secure the scene stopping all traffic and then pick up the guy who looks to have at least a broken leg and they load him into the back seat to take to the hospital.

The injured officer being loaded into the security truck.

Lots of different cops show up, some army guys take a look, traffic investigators arrive and the poor woman who hit the cop is in big trouble! A while later, some family members arrive and there is a lot of huddling in the rain. The bike is left there for more than an hour until Channel 2 arrives. The driver stops the car beside the crashed vehicles, gets out with a camera and starts shooting the scene. Of course this blocks all the traffic going through so the guy in the passenger seat jumps out and runs around to get into the car to move it. The camera man walks around the car and this is when the cops decide to pull the motorcycle from under the car. Lots of interviews ensue. Another day on San Salvador’s roads.

Over an hour after the accident, finally moving the motorcycle when the TV crew shows up - they are at the top left interviewing the investigators under the pink umbrella.

Hope this rain stops soon! And good luck to Cuba.

Driving in El Salvador

2011-06-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

The last time traffic at the El Salvador del Mundo roundabout was light ... about 50 years ago.

I have been driving in El Salvador now for about four years and, knock on wood, no accidents yet. Some important pointers - make sure you have insurance with roadside assistance. If you do have an accident, be cautious of where you are and what time it is. If someone runs into you from behind, you may want to stay in your car and signal them to follow you to a place where there are lights and guards - a police station is ideal or otherwise a gas station or other business establishment with lots of light and traffic. On the other hand, it may be important to have the insurance guys look at the accident in situ but only do that during the day when there are lots of cars around.

Situational awareness is very important. Driving at night, stopping at a traffic light, keep a watch around your car. If someone comes up to you, don’t hesitate to drive away. The cops are pretty lenient about running reds at night. Windows up and doors locked in any dodgy areas.

You are pretty safe in most of El Salvador except for at night in certain bad areas such as Apopa, Soyapango, and maybe El Centro. Don’t go into these areas unless you have to and try not to go at night. The main thoroughfares usually have cops but avoid getting deep into these areas.

A GPS is a good idea - see http://www.elsalvadorgps.com/ES/index.html. You may want to buy a cheap Garmin Nuvi in the U.S. or Canada and then have Ben Quan put the El Salvador and Guatemala maps onto it (either directly or he can put it onto an SD chip). I think he charges $150 for the map program. The GPS is pretty good although when making a long trip, try to confirm the route with a map. On a recent post, I mentioned that we had it set on “shortest distance” and it took us through the mountains.

Driving in San Salvador may appear crazy to you (unless you are from Boston) but you’ll get used to it. In round-abouts, drivers in the left lane may try to cut right and drivers in the right lane routinely cut left. Expect the unexpected and a signal (or lack thereof) means nothing. Some of the crazier things I’ve seen is someone backing down the middle of a two lane highway because she missed her turn off to Sonsonate. There were two full lanes and a shoulder but she drove backwards between the two lanes. When I honked at her, she acted surprised.

Also, on the turn off to Santa Elena beside Multiplaza, there is a exit lane on the left. Cars will routinely drive along the adjacent lane and then cut in at the end. This is normal. What is bizarre is that cars will drive two lanes to the right and then cut in on the people trying to cut in.

Another good rule is that you have to drive aggressively in San Salvador to get anywhere but you should always drive cautiously in the countryside to avoid accidents. I saw two nasty ones on two consecutive trips out to the golf course. The first one was on the new highway that goes from the road up from Lourdes/Santa Ana to Santa Tecla. They have opened a ramp going out to the roundabout in Merliot so you can take the great, empty 3 lane highway into the city. I was driving in with a friend when I saw a small white van in the middle of the road. We get out and the driver said that he was driving along when two racing cars cut in front of him. He hit the breaks and spun but then hit a dark speed bump (watch for those at the end of the road) and tipped over. We tried to lift the van up but couldn’t. Another driver stopped and the four of us managed to get it right side up ... and the driver started it and drove away.

The next night, we were driving down the hill from Santa Tecla towards Lourdes. About half a mile down as it was getting really twisty, the brakes on the truck seem to fail. They were locking up and the truck was sliding. Then we turned a corner and saw two people beside a dropped motorcycle waving at us. We pulled over and realized that the entire two lanes were covered in some kind of oil - we suspected used cooking oil being transported for recycling. We were on a bad spot on the road so we moved the bike and the people down the hill a ways. The truck was almost rammed by an oil tanker but he was able to slow down and get his truck under control. We ended up loading the bike into the truck bed and driving the couple back up to Santa Tecla to an ISS hospital. The driver seemed okay but his wife had taken some bad scrapes and started crying in the car, probably from the shock and the pain. On the way there, we first had to go down the hill (to the U-turn area) and two SUVs were approaching us, driving too fast. One slowed down and locked his wheels and the other almost rammed into him. We called the cops to report it but by the time we dropped the couple off and made it back to the spot, there were no cops and, luckily, no other accidents. Then we saw some cop cars with sirens on heading to the spot.

This brings up another point. Should you stop to assist accident victims? It depends on where and when. If it is at night, you should be careful because someone may rob you and steal your car. My friend is an armed ex-cop so he always stops. People will also fake accidents to get people to stop although I don’t think this is that common anymore.

I have received two tickets in my four years of driving. The first time, I was heading to the airport doing about 110 kms/hr. I was following a fast motorcycle and watching for radar traps. I slowed down after cresting a hill but he blew past the box factory and a cop jumped out and flagged me down. He said that I was driving way too fast (that spot had a 60 km limit) and my infraction was very serious. He asked me if it was okay for him to give me a $50 ticket. I didn’t realize he was asking if I wanted to make a discounted payment on the spot so I said I guess it was okay for him to give me the ticket. Still, in hindsight, I’d rather pay the ticket than to bribe a cop.

The second ticket I got was for crossing a double yellow line. Escalon has a double yellow line running up it and hundreds of cars cross that every hour. In my case, I was with my parents and we were lost and I crossed a three lane road and a cop was right there and chased me down. I said that I didn’t see any signs saying no left turns and he said that you can never cross a double yellow line. I think that I deserved that ticket and I realized that you can get away with a shit-load of bad, stupid, inconsiderate driving but not when what you do is dangerous - and crossing three lanes of heavy traffic was pretty stupid.

If this is freaking you out, try to restrict your driving to Saturday afternoons or all day Sunday. Very little traffic and a nice way to see the city!

More of what’s been going on.

2011-06-13T11:32:00.001-07:00

Casa Garufina at Playa Azul

I watched a CBS Sunday Morning feature on the Blogisphere and they mentioned that the vast majority of blogs get dropped after a short period … and felt rather guilty about neglecting my little site. So here I am!

El Salvador has been pretty calm lately. The rainy season has started but it hasn’t been too bad. Enough rain to get the fields green but not so much that there is ground saturation and potential flooding. The Veraneras golf course is still in great shape and we may have good conditions through July (before it gets too wet and muddy to get a cart through).

I had 16 people come and visit (in 4 groups) and it was great to see my friends but a bit tiring – especially with some GI issues and the fact that 3 groups overlapped over the course of about a month. Will have to plan breaks next time.

Some of my friends have really fallen in love with El Salvador and we are looking at a way for them to work remotely from here for a month or two each winter. With great internet connections, very cheap calls to Canada, Skype and instant messaging, and decent (albeit expensive) courier service, it would be very easy to work from here if your type of job allows for it.

It was great to host people in our condo and do day trips to the beach for surfing, or golfing, or excursions like zip-lining or up to the coffee plantations. Also eating out can be very reasonable as well as hitting some nice bars and lounges.

And since most people flew down on Taca (which allows 2 x 50 lb bags), I was able to put in orders for lots of stuff to be brought down. Oh, I also packed 3 suitcases full of stuff from Ikea and donations of clothing which I left with friends to bring down.

Our first look at the beach house.

Another group came down and rented a fantastic beach house. Probably one of the nicest ones in the entire country. 6 bedrooms all with en suite washrooms, incredible outdoor deck, lovely staff, all the coconuts you could drink, and an amazing beach. The place is called Casa Garifuna and it is on Playa Azul just west of Acajutla on the coastal road heading to Guatemala.

They have a great beach that is close to the one used by the Decameron Resort so there are quite a few Canadians around during the winter as well as cops on ATVs going up and down watching out for tourists. There is a fishing camp nearby and lots of boats going in and out right in front of the beach house. We helped them carry their boat in one time – there were ten of them and my friend and I lended a hand and I almost put my back out with the incredible weight of the boat! But we were able to buy very fresh red snappers from them which we grilled on our charcoal bbq and it was delicious.

Fresh red snapper, grilled on charcoal

Their trip was great … except 7 out of 9 of them came down with severe stomach issues. I am not sure if it was something they brought down with them or if it was food poisoning but it was spreading from person to person. I tried to be very careful about the washing of fruits and vegetables but they still got very sick. I felt terrible about this especially since they were unable to do many of the things they had planned.

We also had an adventure … that bordered on the incredible/terrifying. We left the beach house in two vehicles (my Honda Pilot and a rented Jeep) with two GPS devices. We programmed in Tacuba where we were going to meet up with Manolo of Impossible Tours for a hike through Parque Impossible to the waterfalls. BTW, if you have Paige’s guide book “El Salvador, A Great Destination”, the telephone number for Manolo (and his parent’s cool hostel) is incorrect. The number in the book is of a competitor that may inform you that Manolo’s business is closed – the correct number is 2417-4268.

We speak to Manolo and agree that it will take us about 80 minutes to get there … and then we follow the GPS. We made two major mistakes on this trip. First, we had the GPS set to shortest route rather than fastest, and we embarked on our trip without cross checking the GPS route with a map. So as we hit the main road, we turned left instead of right. On the right was a perfectly paved road that would allow us to blast up to Jujutla, Ataco, Ahuachapan and then Tacuba. On the left was a road that was paved … and then went to dirt … and then back to pave. It looked like a plausible road to us until it went to dirt and cobblestones and then we hit the hills. Very steep with switchbacks and giant boulders and climbing over stones and under fallen trees. All other cars and buses disappeared and we were out there with some farmers, passed horses, passed a pig washing station (a guy with a hose spraying down two big hos), and passed a lot of people with surprised expressions on their faces.

Nearing the end of our drive through the mountain jungle.

For the longest time, we thought that we would hit the main road again and be on our way. Monolo kept calling us asking where we were and how far away. Finally he had to let the tour go (there were two impatient Germans waiting for us to arrive) and we agreed to do something else once we got to his place.

Manolo guiding us down to the hot springs - all the therapuetic mud you want!

So up and down mountains, squeezing between rocks, driving past precipices, hoping that we would hit civilization before we came to a dead end. We should have turned back but we didn’t and kept driving for about an hour until finally we hit a road, saw some other cars, then houses and then a town! We broke through the countryside at Ataco and finally made it to Tacuba. Manolo was very cool about us being late and asked why we were so late. We showed him the route and he was incredulous. He said that they sometimes take dirt bikes through there but never trucks. I would have taken some pictures if I wasn't so busy trying to keep us alive. So instead of hiking through Parque Impossible, we drove through it.

Manolo showing us coffee plants.

We decompressed with some beers and then Manolo organized a trip to the nearby hotsprings and coffee plantation. The hotsprings feed some giant pools and they also use the steam and geothermic energy to process the coffee. It was off season so we just walked through seeing some early buds and some people doing some weeding. We drove to Ahuachapan to see where the coffee was being roasted and processed. Very high quality organic beans with three sorting systems (mechanical, computer and then by hand). We bought several pounds of it to take home.

Green coffee beans being sorted for the European market.

Okay, that’s enough for now … will try to post again soon.

Explorer's Guides - El Salvador: A Great Destination

2011-01-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

My friend Paige has published her new book "El Salvador: A Great Destination", available at Chapters.ca or Amazon. Ideal for anyone who wants to visit El Salvador.

Now who would want to visit El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America? Aren't there more interesting countries like Argentina, Chile, and Brazil? How about Columbia which is ascending, or Cuba, Guatemala or Costa Rica?

El Salvador has bits of those places but is very unique as well. It is not an established tourism destination so the people are still very friendly and interested in meeting foreigners. And that is a refreshing difference from being given a fake smile as they calculate how much they are going to rip you off for. The food is unique and interesting - lots of seafood, lots of fresh vegetables, and lots of strange but tasty fruit.

The beaches are gorgeous and often empty. Waves are great for trying out surfing. The roads are the best in the region and you can zip from one place to another at full speed.

The city is big and modern and has hundreds of options for going out, eating, clubbing, shopping, art & culture. With some common sense precautions, it is also as safe as Toronto. It is also a very inexpensive place to stay and for recreation. A bottle of Absolut vodka and mixes in a vip lounge will be about $50. Good hospitals and medical care. Get your teeth cleaned by a real dentist for $25. Want a keratin hair straightener? $500 in Toronto, $120 in San Salvador.

The weather from November to April is fantastic (and much better than Cuba in December and January) with lots of sunshine and little to no rain.

Paige's book includes some great details about the history of this small country and the successes they have had in building a peaceful and more egalitarian society. She also includes lots of details on culture and interesting places to visit.

Lastly, she includes solid information on how to stay safe and where to watch out.

Paige is a very experienced traveller. She is also smart, observant and an excellent writer. Her personal observations fill the book and you woud do well to follow her opinions.

I have been fortunate to have had a bunch of friends visit from Canada. Every one of them wants to come back and I hope to build beach houses for them all.

Direct flights from Toronto, Montreal, L.A., Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and D.C. Connecting flights through hubs in those cities.

Come and visit!

What's been going on

2010-12-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

Me and the Brahva beer girl at the market

Wow, this is the first entry in about 5 months. I wonder if people are still reading this. I know that I get ticked when I am following a blogger who never blogs.

So I haven’t posted much on El Salvador ... because I have been mostly stuck in Toronto for that time period.

I was in San Salvador for a few weeks but am now in Toronto for a few more months.

We entered the dry season but we were still getting the occasional rain. No surprise since this has been a very, very wet rainy season.

It has been a bit of a crazy summer with the gangs escalating the bus ransom violence. That was in reaction to new legislation going after the gangs and it seems that they have backed down a bit. Mauricio Funes, once thought to be a communist stooge to his party and the scourge of good capitalists everywhere, has been doing a good job, especially considering the poor global economy. His popularity ratings are extremely high and everyone seems to like him, even grumpy Americans. It is actually quite amazing, really, that he has done such a good job considering he has little money to work with. How did he do that? Mammoth IMF loans? His party is stealing less than the last one which means more money for actual programs? Better management? Who knows but I am hoping for the latter two.

Other news? My buddy left his job as manager of Nvy (night club) so I guess I won’t be going there very much anymore. I was introduced to the new guy (who probably won’t remember me) and the doorman likes saying no to me (even though I have given him a bunch of good Cuban cigars). The Cuban restaurant Tumbao has closed and a new lounge/tapas bar called Likwid has opened at Multiplaza. As I am not young, beautiful or rich, I wasn’t invited to the opening so I cannot give you a report.

Dan set a nice table for Thanksgiving dinner

We went out to Playa Dorado to celebrate American Thanksgiving. This made it three turkeys for me this year. Went well except a had a gas oven minor explosion at home when I was toasting the croutons and another one at the beach house when the gas went out unexpectedly and then relit as I was checking on the baking stuff.

A beer canned toikey

We cooked a beer can turkey on the gas bbq, mushroom and sausage stuffing, beer and cheddar corn pie, candied carrots, roast brussels sprouts, and a lovely can of cranberry jelly.

We had 3 Salvadorans, 2 Cubans, 1 Canadian, and an American!

Waiting patiently for drinks at Remala.

My friend Minh moved his great Vietnamese/Thai restaurant from way above Escalon down to the Zona Rosa. He is just down from Alo Nuestro and Republic in a great new property. He is also across the street from Remala which is this great lounge housed in a gorgeous huge mansion on a large property. Hmmm, how the wealthy live behind big stone walls. Remala is owned by a French dude who inherited the property from his mere. Nice bar, great couches and some very groovy house/chill music (although better on the nights with a DJ). The cocktail list is pretty good and the drinks may actually taste good when the bartenders learn how to make all of them properly. I had a good apple martini and then a complete joke of a Manhattan (whiskey and vermouth poured over crushed ice in a martini glass) but they came back strong with the chocolate martin. A buddy asked for a Daiquiri and was expecting a lime based drink but they gave him a strawberry one as a surprise. We also went with our friend Claudia who was visiting town to check on her NGO http://www.treeswaterpeople.org/.

Beer and free (loud) accordian music

Took Claudia to my favourite lunch spot at the Mercado Merliot where we got trapped by a 5 piece band. I ordered the sopa de patas but Claudia is so gringa'ized that she couldn't stomach the thought of eating tripe.

The girls bumpin' at 4

The economy in general seems to be improving. Remittances are up from last year. The empty businesses in the Zona Rosa are starting to fill in. Mario's is back at the Code nightclub building - they specialize in 80's music and it is a lot of fun. The King Crab restaurant closed (who on earth thought they could serve small portions of freezer burned crab and charge $20 ... ate their once and that was enough) and they opened up a club (called "4") and a British Pub called the Red Lion.

Smoking a stogie at the Red Lion ... great music - Thompson Twins,

Culture Club, Human League, Simple Minds

The Pub ... is decorated nicely and I did have a bottle of Bass Ale but nothing on tap. They play only British music which is a nice change from frickin' reggaeton.

Frank with a bottle of the good stuff.

Frank the bartender is recently here from LA and speaks perfect English. Then we went next door to "4" which has the same owner. There was a private party downstairs so we went to the upstairs karaoke lounge. Pretty cool place, especially since no one was singing, with a nice decor and a drum set and guitars on the karaoke stage - I guess if you want to do more than sing. The V-Jay was taking requests and the girls got up to bump to Beyonce. I was smoking a big cigar which prompted the bartenders to turn on a giant fan built into the wall beside the bar ... I got the signal and left soon after. I think I saw them serve a beer to a kid who looked to be about 14.

Dan blasting out of the rough on the par 5 7th hole at the empty Veraneras course

The Veraneras golf course seemed to have survived the rainy season quite well. They added some drainage channels that helped with the heavy rains. One thing they don’t have is ... golfers! They seem to have reacted to this by raising their prices but I am doubtful that this strategy is going to work. On the helpful side, they have reduced the prices of their drinks and they let me suspend my membership while I was stuck in Canada. I was out golfing with my buddy Dan last Sunday and there were only two golfers in front of us and two behind us ... that is a total of 6 golfers for the entire day. The Canadian tourists coming down on Nolitours and staying at the Royal Decameron aren’t coming soon enough! We like having the course to our selves but don’t want the place going bankrupt.

I heard that a new new course is being built in the Libertad area by the guys who built the nice course in neighbouring Antigua, Guatemala (La Reunion Course?). They are going to charge $25,000 to join but that will be waived if you buy property in the club. I hear they are going after the wealthy Arab/Salvadoran market that is currently being shut out of the Campestre course (which is only 9 holes and costs $50,000 to join). This is a shock to me since there are already 4 courses in San Salvador and apparently only about 400 golfers. Plus another course or two are being planned. So either people really like owning golf courses (even if they are losing a ton of money) or they think they can grow the number of golfers (like has happened in North America) ... but good luck doing that since there are so few pros in the country and the courses don’t seem to like having middle class people showing up.

So far, I have a group of 9 coming down to visit me and a lot of people who came last year want to come again. I have been looking on the Internet for some rental properties and there are quite a few in the popular Costa del Sol area. They run from about $100 to $200 per night - the higher range includes places with 4-5 bedrooms, usually sleep over a dozen, a/c, a pool, and on the ocean.

Ooh, I can see the ocean from here

We did find one beautiful place out at Costa Azul (which is in the far west of the country, between Acajutla and Barra de Santiago, accessed along the coastal road that goes to the Guatemalan border). Very unique in that all the walls, floors, siding and terrace are all wood. The living room and dining room are completely open with just a big roof covering the whole area. It has been decorated very well by someone who had both taste and money (a happy convergence). All wood paneling and floors and a kick ass wooden deck. More than twice the price of anything else I have seen but may be worth it.

I think I am going to base my first beach house on this design. I want to have the property abutting the beach end of the property with a big deck and an infinity pool on the end. I think I’ll want to enclose the living area but maybe two garage doors (3 cars wide) can be put on the end so you can just open up the wall facing the ocean.

I have not had any luck finding a reliable contractor and I’ll think I’ll stop looking. I’ll hire an architect/engineer to do the plans, then my friend Dan (who has been a GC before) can do the construction planning, and I’ll get my brother-in-law (who is a civil engineer) to be the site manager. I’ve got the land picked out already ... just need to get some money!

The Emerald is ready for guests

A woman from Canada has just finished her property and is ready to rent it out. On Playa Dorado in front of a decent surf beach break, it has 5 bedrooms and the biggest pool I’ve seen on the coast.

Another interesting bit of law and order in San Salvador. The city centre (El Centro), where the National Theatre and some of the big cathedrals are located, has become more and more dangerous over the years. The streets have also become choked with sidewalk vendors who have built wooden kiosks on most of the major streets. They sell everything from fruits and vegetables to shoes and clothes to kitchen goods, cell phones, bootleg DVDs (including porn), and also drugs.

The nuisance is that you’ll have a three lane road that is effectively shrunk down to 1 ½ because of businesses on either side. This is despite the fact that there are numerous large (and often half vacant) purpose built indoor markets where people can set up their kiosks and be protected from the elements and be able to secure the goods overnight. Also, the street markets harbour a greater criminal element and contributes to a general lack of police supervision and control.

I have heard that the license fee on the street is about 50 cents a day while it is about $1.50 inside. So why don’t they all move into these nicer buildings? I have heard that there is more traffic outside so the vendors prefer to be there. I have also heard that the maras (gangs) control and extort from the people outside and have made sure that the vendors challenge the government when they talk about cleaning up the streets.

But the mayor of San Salvador, Quijano, decided to go in with a huge force of riot cops who started cleaning up the area street by street. They encountered some resistance in the form of rocks and fire barricades but they were able to reclaim the area. I just hope it lasts. I have been in the market a few times but generally with a Salvadoran friend. We park the car (in a very modern and guarded parking lot with a ticket machine and cashier), then walk very fast through the streets to one of the markets, we buy what we came for (usually polo shirts), and then walk out fast. No loitering, no eye contact, and nothing valuable on us. I have also been to the National Theatre to see Fatima dance but there was no security problem with that so it isn’t all bad. It will be nice to go there more often - I hear that there is a good market that sells artisanal souvenirs.

Okay, I am going to post this before I delay any longer. Cheers all.

Back to Antigua

2010-07-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Fatima and MJ walking in Parque Central

Wow, it has been months since I wrote on this blog. Sorry for the delay but after our visitors came, I was in Havana and then my laptop died on me. More on that later.

First, let me finish off the narrative on Guatemala. Deb came over to visit after spending a week in Quito where her son, Noel, is doing a Masters on renewable energy. This was Deb’s second visit to El Salvador and she wanted to check out Antigua. I had mentioned it to Dan and he said he’d like to come as well.

Road munchies

Since there were long road delays due to construction on the Santa Ana route, we decided to do the coastal route there and back. This is a faster and nicer drive although it is longer and you don’t get to drive through Guatemala City (although you miss that traffic as well). Immigration this time made all of us get out leaving El Salvador and entering Guatemala (and the same again on the route home). That border crossing is at sea level and it was very hot and humid so it was nice to get back into the air conditioned SUV.

Dan, Deb and I in the Hotel Antigua courtyard

I was able to make reservations at the Hotel Aurora http://www.hotelauroraantigua.com/ and realized that my recall of the place was correct and it is much nicer than most other places in Antigua. Even more remarkably, it is one of the cheapest places as well. It has a great location and one of the best courtyard flower gardens ... and parking as well. The girls got a room with three beds (one being a Queen) and Dan got the adjacent room with a nice King.

Breakfast is tasty and included

We let the girls roam around the city and Dan and I took off with Michael to the golf course on the nearby volcano. Michael wrote about it at http://www.examiner.com/x-22480-Central-American-Travel-Examiner~y2009m9d11-Nine-holes-of-bliss

Clouds rolling in

We park the car beside the only car there and a caddy comes up to us with some kids. They have to call around for a third caddy for our group. I look around and there is no proshop, no change room, no desk, and no cashier. Hmm, pretty basic. We trudge over to the first hole and the three of us promptly lose about 7 balls off the tee box. The course is very hilly (no kidding, being on the side of a volcano) and narrow with blind shots. A lot like Campestre in San Salvador (the club that costs $50K to join and may or may not admit Koreans as members). We play skins and pretty soon I have won most of the holes but then a cloud rolls in and it starts to rain. One of the drawbacks of playing at altitude. We knock off after 9 holes because of the cold rain and because it is hard to see through a cloud. Not a great course but for $10 for the round and $5 for the caddy, it wasn’t a bad place to hack at balls.

What the ladies did while we were golfing

The course has no bar or shop so good thing I brought some beer to go with the cigars. We head back into town, over a long dirt road, and by the time we hit the bottom of the volcano, it is sunny and warm again. We park the car, find the girls and make plans for the evening.

Michael and I at Hector's

We wanted to eat at Hectors so Michael called and went by to make sure they would hold a table for us. Hectors is a tiny little bistro-ish place right across the street from the big yellow Merced Cathedral. No sign but I think it is number 9 and the do put out a chalk board. I had been by there and met Hector and the girls, including an Aussie waitress who was Hector’s girlfriend. They all seemed very friendly and I was looking forward to going back for a nice cozy dinner with lots of wine. We are all heading over in 3 different groups and we ended up getting there half an hour before our reservation. I see the Aussie girl and say that we have a reservation and she says "We don’t take reservations" and I try to explain that we are with Michael but she interrupts me to say "We don’t take reservations" and I try to say that Michael is Hector’s friend and had come by half an hour earlier and she interrupts me to say "We don’t take reservations." Wow, what a shitty waitress. It didn’t matter since the restaurant has 6 tables and only one was taken! We get that table for six of us and order some drinks and wait for everyone else.

This kind of service is typical in Latin America and I was surprised to see it from a foreigner. Her job was too provide service and to enhance our dining experience, not to enforce the little rules established by the business. In many cases, all you get are people who think their job is follow rules and not to help people. Recently, I wired some money to my Citibank account here. They called us saying the funds had arrived and Fatima had to go fill out a form stating what the origin of the funds were. They said the funds would be available the next day ... then they said the next day ... then the next day. I finally went in with her and didn’t like what I saw. There were about 6 customer service desks and I counted 9 people in the area and they were helping two people. We had to wait 10 minutes until someone finally finished their paperwork and was ready to serve a customer. We spoke to the woman that Fatima had spoken to the day before and she said they lost the form and Fatima would have to fill out another one and wait another day. I got upset and asked to speak to the manager who ended up being a nice, older woman. We explained the problem and she asked where Fatima had filled out the first form and she told her at the main branch and she started to say it was their fault the form was lost and I told her that I didn’t care who screwed up, she represented her bank and she had to solve the problem. They had my money for 4 days and I wanted it in my account and I wanted her to waive the service fee. She told us there was no way she could waive the service fee and I asked her how the manager of a bank couldn’t waive a fee and she said that was the way it was. She called in the customer service agent (who had told us the funds would be available the next day without checking to see what the problem was i.e. missing form) but she insisted it wasn’t her that had spoken to Fatima the day before. Anyways, we filled out the form again, she made some calls and promised the funds would be in our account in 45 minutes. It turned out to be only 15 minutes so we were happy about that. What was the problem? Who knows. Maybe these people aren’t paid enough for them to care, maybe their training isn’t very good, maybe people have such low expectations of the level of service.

Turns out that the restaurant is just okay. It got too crowded, the food was pretty average, it got really hot, and unfortunately that Aussie girl stayed on as our waitress. Fatima had the beef and it was tough and of mid-level quality. I had the duck and it was tough as well and no where near as good as the food at Nicolas (but to be fair, it was a lot cheaper). The only thing that I like were the sweat potato fries ... and they were fantastic! I would go back for those. Dan picked up the tab which was lucky for that girl because I probably would have left a shitty tip for the shitty attitude ... reminds me of that saying about who most dislikes Aussie women ... and the answer is Aussie men.

Afterwards, we went to the street with the arch (sorry for the bad directions but if you go there, you will know what I am talking about) and the place was hopping. Clubs and bars were open and lots of people on the street. We ended up at a new place that had just opened up across from the Casbah. We got a nice outside table and were able to smoke cigars (which you can’t inside bars or restaurants). The girls went dancing across the street and we hung out and drank rum. I met an American guy who owns 3-4 hotels and his Canadian buddy as well as the Welsh owner of the bar. All very nice people whom we got to meet because we knew Michael and he was a local now.

Next morning, Dan wanted to take a horse and carriage tour of the city and we did so with MJ translating the very brief descriptions from the driver. He seemed to know names but no dates and no history of anything. Still, it was a nice hour drive in and around the town and I saw a lot of incredible ruins that I didn’t know existed. We made it back to the hotel and drove over to a Korean restaurant for lunch before hitting the road (food was okay but not great).

New (for me) ruins

We shopped around a bit for some artwork and found the prices to be about 10 times the price of Cuba ... with comparable quality. One guy did nice paintings of Antigua landmarks with peasants in their brightly coloured garb but he couldn’t do faces so all the paintings (maybe 5 of them) only showed them from the back ... and they wanted $600 for one of these! Hah, that is a lot of money for a guy who can’t paint faces.

Nice ride!

Drive back was uneventful and quick and Deb’s week went by very quickly and before we knew it, she was gone and that was the end of our winter visitors for the year.

So thank you for all the visits, for bringing down stuff, for bringing clothing donations, and I hope to see you next year.

A quick update of other happenings ... rainy season has started with a vengeance. Tropical Storm Agatha dropped some heavy rains on us. El Salvador saw 10 to 20 inches of rain over three days and some areas got hit by 30 inches! It rained and rained and rained and rained. Luckily, this was at the very beginning of the rainy and hurricane season so the ground was plenty dry and was able to soak up a lot of this rain without causing too much trouble. We just want to avoid another heavy soaking right away. We did have three days of sun and it was great to see some blue sky again. Roads have gotten bad as it does every rainy season as the rains erode the roads and create big pot holes. My friend has had three flat tires this week and I had one driving over a giant 6" bent piece of metal that drove itself into my tire.

Guatemala did not fare as well and lost a lot of bridges and houses. Must have been like the apocalypse with the 5 inches of volcanic ash covering everything before the rains came. And that crazy ass sink hole? Wow. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100601-sinkhole-in-guatemala-2010-world-science/

The new government continues to do a good job and is investigating and prosecuting politicians for corruption. Now everyone expects politicians to steal but just don’t get too greedy or stupid about it! There is a great highway that links the road to Lourdes (and then off to Santa Ana and Sonsonate) past Santa Tecla and right into San Salvador by Multi Plaza and Calle Jerusalem but they never finished the last little bit so it is virtually unusable. I think someone stole funds so companies didn’t pay workers so it came to a grinding stop a few years ago. Now they are going to start it up again so it should alleviate a lot of Santa Tecla traffic and should shave 10 to 15 minutes off a trip to the western beaches.

Apologies about my griping on local service and I think I am getting worse. I have had arguments at several business in the last week and I think I am showing signs of what fellow Canadian Jason Ryan of http://kimchiicecream.wordpress.com/ refers to as "Culture Fatigue". This is where you start getting upset at local cultural norms ... or I am turning into an angry old man! Regardless, time to go up to Canada for my summer trip!

Juayua Food Fair and the Apenca Zipline Canopy Tour

2010-04-13T14:49:00.001-07:00

El Salvador is a beautiful country, populated by friendly and honest people (mostly), and is a burgeoning tourist destination. Museums and galleries, great restaurants and street food, clubs and bars, shopping be it in the cheap and dodgy el centro or the high end malls, golf courses, surfing beaches, national parks with their waterfalls, and picturesque towns such as Juayua and Suchitoto. There is one excursion or day trip that I can really recommend.

Some girls bugging me at the food fair

We drove an hour west of San Salvador through Sonsonate and up the Ruta de los Flores to the small town of Apaneca. They have a food fair every weekend with dozens of food stands serving everything from seviche and black clams to all sorts of grilled meats to frozen desserts. There is usually some good live music (I have seen/heard the most amazing Bee Gees cover band there) and a market selling touristy stuff and cheap clothes.

Jake eating his paella

We got a tasty assortment of foods including smoked ribs, seafood paella, grilled shrimps, and fresh tortillas washed down with cold beers. Then some frozen strawberries, bananas and watermelon dipped in chocolate.

Jenna enoying her dessert

We had some time to kill so we walked around the markets and bought some souvenirs. There were a couple of places selling woven goods from Guatemala and one guy insisted that his prices were cheaper than in Antigua. It could only be true if the stuff was from China .... which maybe it was. We did find one guy with some big hoppers full of T-shirts. I found a great old school Run DMC shirt and Jeff got a great vintage look Iron Man and Jake got a Spiderman T-shirt. And they were a buck each. I shit you not.

Kath souvenir hunting in Juayua

Then back into the car for the short drive to Apaneca ... a small town with not much going for it but beside a mountain with lots of coffee growing on it. We were the first there - they go out 3-4 times a day so you should call ahead to make reservations - so just hung out for a bit before piling into the back of a truck transporter with a bunch of the guys. It seemed like there were 12 clients and about an equal number of workers.

.Jeff hoping we don't drive off a cliff before getting to the zip-line

The drive up the hill was pretty bumpy and steep and we went through some locked gates into a coffee finca. Then to a staging area with a great view where we got geared up with harnesses, leather palmed work gloves, and hard hats.

Gearing up

Now The Apaneca Canopy Tours charges $30 per person - a price I found somewhat high in a country where a common wage is $10 a day. I wondered if the owner was gouging the tourists but after going through it, I think the price is fine. The infrastructure of hooking up a dozen steel cables along with platforms built onto trees often 40' in the air and then having the trucks and the workers all adds up.

On the practise lines ... Kath landing and MJ taking off

We climbed up to the first zip-line which was only about 10' off the ground and maybe 25' long. There were several of these little runs to get you used to the harness and braking, Then you get to the top of the main hill ... and holy crap! Over 400' above the ground and about 900' long. A Mexican girl in front of me asked the guide "if I fall, will I die?" and he, of course, said "No" and she was off into space.

When I got there, I pushed out and managed to manouevre with one hand while I filmed the run with the other. It was an amazing experience but ended too quickly

The reason why there were so many workers is that they have to man each of the platforms and they descend with the group. They would hook on and then throw themselves out into space, usually kicking off from a post or a bannister to give them more speed. Half way down, I told one of the guys that he had a great job and I wanted to join up. He gave me a "meh" look and I asked him if the pay was bad and he said it was really bad.

Yes, that is MJ screaming

Everyone had a great time and the scared Mexican girl got over her fears pretty quickly and was soon jumping off the platform.

Jenna hanging in space!

They give you some instructions on how to slide down with your hand breaking behind you. They have a series of signals to speed up, slow down, or to brake hard but they have a braking system at the end of the long lines in case you can’t stop yourself. I realized that I could come in at pretty much full speed and they would stop you without any problems.

Me filming the first run

As for safety, they were really excellent. Whenever you were on a platform, be it 3' or 50' in the air, you were always always hooked up to something. As you lined up to get launched, you would be on a safety line and then only when you were hooked up to the main zip line would they take off the secondary safety line.

Through the coffee plants near the bottom

They leave from Apaneca at 9:30, 11:30, 2 and 4 but call them at 2433-0554 to confirm the day and time since they can move around with the seasons. They provide water during the zipping and they photograph everyone going across the highest line ... although they charge an egregious amount for the hardcopy photo and an even more ridiculous price for a disc with the photos. It seemed overly greedy especially when they were only charging a dollar for a beer. We treated all the workers to a beer since it was the last run of the day for them.

Antigua Guatemala Part II

2010-04-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

Wedding photos on the streets of Antigua Guatemala

Phew! Relaxing after a busy few weeks with the Combees visiting from Owen Sound, Ontario and the Semana Santa (Easter) weekend. Highlights of the week included another trip to Antigua, lunch at the Juayua food fair followed by zip-lining with Canopy Tours in Apaneca, and a few days at a beach house in Tunco.

The church at the parque central from the balcony of a public building

We piled into the Honda Pilot and headed to the Guatemala border. They seemed to have changed the rules because now we all have to get out of the car on both sides of the border. A few weeks earlier, only I had to get out with the passports. I complained to the desk guy and then spoke with the supervisor who said it was an interim program and they were going to streamline it soon. I was a bit pissed off that we all had to get out of the car and go inside while we saw several cars just drive through.

Crossing the border into Guatemala

There was more construction this time but we weren’t delayed very long. Going through Guatemala City, we stopped at the Pricesmart to look for stuff not available in El Salvador and then a Toyota dealership to look for car parts for a friend. Then down the mountain into Antigua. I had booked my friends into a nice little hotel http://www.hotelentrevolcanes.com/index.php which was right in front of the market. Nice place (although you may want to avoid the rooms overlooking the streets since it can get noisy in the morning) and great staff. Whenever we had to ask for something, the answer was always "yes". From staying out late to smoking cigars in the garden to checking out really late to leaving my car in their lot to having extra people for breakfast, they were always completely accommodating.

First floor of the Hotel Entre Volcanes

We met up with our friend Sandy who had been studying at the Christian Spanish Academy (not particularly religious but very professional) and doing a homestay. Hotels in Antigua are quite pricey at about $70 + per night but the homestays are really cheap - around $120 per week which includes all meals.

Lunchtime!

We did the usual ... shopping in the market for clothes for the kids, white belts, woven goods. Ate at the restaurant in front of the market (Restarante de los Antiguenos?) which has really good and inexpensive local favourites. I had the white bean stew with tortillas ... and a giant Gallo beer.

I stashed my stuff at Michael’s place and we went for a walk. He has been there for about a year now and knows a lot of interesting people and places. We stopped at a tiny but very cool looking restaurant called Hector’s in front of the Merced church which was preparing for a private party ... will have to eat there next time but it may be hard to find since they don’t have a sign. Then we dropped into the Jungle Party Hostal to chat with Monica, the Salvadoran owner of the place. She set up the first hostal in Guatmala ten years ago and now has a very successful and popular place. She was planning on heading back to El Salvador the next day so we decided that she would come with us. We left El Salvador with 5 people and were returning with 7. Check out her place at http://www.junglepartyhostal.com/

Michael recommended we go to La Pena de Sol Latina for dinner. The place is around the corner from the hotel and he is friends with Bill and Mary, a semi-retired American couple who have built a charming and cozy restaurant with a tasty and very inexpensive menu. Their signature drink is a delicious coconut lemonade. Bill is a former session musician who played for years in Memphis (with the likes of Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins) and even raced in Nascar for a while. Now he plays with a local band that fronts Peruvian pan flutes. They also sell these amazing hand made candle screens with colourful and whimsical inserts (Kath bought one with pieces of a coke bottle built in) with the monies going to charity. Check them out at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43415256326

The Combee/McKerihens and Sandy at the arch

So after the show and many drinks, I went back to the Hotel to smoke a cigar with Jeff. It was pretty chilly by then but we had hot coffee with rum to keep us warm. Then headed back to crash again on Michael’s couch.

A new market popped up on the site of some church ruins

The next morning, we had planned on getting an early start but between shopping and meeting up with Sandy and Monica and having lunch, we didn’t get away until about 3:00 pm. Boy, just in time for very heavy rush hour traffic and major construction delays. We should have taken the coastal route but, instead, took the north route and there was one stretch which was down to one lane and where we were basically parked for 30 minutes. Then I took the wrong road and then we dropped Monica at her Dad’s place in Santa Ana ... and finally got home about 6 hours later! Oh, we all had to get out of the car, again, on both sides of the border. Then we were stopped by cops twice to look through the car. I asked if they were targeting Canadian tourists and one cop said it was just a routine and random search.

I think I’ll be heading back in a few weeks. Deb is coming for a visit from Owen Sound and she wants to check out Antigua. There are so many interesting places to see and restaurants to eat at that the place never gets boring. I want to check out Hector’s with Michael.

A trip to Antigua and Barra de Santiago

2010-03-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

The Elkertons in Antigua

Antigua, Guatemala is a picture postcard perfect little town outside of Guatemala City. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site and the former capital of the entire Central America. It has lovely old Spanish colonial architecture, many quaint inns, and some great restaurants.

On my first few trips to El Salvador in 1996, when people would find out that I was visiting their country as a tourist, they would all say, "you have to go to Antigua." I would answer "but I am here to see El Salvador" and they would repeat, "you have to go to Antigua".

So I did and had an amazing trip. We did the bus trip package - leaving from San Benito on Tica or King Quality Bus Line to Guatemala City, then a transfer to Antigua, and we stayed at the Hotel Aurora. We have some nice pictures from there of the lovely courtyard full of flowers, the same place where Fatima’s parents went 30 years earlier.

Since then, I have visited Antigua 4 or 5 times and every trip was by bus and a lot of fun.

Having more visitors this year I thought I would brave the drive over, especially since I had a GPS that should take me from my door to the door of the hotel in Antigua.

Historically, the trip from San Salvador to Guatemala has been problematic with bandits holding up cars (and even buses) once over the border. The Guatemalan Government used to organize extra security (I think you could go from the border in an escorted convoy during the busy Easter holidays) and once the Guatemalan president took the bus across to show it was safe. More recently, the police have been stopping people asking for the payment of an entry fee or an exit customs fee. One friend routinely gets asked for $100 (and once was asked for $700 to cover a purchase and exportation of an outboard engine ... and when he said he didn’t have the cash, the cops said they could go to an ATM with him before finally settling on the $20 he had on him) but he is a gringo in a pick-up. Another friend who is part Salvadoran and part Guatemalan usually pays the cops about 30 Queztales or USD 4.00. Another friend from Montreal blasts down the highway in his nice SUV and has never been asked for money on his 5 trips to Antigua. So what to make of that? My friend theorizes that if you travel in a big SUV with tinted windows, the cops might think that you are important/connected and might not be willing to ask for a bribe.

So, I had Chris and Janet and their kids down and I decided to make the trip. My friend who works in an embassy in Guatemala was chiding me for being a wimp about the trip. She had made it herself with no problems but I’d like to point out that she was traveling with another car and I think they had diplomatic plates so were a far less appealing target for bandits.

We loaded the car and I wanted to leave plenty early so that we would hit the border in the morning. As it was, we didn’t get going until 9:30 a.m. The road to the border was no problem - the GPS was working fine and the highways in San Salvador are fast and in great shape. On the Salvadoran side, the immigration officer took our documents because he wanted to record some information for statistical purposes. Then we crossed the bridge and ran into a big outdoor market before we even reached Guatemalan immigration. Tuc Tuc’s (the little cabs powered by motorcycle engines) were going back and forth and a bunch of people were shouting at us to change USD for Quetzales. Fatima had very strongly cautioned me not to change money ... since they would know how much we had and might call ahead to have someone rob us. As it was, we had almost no cash since we planned to take out money from an ATM in Antigua.

So we waited behind a line of big 18 wheelers until other cars behind us just drove around them and through some pylons. I realized that it doesn’t pay to be polite and to wait in line when you can just go around. Once I passed the trucks, I realized that they were waiting for some other procedure that we cars didn’t have to follow. Our procedure was to drive to the immigration building and ... what was going on? There was no sign telling us what to do, there was no one in uniform telling us to stop or park or go in, just an old woman begging for money. So I stopped and went in to the building and there were 5 women and one guy working behind the open counter. I had the 4 Canadian passports along with my C-4 residency card. After a few minutes, one of the women decided to do some work and asked for the documents. I handed over the passports and my card and she said I needed my passport. I was under the impression that the card was good for the 4 countries listed on it (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador) but I was wrong and I was glad that I had brought my passport as well. So she looks at them, does some stamping and that’s that. Oh, the tourist card entering El Salvador is good for those countries as well.

I get back into the car and as we are leaving, other cars are just driving through and not stopping. I have no idea how the system works ... maybe it is a voluntary self-reporting system?

So back on the road and we are booting along. We pass one, then two, then three cop stops but we are not waved down. There is some construction along the way which slowed us down but we made it to Guatemala in about 4 hours. Much faster than the bus. So we drive into the city and we pass the Pricesmart (where I wanted to do some shopping - stuff is cheaper there and they have some stuff that we don’t get in the Pricesmarts in San Salvador) and some car dealships that I was supposed to drop in on to get some car parts. But I want to get to Antigua quickly so we are following the GPS and I miss a turn off and have to take another road to get back to the route but it goes through a guarded gatehouse so we do a tricky U-turn through 4 lines of traffic and then miss another turn off and finally get on the right road but it is pretty small and goes up and down on some extremely steep hills and through a forest ... and gets narrower ... and we pass a horse ... and even narrower ... and then we pass some chickens ... and when the road turns to dirt ... we know the GPS is lost. I should have stopped at the horse. Turns out it is bringing us to a barrio called Antigua in Guatemala City instead of the town of Antigua. We reprogram it and we are soon back in the middle of the bustling city and heading to the right Antigua.

Michael and me in with one of three volcanoes in the neighbourhood

Once there, I stop in on my friend Michael who lives and writes there. Check out his blog at http://paladin123.wordpress.com/ and his writings for the Examiner at http://www.examiner.com/x-22480-central-america-travel-examiner

We go to the hotel where reservations were made but my friends wanted one room that would sleep a family of four ... and of course they said that three was the max per room so we had to take two rooms. I refused to take the rooms and we went looking for another place. Now renting a room in Antigua is much easier when it is done well in advance and through a travel agency. We checked the Aurora (always full including this time) and finally went to El Carmen which is never full because it isn’t nearly as nice. It does have some okay rooms and a beautiful rooftop terrace and a hot tub with cold water but some of the rooms aren’t great. Anyways, we didn’t want to waste more time on hotel searching so we took the room there.

Big Gallo beers in the market

Then I parked the car and we went for a walk. To the Parque Central and then to the ATM I always use and then to the market. We went to the very back where all the food stalls are and very few gringos (although the town is full of ‘em) and had some giant Gallo beers and lots of food. Then I needed to buy some more white belts and Janet wanted some souvenirs so through the market and the hundreds of stalls.

Janet made this woman very happy by buying a pile of stuff

We found a nice woman with a big stall and bought a bunch of stuff from her. I was asked to negotiate prices for everyone and did what I always try to do - pick a price that I think is fair and negotiate to it. If I see something that I think is really cheap or underpriced, I’ll pay what they ask but there is a lot of room to negotiate in Guatemala. You may be presented with a huge runner or table cloth that they say took 3 months to make and that you can have it for $80. You can admire it and say no thanks. Then they’ll follow you and say $60. If you say no again, they’ll offer it for $40.

Check out Nicole's yellow shoes!

So out of the market and Nicole spies some really cute yellow shoes - very Twiggyish - so I bought them for her and she proudly sported those shoes for the rest of the trip.

In Parque Central before being attacked by vendors

We went back to Parque Central and came across the indigenous women selling stuff out of bags - mostly jewelry and woven goods. Interestingly, many of those women spoke quite good English. We sat down to take a picture and a vendor came up, and then two, then five ... then the cops came to bust up the sale. They were quite stern and we eventually had four cops hassling the ladies. I asked the friendliest looking one what was the problem and he said that the park wasn’t for commercial purposes and they didn’t want it turning into a market. I said I understood so we concluded our deal and they shooed away the ladies. We walked to end of the park by the big white church and sat down and were approached again by the ladies and of course the cops came back ... I think we were being followed by everyone.

The view from our table at the Welton.

That night, we walked around looking for a place to eat. I think Nicholas has closed so we ended up at the Welton. Beautiful dining room and we took a covered table by the pool. The water was covered in the petals of a hundred roses and floating candles. Dinner was fantastic although Tyler ordered the most expensive meal on the menu - something my son used to do and which I find annoying - I swear, I should only take kids to places with a kids menu. But we all enjoyed our food - I had the lamb - and the wine was great and the service excellent.

Next day, I had breakfast with Michael at a very charming, large and empty restaurant. Met up with the family and we did some more walking around before jumping in the truck and heading back to San Salvador. We wanted to leave early since we were heading to a beach house we had rented from Manolo at the Barra de Santiago which is very close to the Guatemalan border before the Acajutla cargo and fishing port. We followed the GPS out of town between the two big volcanoes but it kept us on a very slow cobblestone road that was really going up and down. We knew the generally direction was good but I think the programming could have been better and should have put us on a parallel and faster asphalt road. But we got out of the city and headed for the coastal border crossing.

Really beautiful rolling hills and nice roads. We stopped at a shop to stock up on Guatemalan beer (they have a good dark bock called Moza) for the beach house. There were a bunch of dodgy looking drunk guys on the lawn of the store and we watched them and they watched us but we drove away without any problems. So we are close to the border and we finally get stopped by the cops! There are about 8 of them at a crossroads and one guy has a big automatic assault rifle and we are asked for our documents. They ask Chris to open the glove compartment and they look inside the car and ask to see inside Nicole’s back pack. I explain to the cops that they are Canadian tourists and they seem satisfied by that so they smile and say we can go.

Back on the road and we hit the border, more trucks, more driving around trucks, then we get stopped by Salvadoran immigration who really take their time asking us questions and recording all the info on the passports. As we are stopped there, every vehicle going back a few hundred feet drives past us with some of them not stopping at all including several big trailer trucks that have to squeeze by us on the bridge with just inches between them and my vehicle and the immigration officer standing beside me. So after getting all the info, they smile and say we can go.

Another half an hour and our GPS tells us to turn off to the bumpiest road I have seen in my life. It is completely embedded with round river rocks and it goes for about 20 minutes! Then dirt road, then paved road, then dirt road, then nice paving stones ... and we finally get to the turn off and have to drive down a beach to get to the house. Of course the directions are vague and I have to stop a few times and we get stuck twice and need a push ... and watch out for that dog ... and is that our place or is that our place, and no one is answering their cell phone. Warning lights are going off on my dash saying the automatic transmission is getting too hot and the differential light is on ... don’t know why. We finally get there and we are near the end of a beautiful open peninsula of sand. You can see it at the beginning of Manolo’s video at http://www.vimeo.com/4403298

The big open beach at Barra de Santiago

Then a day of splashing in the ocean, grilled freshly caught red snapper, more giant shrimps than we can eat, lots of beers, pitchers of Cuba Libres ... what a nice life.

Cuba Libres on the beach ... thanks Janet!

The custodians (slash fishermen slash boat tour guide) took my car out to get the shrimp and then to drive one guy home and they tell me that the front plastic underbody seems to have been ripped off and was lying on the beach. Hmm, don’t know if I did that or if they did that. I am thankful that they found it though. My mechanic suspects that it wasn’t attached properly - there are ten places for plastic fasteners and I don’t think they were all used. If Honda designs something for ten fasteners ... it needs ten fasteners.

A boat ride in the salt water estuary behind the beach house

We load up the car the next day and I make the fast run down the beach following the example of the guys - counterintuitively, we drive in the tire ruts of other trucks and not on flat sand. We also don’t try to drive on the wet sand near the ocean (don’t want to get stuck in that with the tide coming in). With the engine gunning, we make it to the road and enjoy another 20 minutes of severe bumps before we get back on the highway and then back home.

Fun trip!

Parques Boqueron and Impossible

2010-02-27T08:18:00.000-08:00

New Years Day at Parque Boqueron - the volcanic crater above San Salvador

I am finally seeing more of this country! Naturally, it is a result of hosting visitors here and it has been a busy winter. First John came down from Ottawa via Guate for a few days. Then Brian from DF stopped off here from Honduras. Then Nadia came down from Owen Sound for a week of R&R after doing the single-mom thing for two years without a break. Yeah Nadia! Then Matt stopped in from between Guatemala and Honduras and had some overlap with the Chris, Janet, Tyler and Nicole who came down from Toronto for a week of sun and seeing and doing everything they could.

El Salvador is the Central American hub for Taca Airlines, the biggest regional carrier with Copa out of Panama being their biggest competition. Both are pretty good airlines and I would have to say that Copa provides better service although Taca has a better frequent flyer program and direct flights to Toronto. Both have generous baggage allowances although they can be picky if you are even a little over (which is par for the course with most airlines flirting with insolvency).

Anyways, so this is why El Salvador is a popular place for people to stop over. My friend Deb is coming back for a visit but is going to see her son in Ecuador first ... but it is a great flight from (I think) Toronto to San Salvador to San Jose to Quito and she is stopping over for a week on her way back. Also, San Salvador is so close to Guatemala City but more on that later.

With all of these people coming to visit this year, I thought it would be a good idea to get to know the country a bit more. I had only visited Suchitoto once and Cobanos most weekends for golf at Veraneras and once to the adjacent Decameron resort.

The view of the city from the big wooden pupusaria

So the first place we went to visit was Parque Boqueron which is at the top of the big volcanic crater beside the really big pointy volcano overlooking San Salvador. In fact, we live on the slope of these volcanoes. We went up with a friend, who knew the way, on New Years Day. He told me that the road up had recently been paved which made for a much nicer and more comfortable trip up. On this day it was very, very crowded. You enter off the main road from Merliot which crosses the top of the big mall Plaza Merliot and then take a funny left turn - but it is sign posted pretty well. As we climbed up the hill, the going got really slow with a lot of parked cars. At one point by a church, we had to back up to let a convoy of cars come down. A good thing as one driver told us that there was a lot of parking at the top and to keep on going. So we drove and drove and probably passed about 100 cars and many people hoofing it up the hill. At the very top, we turned into the parking lot and found about 15 spaces open in a parking lot that held 25 cars! So we parked and made our way down to the entrance but the security guard who had let us into the gated lot said the park was closed! So instead of paying a dollar each and going up through the entrance path, we paid nothing and went up the exit path along with a bunch of other people. We made it to the top and had a great view of the giant crater as the sun set over the lip. There were still a few hundred people up and around as we made our way down. Then some friends who we were supposed to meet pulled up (now well past the 5:00 closing time) but they went up the exit path to take a look as well. On the way out, I tipped the guard a few bucks and everyone was happy. We stopped at a café on the way down for some tepid coffee and some big tasty pupusas.

My next trip up was with Nadia and my new GPS. I friend bought a Garmin Nuvi at a Boxing Day sale and sent it down with Nad. Then Ben Quan of http://www.elsalvadorgps.com/ came by my place and programmed an SD chip to put into the unit. The system works fine ... if you can input the exact address in the right format - something which can be quite challenging. For example, if you wanted to put Segunda Avenida Norte, you have to type in 2a Ave Nte - not 2da Ave Nte or Avenidad or Norte. And Primera Calle Poniente is 1a Calle Pte.

We couldn’t find the right input address so we missed the turn off and ended up going up and over the mountain and as we were descending, we asked for directions and they told us to turn around. We finally got there and I was able to input the exact coordinate so now I can find it more easily. This time, we went up on a weekday afternoon and instead of hundreds of people ... there were ... just two others.

. Nadia on the footpath

It was quite nice and we took our time on the short climb up to the lip and through the 4 different observation sites.

Calais lilies growing on top of the mountain

There are signs posted describing some of the flora and there are many varieties of flowers to see and smell, including Calais Lilies ... which I thought were from northern France so go figure. You used to be able to walk down into the crater but I think the path was damaged and it is crazy deep so never mind.

Mountain berries

On the way out, there are people selling artesanal goods and fresh picked mountain raspberries (fuzzy!), blackberries (super tart), strawberries, Calais Lilies, Orchids and other flowers.

At the fancy place ... didn't get the name ... what a crappy blog

Instead of the café with the tepid coffee and incredible view obscured by trees, we stopped at a very nice and fancy place with a gourmet menu, beautiful landscaping, and amazing views. Don't remember the name but it is the one with all the big fancy signs. We had yuppie coffees and a delicious fig pie with ice cream.

Fig pie a la mode

On my next trip up with the Chris and Janet, we had an equally nice time and Janet kindly bought a mess of berries and flowers for our house. We stopped further down at a big wooden platform and had coffee and pupusas ... quite delicious but we had just the beans and cheese ones (I think if you are going to eat at a new pupuseria, which may be somewhat dubious, avoid the pork).

It was too hazy to see our apartment but we got a nice view of the sprawling city.

Eating delicious pupusas at the big wooden place ... again, didn't get the name

As I mentioned, Chris and Janet wanted to see and do everything they could so I made arrangements with Manolo of Impossible Tours to take them on a hike. I met Manolo through a mutual friend Paige who writes guidebooks for Lonely Planet and Norton and she urged me to visit Manolo’s town of Tacuba and the hotsprings hotel he manages. Check out Manolo’s video and website at:

http://www.vimeo.com/4403298

http://www.imposibletours.com/

Chris and Janet had scouted out some other trips on the Internet and there were some adventure tours being offered with a driver and lodgings but they weren’t that cheap ($300 for three days for each adult). I figured a day trip out and back would work. I called Manolo and he said no problems and whenever. He’s a very laid back dude and didn’t seem to be that busy so he was more than happy to work around our schedule. I think we called him a few days before we showed up and he and Alejandro were waiting for us.

The view from the courtyard of the guest rooms at Manolo's Hostel

The trip from San Salvador only took a few hours and we had a nice drive through Santa Tecla, Lourdes, Ahuachapan, and then to Tacuba. The roads are in perfect shape and are fast. The GPS got us to this small town perched on a volcanic mountain range and then we called Manolo’s parent’s hostel and they guided us to their place. Once we got there, the GPS recognized the Hostel but, of course, we never inputted the exact name (as it was recorded) so we couldn’t actually find it in the system until we got there. Maybe it would be better to get to the town first and then do a hotel or restaurant search and it will pop up the names of all the nearby places.

Manolo’s parent’s place is called "Hostal Mama Y Papa Manolo" on the GPS. It is a lovely and quaint 5 bedroom place that Frommer’s says costs from $5 to $15 a night (dorm bed or private room). It was surprisingly empty when we got there .... a strange occurrence we noticed at almost every tourism hotel we came across.

Manolo, Chris, Nicole and Tyler

Manolo offers many different kinds of hikes and will tailor a trip to your needs. My friends wanted to see a coffee finca and hike down to a big waterfall. I think Manolo said it was an hour down and an hour up ... but this guy is really fit and Chris and Janet had their kids. So they packed up water bottles and took off for Parque Imposible in the white Forerunner. I had made some sandwiches for everyone and Manolo got a bit pissed at me - he said that the next time I invited him to my house for dinner, he was going to bring his own food. Funny guy.The park was named this because it used to be next to impossible to travel through including a gorge and a path that claimed many lives. There is a bridge on the gorge now and it is now a National Park.

My view from the hammock

With my bad knees, I decided not to go on the hike and spent the afternoon in a hammock, making peace with the family of ducks living in the garden, and working on my iTouch (Manolo has wireless at the Hostal). So between checking my E-mails and using my cell phone, I was able to take care of some business I had in Toronto. Communication infrastructure in El Salvador is amazing.

No fear! Chris jumping in.

So a few hours later, they returned and it was a good thing I didn’t go on the hike. It was more like one hour down and two hours up and was quite grueling. For Manolo, it was a walk to the corner store. They had a great time and were able to jump into the waterfalls and saw a lot of flora and fauna that Manolo was able to describe including some rare lizzards and frogs.

Safe landing! Swimming hole, diving pool, outdoor shower ... all in one.

On the way back, we stopped at a stand selling honey for $3 a bottle (they used old booze bottles) and we tried it. It was delicious and they said that the bees get the nectar from coffee flowers! I don’t know if this is true but the honey was really light and clean with a floral ginger taste. We bought three bottles.

Korean Food in Central America

2010-02-17T17:44:00.000-08:00

Bamchan in San Salvador

This is the second part of my blog on Asian food in Latin America. I was deriding the quality of sushi in these parts and wanted to go catch my own fish. Dan churning up the water in his fishing boat 20 miles off the coast of El Salvador.

Went out with my friend Dan on his nice little boat. About five miles out of Acajutla port, he tells me to take the wheel ... fun but a bit nerve wracking since we were really booting along, looking for drifting wood (where the fish congregate) and I didn’t want to run over some submerged tree or run over one of the many many sea turtles we saw out there. Alas, 5 hours later and going out as far as 20 miles, we didn’t catch anything.

Sushi Handrolls at Home

Had a sushi party at the house for MJ’s 25^th birthday. Invited about a dozen people and had about 10 show up. Again, I didn’t want to risk raw fish but I think I may be overly paranoid. The fish is, in fact, iced when it is caught (all the small fishing boats going out from Acajutla put ice in their holds) so I should just suck it up and buy some. I did get some very nice nice fresh shrimp at the Mercado Antiguo Cuscutlan from the niece of Maurita, the woman at whose big food stand I eat at once a week. I’ll ask the niece the next time I see her and hope she can assure me that the fish is super fresh. I used some Scottish smoked salmon from Pricesmart which is fine albeit a bit salty. That and very nice creamy avocado, cucumbers, tamago (egg), and red peppers made for very nice hand rolls ... and the rice worked out pretty well.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food very much although I think they were more used to the typical salmon and tuna sushi and "creative" rolls. Oh, and we started with bacon wrapped figs (canned and in syrup but usable) with a mascarpone dip and veggies with an awesome dip that Nadia (visiting from Owen Sound) made for us with mayo, sour cream, chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, and green onions. Went to Club Nvy where the poorly dressed doorman looked me up and down and said "Members only". Had to fake being friends with the owner to get in but we did and ended up in the VIP room and drank two bottles of Absolut ... ouch! And tacos and burritos at 4 in the morning.

Yeah Baby ... Nad and me in the VIP lounge.

So this was okay sushi and I am certainly nowhere near even being a kitchen helper in a good sushi restaurant although I am probably close to the level of a mall or supermarket sushi kiosk.

More Soju? Yes please!

While the lack of good/great sushi in Latin America may be lamentable, the Korean food rocks! I have had great Korean in Panama and there are two excellent places here in San Salvador. Pabelion Coreano is my favourite place and has gas cookers on the tables.

As I think I mentioned earlier, sushi is trendy and people will say they like it even though they may only like the idea of it (or maybe just funny rolls with no raw fish and very little nori). The Korean food here is decidedly not trendy and the three restaurants I have eaten at were owned by Koreans with Korean cooks serving to mostly Korean clients.

Mmmm, the porky goodness of Sam-gyup-sal.

The Pabelion has cold Soju for $7 a bottle and lots of delicious bam chan. We usually get the bulgogee, the sam gyup sal, and a few spicy soups. The grilled meats come with big chunks of raw garlic and jalapeno peppers ... which I find a lot hotter than the standard Korean green chillis.

Note the chunks of garlic and jalapeno rings behind the pork ... sesame oil and ko-chu-chang dip

If I get carried away, I’ll eat all the jalapenos on the table and will be up all night with a burning stomach ... but it is usually worth it. The also put out the cold face cloth in case you get carried away with the peppers and it is nice on a hot evening.

BBQ Chicken ... Korean style.

MJ is fond of the spicy fried bbq chicken and the bi-bim-bop is good. They have a lot of other stuff on the menu but we really like our regular stuff so I haven’t been that adventurous.

And they have these amazing frozen melon flavoured popsicles from Korea ... don’t know how they can ship frozen stuff from Korea to Guatemala to San Salvador but it is pretty impressive.

The restaurant also sells Korean food, a lot of it purchased in Guatemala City and brought over here. I usually get my staples in Toronto but I do buy the kimchee and tofu at the restaurant. The owner Alex is very hospitable as is the waitress there.

U-kae-jang and more soju

What else can I say? You can smoke cigs or cigars there, they have other kinds of Korean liquor, they serve sashimi, and it is full of old Korean golfers on Sunday night (I know as I saw them on the golf course earlier that day ... which must make me an old Korean golfer too).

Fatima and Nad enjoying the Bamcham

We usually have some bottles of the straight Soju and do a pitcher of lemon Soju. As far as I know, this is only a Toronto/Korean thing. You get a small pitcher full of ice, add the juice of 2-3 fresh limes, add the Soju and top it off with Sprite and serve in the small glasses. A refreshing beverage!

I usually go with a bag of cigars and the last time I was there, Alex asked if one of his Korean friends could have a cigar. Then a woman grabbed me and asked me if I was married. I asked her if she had a single daughter and she said she did so I said I was married. Then tow others asked for cigars including one woman who wanted a big one ... I was too drunk and polite to say no.

So I have only tried Korean food in Panama and El Salvador but I'll try to get to a place in Guatemala City and give you a report on that. For now, I can say that it is some of the best Asian food in the region and certainly some of the most authentic. And gotta love that cheap Soju.

Holidays and Havana

2010-02-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

Roasted Ayote (squash) with Brussels Sprouts with Truffle Oil

at the Christmas dinner

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. Christmas and New Years were busy with the big family dinners. We didn’t get too ambitious this year - just the regular roast turkey and a big roast beef. We have a small oven so we brought the 15 lb top sirloin roast to a relative’s house to cook with firm instructions to cook it on low heat for 5 hours and followed up with a few phone calls ... only to get back there to find a 350 degree oven and a black piece of meat that had shrunk to half its size. Luckily, it was USDA Choice grade with a big fat cap so it was still edible and somewhat tender even though it was super well done.

The funniest part of the day ... watching the little grand-kids

beating the crap out of the Frosty Pinata.

The lovely cousins getting down after the dinner. Purple was the "in" colour.

On New Years, I felt lazy so bought a smoked and precooked Butterball turkey which only had to be warmed up. A cousin made a delicious sauce/gravy from drippings and tomato puree. And we assembled the quite popular and usually somewhat mediocre pan con pavo. But with the moist hot turkey, the fresh white bun (from Super Selectos), the cold and crisp lettuce and cucumber, and the hot gravy poured on at the last minute ... WOW! It was frickin delicious.

Walking along the Malecon on a cold and blustery day.

Then I had to head to Cuba for business and would have preferred a quick one week visit but Fatima wanted to visit friends, take some classes, and relax (i.e. sleep ridiculous amounts of hours) so we went for 15 days. We had a good time but, there is a dirty little secret that travel agents don’t mention, the weather in Cuba between mid December to mid January can be terrible. How terrible you ask? How about 3.5 Celcius with no heating! We couldn’t find the blankets in the apartment so it was kind of frigid. Rain, cold and gray for at least 8 of the days.

The view from the Saratoga Hotel.

Luckily, I had purchased 200 raffle tickets for the International School’s fund-raising golf tourney and won a weekend in the Hotel Saratoga. They kindly upgraded us to a junior suite and we had a lovely view over Prado and the Capitolio. So on the coldest nights of the year, we were under a bunch of warm blankets with lots of hot water for long soaks. The service was fantastic and, in a country where you hear "no se puede" (translates to "you can’t") ALL the time, we never heard it once in the hotel and they accommodated every request we had. We even asked if we could invite some Cuban friends up to our room to play dominoes ... and they would have had to register them ... but the receptionist suggested we go to the second floor bar to play. We did and we smoked cigars and even drank our own rum! The bar even provided us with glasses and ice. Room service was great as were the buffet breakfasts.

Flamenco at the Meson with Hanoi, Rita, Dayana, Me, Angela, Warren, Vicky and Brian.

My friend Warren managed to grab a cheap flight down to Cuba so we met up with him and saw Grupo Ecos at Le Meson de la Flota. We are joined here by my old business partner Brian and his wife Dayana who were visiting from DF in Mexico. Pretty good food, nice wines and great dance and music. Also chicken at El Aljibe, some seafood at Nardos, and Tien Tan in barrio chino.

The spread at the Tien Tan. Lots of shrimp and spicy Mapo-tofu!

We were on the second floor and there was a table of about 20 young Chinese students who got very loud and very drunk with some beer drinking games. They seemed to relish the opportunity to be around mostly Asians and just be themselves in such a very different country. The food, as always, was great.

Had the requisite taco and domino night at Delia’s. She was still away in Italy on tour but Jose graciously agreed to co-host and picked up the pork leg which his Dad cooked downstairs. So we did a pulled pork in cochinito pibil sauce, Fatima made a huge mess’o refried beans from scratch, we had plenty of fresh tortillas, and lots of pico de gallo and cheese. I had gone to the store to buy jalapenos and took a picture of the shelf. A big grocery store with not a lot of selection but they have tons of jalapenos since no one every buys it. Same with the Tobasco sauce - and I had met with the McIlhenny people at the big US food show and asked if he was selling a lot - he wasn’t very friendly and didn’t seem to have a clue that most Cubans don’t use hot sauce ... and probably won’t pay $3.75 (or a week’s salary) for a single bottle!

Had to drive 10 miles to find a supermarket with eggs but my local place had unlimited sauerkraut.

I also took a picture of the canned sauerkraut ... which seemed like another funny thing to stock ... when a store worker came over and said "no se puede tomar fotos" and I said "seguro" and gave him a snappy salute. So I bought two cans of jalapenos and chopped them up with onions ... and that was the very first thing to go. I have been a good culinary influence on the gang in Vedado.

Matt and Jana destroying Jose and Maylin.

The dinner was quite good and we had a lot of food! Grilled a couple of big whole fish and did some shrimp skewers in a Goan fish curry sauce. Then to dominoes! Matt and Jana almost never play but they managed to reel off 7 victories in a row playing a diabolical game of "bota gorda" which confounded most of their opponents. Then the heavy hitters sat down to get them off the table but they too lost! With two young kids at home, they eventually had to head home but they left undefeated. Fatima was playing against me with Jose’s new girlfriend and I got badly spanked, repeatedly, until we left at around 4:00 am.

Hanoi making Mojitos for Warren and myself at the Hotel Raquel.

Saw quite a bit of my friend Hanoi and his new girlfriend Rita who is a newly graduated computer programmer and artist. We saw her at the amazing new Artesan’s fair building in Old Havana. The feria used to be near the Cathedral Square where all the tourists go but they moved it to an old harbour warehouse.

Warren outside the Artisans' Fair

It is much nicer and the vendors rent out stands which have locks on them so they don’t have to drag everything there and back again each day ... but it is pretty far from anything else so they get less business. Still, an impressive building and a great hard currency vacuum for the Government. Tourist walks in and changes Euros or CAD for the local CUC at the bank in the building. Then tourist buys amazing art work, wood carving, clothing or cigar related stuff and pays in CUC. Vendor makes money and pays about $200 a month for the stand.

The open harbour side of the complex.

There must be a few hundred stands there and there is a waiting list to get in. And there are clean washrooms, cafes, and restaurants in the complex and the workers stay warm and dry.

The roosters that will be painted on tiles.

I found an artist painting these great roosters and got him to paint six of the on ceramic tiles for our kitchen - I’ll pick them up when I am back in April.

Oddly, not many taxis in front so we took a Coco Taxi ride back to Vedado along the chilly Malecon.

We also commissioned Rita to do a painting for us ... and asked for a big one. She showed up the last day we were there, very sleepy from working and painting all week, with a gorgeous 1 x 2 metre abstract. We bought some other artwork and got the requisite customs certificates. A small painting cost us CUC$2 plus $15 while Rita got a different certificate for just CUC$2 avoiding a potential $70 charge for the big canvas. A wee bit of a worry leaving and having to explain why we paid $17 for the little tourist painting while we only paid $2 for the major work. So to the airport with certificates in hand and fully expecting to have to unroll the giant canvas ... but the customs woman in charge was fast asleep at her desk behind the x-ray machines. Mind you, it was 6:30 a.m. so I don’t think anyone could fault her.

And here is the painting in our living room. It is entitled "Sofa 30".

Sushi in Latin America

2009-12-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

Big billboard for sushi ... look, colourful. The San Salvador Volcano in the background.

Fifteen years in Latin America and I am still looking for a good place for sushi. In Cuba, I ate at the high-end sushi resturant, Sakura, at the Tocororo restaurant. A very expensive place where I once had a lunch for four people that included scotches, steaks, lobster, cigars and Baileys and it was about $300 or 20 times the average Cuban salary. I heard that the Cuban sushi chefs were trained by personnel from the Japanese Embassy who probably wanted a second place in the country to eat sushi. The waitress told the chef that an Asian was out front so he came out and asked "Parece sushi?" to which I answered, "Si, parece." Roughly translated, he asked if it seemed like sushi and I said yes, it seemed like it. Actually, the fish wasn’t fresh and the rice was so poorly made, I could have made it.

This is one of the problems with sushi - it isn’t about proximity to the ocean, it is about how good the transportation is and the skill and standards of the chef. Cuba is an island and you can have a fish caught 10 miles from the restaurant but by the time it gets there, it won’t be sushi grade. You can find better fish in Kansas City than in Havana. That fish comes out of the ocean after a fight and it has to be gutted and put into ice right away. If it is left on the deck for even a few hours, you don’t want to eat it.

Hand roll ingredients. Looks good but no raw fish!

So that is Cuba. I was in Panama and called the Japanese Embassy to ask where they ate sushi and I was given the name of a place. We went and the sashimi was leaking water on the plate as it defrosted. The chef wasn’t Japanese and he wasn’t trained by a Japanese. The sushi was terrible.

In El Salvador, I ate at a high end place where we sat at low tables in a tatami room. I vaguely remember that the sushi was mediocre (a lot of varieties but nothing really fresh) but I do remember the cockroach that crossed our table. More recently, we have seen the entry of Sushi Itto, a chain out of Mexico, whose sushi is at the level of a North American shopping mall food court or a big supermarket. Pretty amazing that sushi is catching on in a country that still mostly eats rice, beans and corn tortillas. This place is fine if you think Taco Bell is good Mexican food or Papa John’s is good Italian. I would really like to know how many times a Sushi Itto chef has said "No, I won’t use that fish because it isn’t fresh enough." So if you liked the sushi here, I strongly recommend that you see a primer on Japanese culture and sushi at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCpbBVthD7o (I’m sorry to say this but this includes you Tracey).

Sushi chefs taking a break in San Benito

Then went to another place called 503 in the Zona Rosa for an all you can eat sushi night (what was I thinking?) and they, shockingly, used Chinese soy sauce! Holy crap ... that is like using ketchup for a spaghetti sauce or a wine cooler in a coq au vin. There is another place run by a Japanese guy called Tanoshi - the food is okay although the fish isn’t great, my maki was popping open on my plate, and it was too expensive.

Lizette modelling a hand roll

I am really left to making it myself. While I am Korean, my parents and I were born in Japan so they know their Japanese food. They spent 30 years there and me, only 3, but I certainly fanned my share of sushi rice for my Mom and my Dad is a semi-professional sushi fish cutter. My rice is pretty good now (and I no longer have to bring the rice from Toronto to Havana in my baggage ... I can now buy it at the Korean restaurant/store in San Salvador or drive to Guatemala City where there is a bigger distributor). We’ve made sushi a few times, either maki with cooked salmon or hand rolls with shrimp, veggies and smoke salmon.

But getting good raw fish? Haven’t seen any yet. I don’t trust anything in any fish market or even by the seashore so I am planning on going fishing next week on my friend Dan’s boat and I will bring a cooler full of ice. He said the Dorado (Mahi-Mahi or Dolphin Fish) are running but I am hoping to catch a small Yellowtail Tuna.

If I do catch some nice fish, I plan to filet it, bag it, and ice it and drive it back into town. When I am back, I will freeze some and give some away to some sushi aficionados that I know who will appreciate it as well as to the chefs of my favourite Thai and Korean restaurants and then I will hold a huge sushi/sashimi party!

Sorry, not many food photos ... I don’t bother when the food is bad. But wait for my next blog on ... Korean food where the planets will align, garlic is melded with chillies, and all will be right with the world.

Buying a Car

2009-11-25T14:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, I bought this car. Ain't she a beaut!

I mentioned in a previous blog, there are three types of places to buy cars in El Salvador. First, new from a dealer. Second, used from a dealer. And third, from a private seller. You can find the last category in the newspaper (http://www.laprensagrafica.com/ has a good on-line site and http://clasificados.elsalvador.com/ has a crappy one), on certain streets where sellers gather, or garages/private lots.

We decided to buy a salvaged vehicle from the States because it was the cheapest option, it creates some wealth and employment here, and keeps money away from the rich and greedy owners of the big car dealerships. We met with several sellers and discovered that these guys often charge whatever they think they can get. Now that may make me sound naive but I think it is better to make a fair profit and to charge a fair amount. The one place I went to where the guy asked for a ridiculous amount ($6,000 more than another place for the same car and it even had more miles on it) was full of cars and I wouldn’t trust anything he said to me.

Just about to lose the sunroof. And nice of them to protect the stereo and XM Radio (which doesn't work in El Salvador)

Since I have so many people visiting this winter, I needed a vehicle that could hold 7 people (that would be the three of us with a family of 4 visiting). We looked in the papers and visited some lots and asked around. My friend Chele told me that his friend Vinicio was selling a 2006 Honda Pilot in perfect condition. This SUV seats 8 and has a relatively efficient V-Tec 6 with 40,000 miles on it. The car has leather, XM Radio (which I don’t think works as far south as El Salvador), rear a/c, no ashtray, lots of cupholders and I am hoping inputs for an iPod. We went to see it a week later and it was far from being in perfect condition - it was still completely disassembled. Vinicio was quite frank about the original condition of the car and even gave me photos he took when the car was delivered to him here.

So the vehicle was originally sold by Ralph Shomp Automotive in Littleton, Colorado and was a rollover. No structural damage so I am guessing it slid on some ice and rolled into a ditch with some gravel (there are gravel dimples on one panel). The car was obviously a write-off and instead of being cut up and sold for parts, it was bought at auction and brought down here. Then it was repaired in a shop not owned by Vinicio (which probably increased the cost of repairs somewhat) and was about a month late in completion (which is normal here) from the estimated time. He seemed reasonable although, at one point, he asked for a deposit and I laughed and said no way. That may have bought me a notarized document obligating him to sell the car to me ... but this document would only be enforceable after a few years in court so there was no point.

Nice gravel pebbling.

After the initial repair, he car looked great but the interior finishing wasn’t very good. When the windshield broke, the dashboard and various surfaces got scratched up. This can be sanded and painted to look like new. Also, the centre armrest was scuffed so I asked them to reupholster (they do a great job with leather in this country). The one unfortunate part was they had to replace the roof and they couldn’t get one with a sunroof so the interior fit isn’t as good as it could be.

I had the chasis laser checked and an alignment done. Another mechanic checked the engine and compression and all that is good. The tires are good - not the same but the front two and the back two match. The one point of contention was the fact that it came with only one keyless remote. I asked them to provide two keys and two remotes but they said it would be too expensive. They said it normally costs $250 but they could get me one for $150. I checked online and they are $75 shipped to Canada. I also spoke with my mechanic and he said that the dealer here (again with the Grupo Q) charges a lot but he said that he knows businesses that do keys and program transponders and keyless entry so it should be a lot more reasonable. BTW, the guy is a good and honest mechanic if you need someone. He’ll drive to your place, drive off with your car, and bring it back fixed. He just fixed the bumper on the Sentra and changed a belt and belt tensor for $50 all-in ($20 for 2-3 hours of labour).

All the windows and tailouts gone, rust starting to form.

They fixed the dash and most of the interior but they said that they couldn’t do anything more with the interior ceiling. It still had the lower front section where the sunroof and hardware went - they just inserted some foam and recovered the whole thing with new cloth. I really didn’t like having the lower ceiling (and less headroom) for no reason so negotiated with them to re-do it. Vinicio’s partner Luis said that their budget was so tight they couldn’t do it and was acting pissed off at how picky I was being. The thing is, we saw two other cars that were rebuilt and they were perfect - you couldn’t tell that they had ever been in an accident. So I told Luis that if he had another buyer, to sell it to them. He said he didn’t but called his interior guy and found out that the new ceiling was only $80 so I told him I would pay it.

Bondo, expertly applied.

That was Thursday and they said the car would be ready by Saturday. I spoke to them on Saturday and asked to see the car but they said it was put away and they couldn’t get it until Monday. Then they did something strange - they said that they wanted me to be ready to pay for the car on Monday morning and they didn’t want any more complications from me and said that I could do all the insurance stuff after the transfer. I got pissed off since I have been patiently waiting and they were a month late from their original date. I told him that I wouldn’t close until everything was to my satisfaction and the insurance was in place. Frankly, I was ready to walk away.

Monday morning comes by and no car and no call. I call them at 11:00 and Vinicio says they are having problems with the upholsterer and they’ll get back to me. He actually apologized for putting pressure on me to close when he turned out to not be able to do so. I called again on Tuesday morning and he said he was on his way to the shop and they were hoping to bring the car around noon. No car, no call.

MJ demonstrating the vehicle in the bodyshop.

At this point, I didn’t feel any obligation to buy the car. Unless it is perfect (or close to), I was going elsewhere. I guess this is the tradeoff that I picked - I have guys who are relatively new to this business (this is only their 5^th car) so they are charging me less but the work isn’t as good and it certainly isn’t being done efficiently.

Well, after two days of no calls, I was guessing that they had problems with the last repairs or were trying to sell to another buyer. But I got a call early Wednesday saying the car was ready. Surprisingly, it was! The interior ceiling was redone and looked much better. There were still a few things that were off - like the vanity mirror lights which had not been working and then were working were, again, not working. Turns out that the upholsterer did a bad job the first time around so they made him do it again and it took a couple of days.

In the paint and finishing shop ... starting to look better.

We brought it to the insurance company inspection centre and there was no line-up and it was done in 20 minutes. I got a nice mug of coffee (and got to keep the mug) and was told the car was fine but that the front airbags were turned off after the side curtain bags deployed during the rollover and I would have to get this reset by Honda. Then off to the insurance agent Edgardo Cordova at Tecni Seguros who completed the paperwork in about 15 minutes and I was insured. Edgardo speaks perfect English and I highly recommend that you go to him for your insurance needs (health, auto and home). He gave me quotes and policy comparisons from 5 different companies and I was able to insure the Pilot for $518 per year with no deductible if I use the company’s repair shop. Edgardo can be reached at ecordova@tecniseguros.com. Incidentally, by using an agent, we saved a lot of money. We are paying a lot less for the Honda than we did when we got our then two year old Sentra insured.

Still some scratches and damage from the broken windshield and roll-over.

Then back to the apartment to pick up Fatima who had gone to the bank to get a certified cheque and then to Metro Sur Mall to meet at a notary to do the bill of sale. That cost $12 and they will register it with the government and give us the ownership card for $15 with a governmental fee of $29.

So after some minor hassles, we have a nice newish car that seats 8. The experience wasn’t bad although it did require some patience and I had to be able to walk away from the deal if they couldn’t deliver what was promised. There is a 3 month warranty but I don’t know if they will want to do any more work for the price. They are now working on a 2007 Honda CR-V if anyone is in the market for a vehicle.

The finished product.

The last owner left a CD of The Blackthorn Project "The Bluing of the Sky" so if you know anyone in Littleton Colorado who rolled over a Pilot, ask them if they want their CD back.

GSBS Relief and Aid Trip

2009-11-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks for everyone who has contributed money to Good Smoke Bad Smoke!

Thank you to Darren, Brenda & Sean, Jeff & Kath, Tracy & Chris, Ian, Caroline and Mom & Dad in their and Misa's name for sending the money. And thanks to Rob, Jin, Warren, Tom, Pierre, Rey and Yung Suk for agreeing to send money which I look forward to getting soon.

That is a commitment for about USD1,150!

I heard from my friend Eric that his housekeeper’s (Maria) family’s pueblo was badly hit by the storm. I also found out that the seven homes in the little community all cooked with wood so this was a perfect opportunity to both provide a gas stove and to help in disaster relief.

My son Elliot was visiting and he wanted to help so went back to the store ACACSA (Asociacion Cooperativa de Ahorro Credito y Comercializacion Salvadoreana de R.L.) and told the cashier that I had purchased a stove there a week before and wanted to speak to the manager or owner. She had a suspicious look on her face and asked why. When I told her that I wanted to buy ten stoves for hurricane relief, her expression changed completely and she called the manager down. It took a while but he finally came down and I explained that I wanted to buy at least ten stoves and could they give me a discount or maybe a free stove or two. He said he had to ask upstairs first. I thought they might give a volume discount but didn’t think the disaster relief argument would work but ... they came back and said they would reduce the price! In the end, I saved $35 dollars and was able to get 10 stoves for $300. They also gave us some free water to drink! I got them to agree to this price if I could get the money to buy more stoves. Thank you ACACSA!

The guys at ACACSA checking and packing the stoves.

So speaking to Eric and Lizette, we agreed to head out to the pueblo on Saturday. Elliot was down for only 4 days but he thought this was something he wanted to do (instead of going to the beach to surf or to the countryside to do a zip-line trip). Lizette had a contact at Tropigas and asked for a deal for us so we looked all set.

25 lbs of Maseca, 40 lbs of beans, 40 lbs of rice, a few pounds of candy and 5 gallons of cooking oil. And garlic ... can't make beans without garlic.

Saturday morning was a little complicated since Fatima had to go to three different places for work. MJ dropped her off for her first class and then I had to run out to pick up some car parts for Cuba that were brought in the night before from Guatemala. The guy delivering them went off a highway under construction in Santa Ana and flew 25' down a ditch ripping the axles off the bottom of his newish pick-up truck. He was able to climb out of the ditch with the part in his hand and was brought to a hospital in San Salvador.

Elliot, Angel and Maria Jose loading the truck.

Then rush home to wake up Elliot and head to Pricesmart (the Costco here) to buy rice, beans, corn flour, oil and some candy for the kids. Then head over to Eric’s where we were going to leave from. Lizette went with Angel (Eric’s driver) to get her father’s pick-up. There was some debate whether I should take my Sentra or not but we decided on the two pick-ups. Then we had rush over to where Fatima was so she could take the car to her next studio class. There was a bit of a delay so we didn’t get picked up and on the road until 11:30 and the traffic was really bad. We had to head to the big Tropigas depot in Soyapango to get the tanks before they closed at noon. We didn’t make it on time but they called Lizette who told them that we were fighting traffic to get there as soon as possible.

Sara at Tropigas kept the office open late for us on Saturday.

I was in one truck with Angel, Elliot and MJ and he took a bunch of back streets to get there faster and Sara was kind enough to wait for us before she left for the day. They agreed to sell us 10 tanks, regulators, hoses and clams for $35.50 each so we saved about $8 per unit from the regular price. That’s more than I expected. One problem was they thought I was going to pay by cash or cheque on pick-up but I thought I was going to be invoiced and could pay later at a bank. A few calls were made and they agreed to wait until Monday for payment.

So we loaded up the tanks into the pick-up and then met up with Eric who was in his truck with Lizette, Maria and the two rug rats. We headed past Illopango and turned north at San Martin on the road to Suchitoto (a lovely old town on a volcanic lake that has some lovely inns and restaurants). About halfway there, we turned right at an unmarked dirt path. Then bumpy roads covered in rubble with deep ruts carved by tons of rushing water. Up and down hills and around blind corners, the occasional unpainted house made of cinder blocks showing through light forested areas on the slopes of some big hills.

No road!

Then we turned a corner and the road dropped sharply down to a sandy area and ... no road. Instead a wide shallow river where a road and a stream used to be. It was probably originally about 15' wide but now was about 60' wide. You could see where the storm tore away at its banks and made a wide flood plain. Luckily, another pick up truck was in front of us and we saw where he drove through so we knew which way to go. And very luckily, I didn’t bring the Sentra which couldn’t have made it through there.

Bus!

We crossed and started heading up and up and up. Some very sharp inclines with the mostly dirt and stone road cut through some thick rock, mostly single lane, with a lot of erosion from the rains. We were going up one of many steep sections when Eric, driving in front, came face to face with an old school bus coming down! We both had to back up until we found spots where we could safely stop to allow the bus to pass. We were on a slope with a lot of rubble and the bus came down past us and started sliding sideways towards us! Angel gave it the gun and we got past it without scratching Lizette’s Dad’s brand new turbo diesel Hilux.

Pulling up to the last of the road ... and a closed education centre.

Carrying the 50 lb propane tanks down to the pueblo

After about 15 minutes of hills, we finally got to a small settlement that looked to be abandoned. We overshot the turn but Maria backed us up and we turned left up another dirt and unmarked path. Only a few minutes and we stopped at a "Save the Children" education centre. A few minutes later, some kids showed up and I asked them if this was their school and they said no. I asked if it was still open and they said no. Too bad, the funding must have ended.

The kids bringing down the stoves!

We had come as far as we could by truck and Maria went to tell her family that we had arrived. Oddly, I was getting great cell phone service in the middle of nowhere. About a dozen people arrived and they started carrying down the stoves, propane tanks, food, and donations of clothing, shoes and toys. The little kids picked up the stoves and some very small and slight women took the 50 lb tanks on their heads! Through a tiny gate and down a sandy path and then down a very steep dirt incline through some trees that had seen tons of water flowing down from the storm and ending at Maria’s mother’s house.

Lizette with a stove and me with rice, beans and oil heading to the pueblo

Pacita previously had a small house with a three (?) room house made of adobe. After the storm, she was down to one room which was missing one wall completely and had no door on the other wall. I touched one of the half crumpled walls and the dried mud crumbled in my fingers. They had one bed and a few plastic chairs in the one room that Pacita and her four children shared. Maria, the eldest, lived and worked at Eric’s house going home on the occasional weekend. Pacita’s husband was defending their little community from a gang and was killed for it.

What is left of Paz' adobe house ... one room and one bed for her and her four kids

I explained that I had some great friends living abroad that contributed money to help them out. I explained that the gas stoves were easier to use, would improve the air quality in their houses, reduce pollution, eliminate the need for them to cut and carry wood, and reduce deforestation. Pacita, who was speaking for her community thanked me and said that it was wonderful that people outside would help them out. She told me that two president’s ago, the government had a program where they could register for housing aid. So they paid $80 to register and never heard from anyone again! I asked her if they cut their own wood and she said that they actually bought it and spent $0.25 a day. This is more than the gas would cost. The gas costs $5.10 and will last from 5 to 8 weeks.

The rest of the food stuffs coming down the path ... most of the bags weigh 40 lbs

I also took out the rice, beans, corn flour, oil and candies and asked Pacita to distribute it evenly and fairly in her community based on need. Most people in the country are able to grow most of the food they need - beans and corn and sometimes rice. What they can’t grow they can trade for. I asked Pacita where her fields were and she said some miles away. She would grow crops and give about 20% to the landowner in rent. But this season, the entire crop was ruined. I think the 40 lbs of beans, 40 lbs of rice, 25 lbs of corn flower, and 5 gallons of oil will last the 7 households about a week (the oil longer of course), depending on the size of the households and there were a lot of kids around. I don’t know what they are going to do when this food and their savings run out but I will follow up through Angel and Maria and will bring more food out if necessary. They had almost nothing! They do have electricity but not all the time. I didn’t see any other furniture that had survived but for some homemade tables made from bamboo and an old fridge. I didn’t see any toys and or TVs. I am sure they could use everything and anything.

Eric connecting the hose ... but that's what she said

Eric suggested that I set up one tank so they would know how to do it. Pacita said Jose was handy so I showed him how to hook up the hoses and put on the clamps. I asked Pacita where she cooked and she took me to the back where there was an in-tact cooking room - tiny and dark, about 5' x 6', and despite just having some embers going, was filled with smoke! There didn’t seem to be any vents for the smoke to escape and I couldn’t imagine what it was like when she was actually cooking. We hooked up the system and using some matches, I lit all the burners as we all cheered.

Old cooking system ...

new cooking system!

They did have quite a bit construction materials purchased over the years - narrow cinder blocks and some terra cotta roof tiles. The storm scattered a lot of it but they dug it out and cleared the area. They need maybe $2,000 for the concrete, rebar (absolutely necessary in this earthquake prone country), and manpower to build the house. I think Eric is raising funds for this and his parent’s church in L.A. are taking up a special offering for the community. I don't think this pueblo is getting any aid from the government or any organization.

Maria, head sandwich maker. Her little sister, head sandwich nosher.

Lizette brought food to make sandwiches and we all had lunch together.

Group photo! Jose beside me, Maria in front of him in green, mom Paz seated beside her, Angel with the blue cap with MJ, Eric and Elliot to his left.

After a group picture, I got assurances that the stoves would be shared out and the food divided fairly and we climbed the hill for the last time. All the kids and Pacita came up with us and I asked how many times the kids climbed the hill each day and they said about 8 to 10 times. All the gringos were winded from the one trip! Pile into the trucks and back out to the main road.

The last climb for us for the day. Eric and MJ coming up.

Thanks again for all your contributions. And if you come down to visit, pack and extra bag with everything. Thanks to the guys at ACACSA and Sara and Elizabeth at Tropigas. Thanks for Angel for driving and helping with the planning. Thanks for Lizette and Eric for introducing me to these people and for arranging for the gas and the vehicles for the trip. Thanks for Elliot and MJ for helping out and taking pictures.

If anyone else wants to donate, USD65 or CAD70 will purchase one gas stove, tank and hardware and can help one family enormously. Please contact me by E-mail.

After doing this, I feel great but now I feel like I have an emotional investment in this community, Canton de San Francisco de Candelaria or the Municipality of Saint Frances of the Candelmas. Big name, tiny pueblo, big hearts.

Some videos of our trip out of the Canton.

More Hurricane Damage

2009-11-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

Fairways at the Corinto golf club covered in mud and debris

after Hurricane Ida's rain storm

Hurricane Ida has taken around 140 lives with 60 still missing and damaged or destroyed 1,600 homes leaving about 14,000 homeless. Many of these people don’t have insurance but hopefully the socialist government will help to rebuild their homes.

Our Good Smoke Bad Smoke campaign has raised $700! Thanks to everyone who contributed and I hope we’ll be smoking a Cuban cigar soon. I am debating if I should take half the money and buy 10 stoves (with valves, hoses and clamps) to donate to a local charity collecting for disaster relief. Certainly there is a need for them but it may be as or more important to get these stoves into homes cooking with wood - you have to be pretty poor to be using wood.

I just received photos of the Club Salvadorena Corinto Golf Club. The place is in Illopango and has a few holes alongside the big volcanic lake. Not a tragedy like demolished villages but a huge amount of damages with some heavy flooding and numerous fairways being covered by tons of boulders and mud. Luckily no loss of life amongst the staff. I’ve included some pictures on the power of flash floods. I heard it may take a year to fix the course and will cost an enormous amount of money.

With all of this news, I forgot to mention some big news. Lonely Planet has picked El Salvador as one of the top ten destinations for 2010! What, don’t believe me? Go to http://www.lonelyplanet.com/el-salvador/travel-tips-and-articles/42/15809

Ironically, LP just dropped El Salvador from their guidebook series but my friend, Paige Penland, is just finishing up one for Norton’s Great Destinations so stay tuned on that.

El Salvador will recover from this and I hope this winter is a great season for tourism. I personally am hosting 10 visitors and hope to get another 15 or so. My son is coming down on Thursday and we are hoping to do a little surfing and some golfing and lots of good eating and drinking. Maybe some zip lining or canyon jumping. Will let you know.

Hurricane Ida

2009-11-09T07:16:00.000-08:00

It is now 48 hours after Hurricane Ida passed by Nicaragua and Honduras and managed to dump an enormous amount of rain on El Salvador. We knew that we were going to get some rain but no one had any idea of how much and this is probably why no alerts went out to vulnerable areas. This storm, at the tail end of a very quiet hurricane season, took us all by surprise.

On Saturday night we had driven out to the wedding of a friend’s daughter at their restaurant between Soyapango and Illopango. It had been raining off and on all for most of the day and there was a light drizzle on the way there. When we got there, it was raining very heavily and we debated whether to wait in the car until it had passed but after five minutes, it didn’t seem to be diminishing so we opened our umbrellas and managed to get in without getting too wet. We expected the rain to pass by but it kept raining and raining. People kept arriving and some didn’t have umbrellas and they were soaked from running the short distance from their parked cars. The music was playing quite loudly but I recall hearing the rain come down in some occasionally heavy bursts.

We left early at 11:00 and had to gingerly step to the car through water gushing down the street. MJ was driving since Fatima and I had had several drinks. The rain was continuing to come down very hard cutting down on visibility and when we got to the Carretera Panamericana there was a lot of flooding. MJ was kind of freaked out but Fatima and I have had a lot of experience driving through flooded streets after more than a decade in Havana. Fatima told her to drive down the middle of the road and I told her to keep a lot of space between us and the car in front in case we hit a deep pool and had to gun the engine through. A car can get through pretty deep water as long as the water doesn’t crest over the hood and flood the air intake and as long as you keep revving the engine so the water doesn’t go up the tailpipe.

We were making good progress and most vehicles were driving sensibly (except for the occasional idiot who was speeding and honking and passing cars). On the long hill up towards Soyapango on the opposite side of the highway, there was a lot of water coming down so cars and buses were having problems going upstream. We were heading down so it was a lot easier and no real problems until we hit the Molsa maiz plant. It is on the top of a big hill and there is a big, landscaped retaining wall about 40' high and a lot of it had come down and blocked 2-3 lanes of the road. What looked to be a small drainage pipe in the middle of the wall had become a huge hole and water was gushing through it. We were able to squeeze past the boulders and broken concrete and mounds of dirt to the other side. We drove slowly the rest of the way home and planned our route to stay on high ground. Still, you can’t avoid hills in San Salvador and there were many places where a the runoff turned roads into streams.

San Salvador and El Salvador is a country of volcanoes and valleys. The city itself is in the middle of several volcanoes and people live in the valleys, up the sides of some of the hills, and sometimes on top. Expansion is limited so some communities grow organically or planned developments are established in less than ideal areas. These would be at the bases of earth hills or near some of the streams and rivers that comprise some of the water runoffs in the city.

I think these pictures (from LA PRENSA/Salomón Vásquez) are of the

Rio Lempa that come down from San Vicente to the Costa del Sol.

Combine this with poor public announcements and tragedies like this will occur. I was watching TV on Saturday night and didn’t see any warnings of flash flooding. Mind you, in some of the poorer communities that were worst affected, they may not have had TV’s to watch.

Rio Lempa (I think) exiting into the Pacific at Costa del Sol

So far, over a hundred people have perished. Most of the deaths occurred in San Salvador and San Vicente which is east of the city. Flash flooding and mudslides took out several towns and communities, affecting both the very poor and very rich. Small huts and large weekend villas were destroyed.

Yesterday, the rains were lighter and the day was calm but for the police helicopters landing and taking off from behind our condo. And today is a beautiful sunny day.

This morning in San Salvador, beautiful and sunny

.
One of the girls working in our house lives in Illopango which is a municipality around the very large volcanic lake. Luckily she is on higher ground, like most people, and wasn’t affected except for a leaky roof. She did say that the rains flood the hills and it all pours into the lake and then the drainage stream floods out but the people living nearby know that is going to happen so they take precautions.

Those less fortunate had their houses flooded or swept away. In the ultimate definition of losing "everything", some people not only lost their homes but the land beneath them. What do you do when the pretty little stream near your house turns into a raging river that takes away your house and everything you own and when you get back, there isn’t even any land to rebuild on? Well, you get a bit of help and get on with it.

The definition of losing "everything"

I have had some great responses from my Good Smoke Bad Smoke mini-campaign. Some people with the American Legion (who will be out in full force for the Veteran’s Day celebration in El Salvador this week) are interested in the idea and may get involved. So please send those funds to me and I’ll go out and buy a bunch of stoves and we’ll get them out to some of the affected areas.

On a final note, don't think that El Salvador is a disaster ridden third world country. Sure we have the occasional natural disaster (hurricanes and earthquakes) but this is a beautiful country full of resilient people. I hope no one is dissuaded from visiting this amazing country. So far I have Elliot, Rene, Nancy, Nad, Deb, Jeff and family coming down this winter. I hope everyone else thinking about it will come down too.

Havana and Back to San Salvador

2009-11-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

John preparing to whiff on a ball

I had my first visitor of the year! John came down from Ottawa to visit his kids in Guate and took the bus over to San Salvador. We got in two rounds of golf at Veraneras and ate some fine meals. I took him to the Mercado Antiguo Cuscutlan - the very local market/restaurant/bar that serves all the interesting local stuff. He had the seafood soup and loved it. We asked what was the base of the stock, expecting to be told that it was boiled fish heads and bones with lots of shrimp and lobster shells ... but sadly, my favourite waitress brought out a package of Knorr Mariscada soup base!

Then off to Cuba for a business for a week and had a pretty good time. Havana is a great place for tourists to visit but not as nice if you have to live there. That goes for both the Cubans and the foreigners living there. Two of my friends lost the plates for their car when their companies weren’t renewed (this happened to two cars of mine a few years ago). There is also a lot of nervousness verging on panic due to the new restrictions of the repatriation of funds. The Government is doing it because they have no money but this has also meant that there is very little new money coming into the country ... except for American companies who were in town for the Havana International Fair. It boggles the mind that some companies still think that they can come to Cuba with deep pockets, sell products to Cuba with very thin margins, develop good relations, and then sell long term. If you are one of these companies, good luck!

Outdoor dining area at the Club Habana - see the container ship and

the Cuban National Sailing Team on the horizon

Highlights of the trip would be going to El Aljibe and being driven by a beautiful diplomat in her beautiful 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee which is like being in a Rolls in any other country. Then meeting a friend at the Jazz Café on Paseo and being allowed in without paying the cover and seeing Irakere playing with a visiting Japanese kick ass percussionist. Then knocking back Glenfiddich at $2.50 for a long pour until the bottle was empty. Walking home along the Malecon at 3:00 in the morning with beers in hand.

Rene and me enjoying single malts and cigars while the Grammy winning jazz group Irakere plays 30 feet away.

My Cuban friend from Toronto was down visiting his sister who had just had a baby so I met him in Havana with 400 diapers bought at the Costco in San Salvador. Handily, he had rented a car (a tiny little Hyundai that looked like a toy. It was so narrow that our elbows were touching) so he helped out with some party purchases. We went to a store around Calzada and D and I asked for 60 cans of beers. There was one woman at the cooler cashier and she, and a 7 year old girl, loaded the beers into some empty cases. You can imagine how long this took and the lineup that developed behind us. A woman waiting started chatting with us and tried to get us to buy some nice yucca she had. Another woman, who I think worked at the store, came over to see what was going on and asked if we were having a party and if she could come. As pretty as she was, I didn’t think that that was a good idea.

Poaching lobster in butter. Actually, more like deep frying.

Then served in a delicious taco.

I was able to get 40 lobster tails but no cabbage. Grilled some tails with some red snappers on a charcoal bbq on my terrace. Delish. Then did butter poached lobster with homemade refried beans on a flour tortilla with fresh pico de gallo with cilantro. Double delish. Dominoes and salsa to round out the night. The partying got a bit away from us since I went over around 1:00 pm and we started drinking beer and Don Julio tequila and we didn’t stop until 1:00 am.

A light dinner in Havana

Coming back was a bit hectic as I had to fly through San Jose and Guatemala City on the way home to El Salvador. I did this to avoid a long stop over in SJO and also because Guate has a great duty-free store. They always have a buy one and the second one is half price deal going on. I have seen this for tequillas and champagnes and this time it was for whiskey and perfume.

A whack of Johnny Blue and stuff for only $210 in Guatemala.

Hope it isn't all Chinese knock-offs!

Arriving in San Salvador, it was hot and humid but great to be home. I told the guy at immigration that my residency card was still pending an investigation (of exactly what the heck I actually do in this country ... which is mostly cook and play golf) and I didn’t know the status. He was kind enough to leave his desk to go to an office to find out and found out that my card was ready for pick up so I saved the $10 for the tourist card. I had called about 7 times previously and there was either no answer or was transferred and put on ignore. I went to the office a few days later, paid fee on top of fee on top of fee (is this a new Funes thing?), and then was told to come back the next week to get the card. I told the officer that I was told the card was ready but it turns out that either the system or the card making machine was down. Oh well, trip 4 coming up.

So back at home I asked the caregiver for my Mother-in-law how she was and she tells me "mal". I ask her why and she said that her 4 year old son has bronchial asthma and she couldn’t take him to the hospital because she was working. I said fine but why didn’t his caregiver take him in and she said she left money to do so but it didn’t happen. I asked how he was now and she said better and that he only needs some pills that always help. I asked her what they were and she mentioned ampicillin - and I asked how many pills she buys and she said 2 or 3! So I explained how dangerous that was and how that it could make her son more ill by only partially taking out whatever bacterial infection he had while leaving the stronger ones to keep on growing. So I told her that she had to listen to the doctor or ask the pharmacist what was the minimum dosage she had to follow. I am thinking about her son’s asthma and asked her if she cooks with gas or wood in her house - and she says wood! Gas is heavily subsidized here so it will only cost about $5 a month ... but then again, wood is free and if you don’t have the $5, you are going to use wood even though everyone, from a recent University of Berkeley report to illiterate countryfolk, know that it is bad for their children’s health. So I spoke to Fatima and we are going to give her a countertop gas range and her first tank as part of her Christmas bonus.

After this conversation, I am feeling a little better and head off to they gym. Fatima drops me off and I work out and then walk back. One of the two regular guards lets me in and I ask, again "como estas?" He says fine and asks how I am and I say "bien" and he answers "como siempre." That means "like always" and obviously, there are a few ways of taking that. I take it to mean that I am a foreigner with money and don’t have a care in the world.

So the caregiver brought her son to the local public hospital and he was admitted and they gave him a 7 day cycle of antibiotics and she knows to use all 7 pills. Fatima and I went shopping and got a 4 burner gas cooker, tubing, clamps and a valve for about $40 in total. The first tank will cost about $25 so for $65, we just drastically improved the air quality of a family of 6. I am going to send this E-mail out to everyone who regularly gets cigars from me and, if they ever want to see another free cigar, they will donate US$65.00 to my new "Good smoke, bad smoke" campaign. How ironic that one good Cuban cigar can cost $75 while $65 can improve a family’s life.

Yes, MJ is that skinny - size 0 dress.

And yes, I am that fat - tipping over 190.

My stepdaughter MJ recently graduated from law school and we attended the ceremony. She is at the Jesuit run University of Central America. I have always said that El Salvador has a very interesting and very long national anthem. Now I have proof!

The proof!

What official choir anywhere in the world needs to have the words to their anthem in front of them? Only El Salvador! Anyways, the ceremony was interesting and she looked great. Several months ago, she entrusted me with the task of buying her graduation dress in Canada. Now this is a pretty big deal so I ended up buying four different dresses to give her a pick.

MJ shaking hands with some important dude.

I think she wore the right one - she ended up on the cover of the UCA supplement in the Prensa Grafica today. She was nervous because she was the first one on the stage to accept her degree. She did a great job, didn't fall off her 4 inch heels, and looked very confident and composed. Afterwards, we went home and cooked for a cocktail party for all her friends. We had Mojitos and Cosmos, champagne, veggie dips with hummus and babaganoush, bacon wrapped chicken in a sweet chilli glaze, twice baked potatoes with bacon, cheese, and sour cream, chicken wings, and little salmon mousse and cucumber sandwiches. Later, they all headed off to a club called Envy.

We are in the midst of a lot of rain due to Tropical Storm Ida blowing past neighbouring Nicaragua and Honduras. Ironically, we are at the end of the hurricane season and Cuba has escaped clean this year ... but Ida may yet turn into a hurricane and hit Pinar del Rio. We should be having sunny dry days but we seem to be getting more rain now than we had in normally wet October.

Off to a wedding this evening. It is my good friend’s daughter who has decided, at the age of 21, that it would be a good idea to get married. She hasn’t finished school yet and her boyfriend is working but they will have to live with his parents until she starts working and they can afford to rent their own place. Naturally, my friend is not overjoyed with this decision. We bought a nice crystal vase at Portico and then thought a bunch of gift certificates to local restaurants would be a good idea (to give the couple the chance to get out of the house for some dinners). Sushi Ito didn’t have them but Chiles, Bennigans and Los Cebollines (Mexican) did. But get this, while all of them had gift certificates, none of the restaurants actually had any on site. They all said I had to drive to their main offices to get them. W T F. I spoke to the Chiles manager and asked him if thought it was reasonable to have me drive across town in bad traffic and in the rain to give him $60. He didn’t think so and disappeared and came back with some certificates! Bennigans basically blew me off and said I could go to the office or not get them. The Los Cebollines guy said that I could order them and come back to pick them up but this wouldn’t work for us so we got him to make the request to his office to have them delivered to another restaurant nearer to us ... so hopefully we will be able to get them en route to the wedding. It is being held in the bride’s mom’s cantina bar! Specializing in cheap cold beer and boquitas - small snacks such as fried tortillas with fresh cheese and avocado and deep fried chunks of pork! Now that’s wedding food.

A bit about El Salvador ... big news is that 12 Arena (right wing) Assemblymen have gone "independent" which means they can and probably will vote for the FMLN (left wing former guerillas in the civil war). Now why would they cross the floor and give the Frente a majority in the Assembly allowing them to pass a lot more initiatives? Word on the street is that the former president, Tony Saca, is being investigated for corruption and this deal will guarantee that he won’t be prosecuted. Hmm, maybe that is why Tony’s cousin led this little rebellion.

Buying a Car and Roasting a Turkey

2009-10-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

El Salvador's National Flower - Flor de Izote

(really, a big ass tree)

I think it may be time for some practical information on life in El Salvador.

After tooling around town in my 1998 Nissan Sentra for the past several years, I decided to buy a new car. We got it at a time when it was dangerous (potential robberies and carjacks) to have a nice car so all you saw were cheap compacts or Mitsubishi Monteros followed by bodyguards in pick up trucks. The Sentra was the most common and innocuous car in the city. It has served us very well and is good on gas, very cheap to fix ($130 to replace a front bumper), and has very inexpensive insurance (about 10% of the value of the car - but with a very low third person liability payout - which seems to be okay in this non-litigious society). Then, nicer cars started to appear, first Mercedes and then BMW’s and now you see everything here including Ferrari’s, Range Rovers, Maseratis and Porsches.

We looked at some new cars but a small group of people seem to own all the dealerships and have an oligopoly over the market resulting in very high prices. Bizarrely, with the entire world’s car industries on the brink of collapse, there are no sales in this country on new vehicles.

So how to buy a used car in El Salvador?

There are four different places to find a used car - the newspaper classifieds, areas where people bring cars for sale (there is a popular area in Merliot), large lots belonging to the major dealers, and garages that fix up smashed cars from the U.S.

And there are two kinds of used cars - either originally purchased here new from one of the dealerships and maintained by them (called "agencias") or brought in from the U.S. and repaired. There are many garages that buy damaged cars from the States at auction, truck them back, pay a lower rate of duty, and then fix them up for sale taking advantage of low overhead and low labour costs. These cars usually don’t have driver-side airbags and sometimes have scuffed up parts (like dashboards that were scratched or cut up by broken windshields). Some people say you should not buy one of these in case the frame is bent or the crumple zones are compromised but other people say that if it drives okay, it will be fine. I kind of like the thought of saving money while creating local jobs (for the mechanics) and some wealth (for the business owners) in this country. I have also been told to Carfax the history of the vehicle but Consumer Reports says that they miss a lot of accidents and I don’t know if it would be helpful. You may be spending $50 to find out that your car was in an accident ... something that you can already assume. On the other hand, it would be helpful to know if your car was in a flood.

So we are looking for a SUV with three rows of seats to accommodate all the visitors that we are expecting this winter. That would mean a Honda Pilot, Nissan Pathfinder, Mazda CX-9 or a Hyundai Veracruz. Found some in the newspaper and drove out to a few places. One place was a bit far but consisted of a big garage wedged into a very small property off a busy street but with no sign and only a tiny street number. We risked getting T-boned by buses trying to get into the driveway and when we were leaving. They strip cars down to the chassis, do the welding and bondo, do a very good paint job and reassemble. Douglas, the owner, seemed honest and forthcoming with all of his answers. He had a 2008 Pathfinder S with 8,000 miles going for $21,500. Very nice car but it was really basic. He only had three cars ready for sale but he had a bunch of them being fixed including a 2008 Honda Pilot EX for $19,000 and a 2007 CX-9 with 22,000 going for $29,000. All pretty nice vehicles that come with a 3 month warranty and negotiable down by maybe $1,000. I think it was telling that he had a lot of cars being worked on but few for sale - he doesn’t seem greedy and he is moving them at those prices.

We then went to a big dealerships lot and they had a very luxurious 2009 Veracruz with 32,000 miles going for $37,000 and a 2005 Cayenne with 55,000 miles going for $42,000. Hmm, those are both very nice cars but since I don’t have a job in this country and no credit, it would be a bit difficult to get financing (plus at 15% interest, it’s a rip off).

So we followed up some newspaper ads and met a woman at a gas station just outside the city on the highway to the airport. She told us that she has a small shop that fixes up smashed cars and she brought us a 2005 Honda Pilot with 75,000 miles. She was asking $14,000 but the car had a terrible interior and all the plastic trim on the outside looked really old. The trim stood out since the body had recently been nicely painted but the plastic was scuffed, faded and peeling in some areas. I wonder now if it was a flooded out car. If a car sits in water (especially salt water) for a few days, it’s a write-off and the insurance company will sell it for salvage. The car will have a funny smell and you run the risk of stuff rusting or breaking down faster, especially the electrics. Anyways, I didn’t like the car although she kept asking me to make her an offer.

Then we went to another big repair shop but this place was the opposite of the other place. They had a huge lot with a big sign and the lot was full of high end cars - Mercedes, BMWs, Land Rovers, Infinities, and Lexuses. They seemed to have a tiny shop but they had probably 40 finished cars packed so tight that they had to turn in the rear view mirrors and most cars were touching bumper to bumper. You couldn’t fit one more car into the entire lot. Mario had 3 Pathfinders and the Infinity QX 4 version as well. He had a 2008 Pathfinder S with 24,000 miles and was asking $28,000! This was the same car (but with more mileage) than Douglas was asking $21,500 for! I knew that I’d have to be careful with this guy. The SUV I liked the most was a 2006 Pathfinder SE with 24,000 miles asking $18,000 with a 3 month warranty. Looked pretty good with running boards, sun roof, upgraded interior, motorized drivers seat, Bose speakers, and rear AC.

The 2006 Pathfinder SE for $16,500

I also asked around amongst my acquaintances and came up with two cars. Test drove a 2006 Pathfinder LE with 45,000 miles asking $26,000. Getting an North American loaded vehicle isn’t that value added down here - who needs heated seats or heated mirrors? The GPS won’t work unless you can insert an El Salvador SD map chip that they are going to charge you $200 for. Not sure if satellite radio will work down here as well. So why bother paying all that extra? This car is about $8,000 more than the SE I saw and has more miles although it has never been in an accident. Is it worth that kind of premium? I don’t think so.

Another friend has a 2006 Honda Pilot with 44,000 miles, repaired from crash, asking $14,500. If the car is in good condition, I’ll probably get this one but it is out of town for a few weeks.

Went back to test drive the 2006 SE and it drove very well. Mario was in the back seat with an armed security guard in case I tried something funny. The Pathfinders are much more powerful than the Pilots and use a lot more gas. Since I have nothing to tow, the Pilot would be better. Mario wanted $18,000 with no airbag and 3 months warranty. I countered with $16,000 with a year warranty and I’d pay for the drivers airbag (about $500). They agreed on the $16,000 but said no way to the year warranty. I may counter with $16,000 with airbag and 3 month warranty. I also asked them to clean up the interior (the dashboard was scuffed up), fix the radio controls on the steering feel, and fix the weak AC. Mario said that they would want a $500 refundable deposit before they did the work and I said no way to that.

So for now, I am going to wait on my friend’s 2006 Pilot and will offer between $13,000 and $13,500 depending on the condition of the car and tires. I may put an offer in on Douglas’ 2008 Honda Pilot EX with leather.

It’s been interesting to see who you can trust, how much you can trust, and who will negotiate. Clearly Mario is in a weak position since he has so many cars - he must really need cash flow for the garage’s overhead and payroll so it may be a good idea to make a low ball offer at the end of the month. In fact he’s called us twice asking us if we were going to buy the Pathfinder. Douglas has much fewer cars and may have people waiting to buy his vehicles in progress. He may move a bit on his prices - I’m sure he’s built in a extra thousand for negotiation purposes.

In the interim, it was Canadian Thanksgiving! My friend went to Pricesmart (our local version of Costco) to buy a turkey and they didn’t have any! Won’t have them until November when the ‘mericans have their Thanksgiving.

Luckily, there is a good local provider that sells in all the regular grocery stores. The smallest I could find was 18 lbs but it looked like a good bird. Brined it in a gallon of water with ½ a cup of salt and ½ a cup of sugar (just regular, can’t find kosher salt here and only had white sugar in the house), some fresh rosemary from our giant plant, bay leaves and crushed peppercorns. Put it in a big food safe bag with the turkey for 18 hours in the fridge.

The Flor de Izote, before and after. Tastes good with butter and maple syrup.

Wanted to do a smaller and simpler meal - normally we have so much food and so many sides that you can’t enjoy just having a nice turkey. So I just made a zucchini, mushroom, and onion sage dressing with about 4 different kinds of bread I found, some mashed potatoes with lots of butter and whole milk, some roast baby ayotes (a baby version of what grows into a hard orange fleshed squash) that I steamed, tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper, then roasted and finished with truffle oil, and some sweet corn out of a can. I wanted to try another localish food and finally found some Flor de Izote - the national flower of El Salvador. The Izote is a type of a giant yucca tree but instead of eating the root, you eat the flowers or the base of where the leaves come out. The latter part is usually peeled, boiled and eaten with salt and lime (like a lot of the more unusual foods here - like baby green mangos). Since it can be quite bitter, I steamed it until soft and then mixed it with a candied carrot dish I make with lots of butter and maple syrup (and salt and sugar). It was quite nice and the bitterness was almost all gone. The taste was like a mild squash but it was quite juicy while still being firm. If you ever had yucca, "juicy" isn’t a term you would normally associate with it.

Roasted Ayote with Truffle Oil and Cranberry Sauce!

I was using a new recipe where you roast at 350 uncovered with breast side down for the first 2.5 hours and then flip it over and finish it breast up for about another 1.5 hours until the thigh measures at 180 degrees. Well, it went pretty well and we recorded the flipping of the turkey - my friend Rene wanted to see me try to flip over a very hot 18 lb bird without dropping it on the floor. We got it done but the roasting tray kind of left indentations and discolouration on the breast which wasn’t cool - but then it roasted very dark mahogany so it wasn’t noticeable. The brining made the breast very juicy although it took longer to cook because of that (or it could have been because the turkey was in the fridge until I put it in the over).

We invited a few friends over and had a very nice meal with lots of Chilean wine. Happy Thanksgiving!

Zakuski III in Toronto

2009-09-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

My short break in Toronto ended up being stretched to three months. Needless to say, it is difficult to write a blog entry on El Salvador when I am stuck in Canada so as to not further disappoint the 13 (yes, count them, 13!) people who are following me, I am going to throw something at my blog and sees if it sticks.

. Cooking potato latkes on Jeff's 6 burner Viking

This summer, we managed to execute Zakuski II and Zakuski III. Happily, we are getting quite good at it and we assembled a fine collection of booze, food, and people.

Zakuski II was held in Owen Sound and featured four bottles of vodka and a fine selection of food. We had borscht with sour cream and potato latkes with sour cream and apple sauce. A large selection of meats and smoked and pickled fish were put on the table. One thing though ... perhaps we had too much food? Zakuski, from what I have learned, isn't so much about the food - it is about the vodka. Just like Dim Sum is supposed to be about the tea ... with the food being merely an accompaniment. A fine selection of vodkas

For Zakuski III, we wanted to concentrate on the libations. The booze consisted of five bottles of vodka and a bunch of tall cans of Boris Organic Beer from France. Chosen for the name and certainly not for any belief that the French can make decent beer or that we support this ridiculous organic movement. It was just a big can to help wash down the vodka.

Note the cod liver bottom left and the salo above the caviar

The food was again obtained at the Russian deli at Bathurst and Sheppard. My favourite counter woman was not there and none of the three ladies could understand my English (must have been my very heavy Canadian accent). Luckily my friend Rene was there to assist me. Rene is a black Cuban and now Canadian who studied in Moscow for a few years and speaks quite good Russian. Between him and a fellow customer (apparently a Russian ex-supermodel), we were able to purchase a fine selection of meats, pickles, and fish products. Some notable finds: actual cod liver in cod liver oil that tastes like foie gras, a giant pink dish (which the ex-supermodel was purchasing for herself and who said was essential for zakuski) made up of fish, potato, beets and

Big pink Russian WTF

a pink "dressing", three kinds of salamis from Moscow, salo (which is a very white, very salty piece of pork fat that is sliced, not too thin, and eaten with the vodka - like prosciuto if it was all fat), smoked mackerel from Mendel’s cheese shop in Kensington Market, jellied tongue roll, grilled mushrooms, and pickles out of a bucket.

As for the people, we were originally at 12 but we had various persons pull out for medical reasons. We did have Jeff and Kathleen visiting from Owen Sound, our Cuban Russian crew of party mafiosas, and two journalists to whom I forgot to mention that the evening was "off the record." Egle is an old friend from Havana who works for the Globe and the zakuski was really for her (nice Lithuanian roots and all). She invited Stephen who is the spokesman for white guys everywhere (see his book "The White Guy - A Field Guide") who was at TIFF and writing dispatches to the Calgary Herald. I would like to congratulate (1) Calgary for having enough literate people to support a newspaper (Yeah, Calgary!) and (2) Stephen for getting about half the details right for his story (Yeah, Stephen!). After the quantity of vodka that was consumed, half right is astounding. See half the correct details at http://communities.canada.com/calgaryherald/blogs/bladerunner/archive/2009/09/19/tiff-dispatch-zakuski.aspx

We started off with a bottle of Stoli Elit, a bottle shaped like a Russian tank shell with an extremely heavy cap which we think is made from depleted uranium (we hear Russia has a lot of that lying around). Before opening, we had the obligatory singing of the Russian National Anthem - led by Ariana (our actual Muscovite) and Rene. The vodka was poured and enjoyed. Elit is extremely smooth with a soft finish and only a mild sense of foreboding that the evening was going to end up very badly.

Made it through that bottle, a Slava (an excellent Ukranian premium vodka available at the LCBO), an Igor Dogburoski (sp?), a Stoli regular, and then another half a bottle of Slava.

Some highlights of the evening - me warning a diner that the Russian hot mustard (made in Canada like much of the mustard in the world) was the hottest mustard I had ever tried ... and not being believed and watching a very pretty woman having a wasabigasm from a piece of salami on black bread.

Our petite Russian girl shooting back glass after glass of vodka - I asked her why she didn’t just sip it and she told me that she didn’t know how. Eating the Salo, salt cured pork fat, and enjoying the delicious salty taste and the interesting crunchy consistency. Testing Rene’s knowledge of every Beatles song ever recorded and bootlegged, at risk of imprisonment, onto cassettes for distribution in Cuba. Finishing off the meal with some nice Cuban cigars on the patio ... with Russian chocolates, more vodka, more beers, and whiskey. Having two women pass out on the bed in the spare room with one of them, how to say it delicately ... puking all over everything.

So note to self ... next time, less salami, more smoked mackerel, more pickles, maybe some smoked white fish, and six bottles of vodka next time!

Zakuski IV, coming to Toronto in the spring of 2010.

A Short Break in Toronto

2009-07-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

After my trip to Havana, I had about three weeks in El Salvador before I had to fly up to Toronto. I’m here for six weeks and am enjoying the summer (although I was freezing last night smoking a cigar on a patio on Yonge Street) but I was quite sad to leave San Salvador. It’s funny how that has become my home and the more I travel, the more I just want to sleep in my own bed.

Eating well including this hamburger I saw on Diners Driveins and Dives that has a piece of grilled Keilbasa on top of a half pound beef patty. My family accused me of being a gorger. Also apparently am eating a lot of Korean food although I was trying to go for sushi last night! Here I am doing the Ddong Jjim salute with one group of friends and the sam gyup sal with the boys after 4 pints of beer. Hmm, and lots of those little green bottles.

I have been in touch with Jane from http://pishposhohmygosh.blogspot.com/ and have been reading Aighmeigh’s http://mividasalvadorena.blogspot.com/ two very different stories about how life is progressing with El Salvador. I think both of them, as well as myself and most of my Canadian and American friends in El Salvador, are non-Salvadorans who were lucky enough to be in relationships with Salvadorans and have decided to try life there for a while. It ended in tragedy for Aighmeigh (whose husband was killed either in a robbery or an extortion retaliation) but has been wonderful for myself and most of my friends here.

With the election of Funes, there is some hope that he is going to do something about the crime in El Salvador. We don’t know what he can do but so long as he tries something! This is such a huge issue and affects so many people. In creates a lot of insecurity for everyone, brings tragedy to too many families, hurts foreign investment, and is the main obstacle to increasing tourism.

At the same time, I don’t want to overstate the problem of crime here. Of course the numbers look terrible but you could say that about a lot of major cities in North America. Unfortunately, El Salvador has this bad reputation which is only exacerbated by the global media. I just saw a show called Ross Kemp on Gangs - a British show that shot a ridiculously one sided episode in El Salvador. Every shot showed this wonderful country as poor, dangerous, f**cked up place where the police are useless and the gangs have all the power. And they gave this clown a Bafta award! So for the sake of good TV (sensationalism and violence) they continue to reinforce the image that El Salvador is dangerous and shouldn’t be visited.

I have lived in El Salvador for two years and have been visiting for a dozen and never had any problems. My friend Ian lived here for 8 years with no problems. Many other friends have lived happily and safely as well. But other friends have been victims of crime. You have to be careful and you have to honour the potential threat. My girlfriend has been incredibly protective of me and I suggest it is better to be overly safe than to ignore the dangers and hope you get lucky. I have two friends that have told me that they have walked great distances at night after leaving bars but I don’t see this as a sign of bravery or intelligence or safety but of luck.

So what happened to my other friends? One was leaving his business around 6:00 p.m. in a good area and a kid came up to him and demanded his cell phone. He ignored the kid and turned to get something and the kid shot him and ran away. Fortunately, it was a very small calibre gun so my friend was able to drive himself to the hospital where they dressed the abdominal wound and he was fine and recovered fully. But a lot of trauma for a $40 phone. When someone is mugging you, hand it over and fast. My other friend was driving his work pick-up, a shiny new vehicle. He got carjacked and was held for several hours before they released him out in the distant burbs. He’s fine though - oh, and he also got his phone stolen in front of his house. Moral of the story? Be careful what, where and when you drive. At night or iffy areas of town, windows up and doors locked. Situational awareness is very important - watch around your car and if someone bad looking approaches at night, back up or drive away (you can go through red lights at night in El Salvador). We drive an old Sentra with very darkly tinted windows so no-one can see inside. Also, if you get bumped or into a fender bender in an isolated area - don’t stop. Drive away and if the other driver follows, go to a gas station or well lit area to trade information.

Another problem that is becoming increasingly common are the telephone extortion attempts. Many people with businesses or are otherwise prominent get phone calls from supposed gang members demanding money or face retribution. Two friends were recently targeted and I mentioned this to other people and was told about several other cases. If the call is real, it could end up badly - a friend of mine from Mexico had to move to Canada for safety. But from what I can tell, the vast majority of the calls are not real but are from people looking to make a fast buck. One friend has been called many many times and he just hangs up on them (mind you, he always carries at least one gun and has a giant German Shepard). Others say to change your telephone numbers and nothing will happen.

The vast majority of murders and a lot of the crime is gang on gang and only in certain areas. Be careful of Soyapango, Apopa, San Marco and maybe Libertad. If you don’t have to go there, then don’t. My girlfriend has family in one of those areas and I used to sleep there until the gang problem got too bad. I still occasionally go but in our darkly tinted car and I am out of there by nightfall. Her nephew who lives there was hit by a richocheting bullet fired by a gang member trying to kill a local drug dealer. Her neice’s boyfriend was in a gang and tried to leave and was killed in front of her.

We hope that Funes and his initiative to put more police on the street will have an affect. There are also a lot of other programs - job creation and bringing organized soccer to communities. My friend Pierre has become head coach of an American football team whose roster is made up of a lot of ex-gang members from the U.S.

El Salvador is a great country. It has wonderful people, most very friendly and kind. My friend Paige was here for a month and traveled on her own through the entire country to research a travel book she is writing (Norton’s Great Destinations) and she didn’t have a single problem. She met many other tourists and didn’t hear of any problems from them either. There are gang issues and there is crime but just be careful, use common sense, err on the side of caution, and listen to well-meaning advice!

From San Salvador to Havana

2009-06-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Malecón on a warm summer night

I know this is a Blog about El Salvador but I was in Havana last week and wanted to talk a little about my old home. Went there for a blessedly short one week stay and, you know what? It wasn’t that bad.
The Cubans are being very careful about Swine Flu. Maybe half the people in the arrivals corral are masked and they handed out forms before immigration. The immigration woman said I didn’t have to fill it out, then I went through, had my bags x-rayed and then Public Health stopped me and said to fill out the card. I did but I was carrying stuff and my writing was terrible so the nurse was kind enough to redo some of the info. Then she asked me the same questions that were on my form ... which I answered "no" to all of and then she let me past. Got my giant bags full of car parts and diapers and food and hot sauces and dancers stockings and got stopped by customs for having large and heavy bags. The woman asked what I had and I shrugged and said clothes ... and she said "and" ... and I said and "food" ... and she said "and" .... and I said, and toilet paper? Ding ding ding! Right word and she said, go through.
Out into the hot and humid Havana night, a bit of rain falling. Got home and straightened out my stuff and got to sleep after a cigar and most of a bottle of rum with the British guy subletting my place.
Ah, Havana ... incredibly bad Internet, safest streets in Latin America, my fish guy very nervous about delivering lobster tails to me since he thinks they are installing surveillance cameras at the corner, kids playing in the parks all day and into the evenings without any parental supervision, taking it up the bum on cell phone charges, going out for drinks and having a sandwich and fries, two cocktails, a beer, three double rums, two Baileys and two juices (the latter for the Jinateras that tried to chat us up) for a tab of $23, my assistant being late two hours for an important meeting and arriving frazzled after calling the taxi company about a dozen times, and walking home a bit wobbly at 5:00 in the morning (twice) through dark streets carrying a wallet full of cash, my iPod and camera after playing dominoes and not having a whisper of a problem.
So I ate pretty well. Went to a newish paladar (private licensed restaurant) calle La Paila just south of 51 on 88B in Marianao. Of course it is stupidly hard to find because they took the sign down to get fixed. We had to call two different people to get vague directions to even come close to it. But it was worth the hunt. I had a very tender octopus starter with toasted garlic with a basil sauce and then their Cuban beef filet with a blue cheese sauce drizzled with chocolate. Tasty! Then a shot of Barrel Proof Havana Club and a complementary cigar. Also made it to El Aljibe and filled up on their rice and beans and delicious roast chicken ... oh, succumbed to the German french fries as well. Also had a nice meal at El Template at the harbour.
Meetings in Old Havana, meeting in Vedado and no taxis around so I walked from La Rampa to Calzada y C - maybe about 20 minutes. It was so nice to just walk around since it is a bit risky for a gringo (or a chino) to walk around San Salvador.

A bit of flooding in Vedado - note the funny black pod on the pole,

neighbours think it is a surveillance camera

Weather was great but we had a couple of good soakings. My place is near the ocean and at the bottom of the hill where a lot of Vedado is so when it rains, the water comes streaming down and makes little rivers of water on the south to north roads. It flooded the underground garage a bit not nothing too bad ... only a problem if we get heavy rains for 6 hours straight. A lot of the city floods and one time I was driving and the water was cresting the top of my hood. For a crappy old Nissan Sentra, that is a challenge. Two things will get you through that much water - keep gunning the engine so air is constantly being blown out the exhaust and hope that a bunch of kids will come to your aid and push you through - and tip well afterwards.

Happy diaper recipients in Plaza Vieja

My second last day was a lot of fun. Went down to Old Havana to deliver a big box of diapers and wet wipes to a friend. Hung out with her and had several coffees in a great café in Plaza Vieja, opposite from the Austrian brew pub. Had a couple of capuccinos which were very tasty.

Another view of Plaza Vieja - the apartment where my friends live

Then a couple of friends visiting for the weekend met up with me and we had lunch and then went to the artisanal market in Old Havana. They were hemming and hawing a bit so I yelled at them to buy something - buy art, photos, it was all so cheap. I ended up getting three photos including a hilarious one of a woman in a laundromat staring down Che. The prices were sooo cheap for the photos - $15 for a large one of the Malecon and $10 for the 8x10s that I almost felt like offering more. I bought two paintings as well - a little tourist throwaway that must have taken literally five minutes to paint but it was $15 and really evocative of Havana and the other was a much more complex arty piece painted by the former historian of the Camaguey Ballet - the vendor wanted $100 and said it was negotiable so I offered $80 and he said $90 so I said $80 and he said $85 and I said $80 was fair and if I could have started at $60 if he wanted to play games. So $80 it was.
Then off with the friends for some libations at the Café Oriente for some fancy cocktails including their Adam and Eve which, bizarrely, won first prize at the International Cocktail competition a few years ago. I have the recipe from a feature we did for Cubaplus magazine a few years ago:
Havana Club 7 Years Old: 30 ml
Green Apple Liquor: 20 ml
Martini Bianco (white vermouth): 20 ml
Campari Bitter: 5 ml
Stir with ice and serve straight up in a chilled martini glass. Garnish with two apple hearts pierced by an arrow and placed on the rim of the glass.
The bartender who came up with this drink wasn’t there and the guy filling in was too lazy to cut two hearts but he did make a nice one out of papaya.

My best friend Delia

I split to go home to prep for a party at Delia’s house. Delia is my best friend in Cuba, a roommate of many years, and the person I would go to if I ever had a really serious problem ... like several years ago when I was involved in a traffic accident when I hit a young girl who ran in front of my car. Delia held my hand when I met with the police, when I found my lawyer, she paid my bail, and then went with me to Cien y Aldobo (the Lubyanka of Cuba, the headquarters of the police and secret police and the most feared place in Cuba) where I signed my detention order and, after showing proof that I had payed my bail, flipped it over to sign my release order [when we finally went to trial, the prosecutor was saying it was my fault and asked for a sentence of two years of limitation of my liberty (which is not imprisonment or even house arrest but that I couldn’t leave Cuba for two years - weird!) but after all the witnesses spoke, the judge withdrew the charges ... whew!).

Cuban chicas at the party

On the other hand, whenever Delia needed someone at her back, I was there. I payed for her wedding reception when she was in a dry spot business-wise. I went to Toronto when she was there visiting her son and acted as her chauffeur and hand fed her sushi for a week.
So I asked if I could have a party for my friends at her house ... and kind of forgot it was her birthday a few days after and said "it’s a party for your birthday" and she’s like "you forgot my birthday again." But no harm no foul and we decided to go ahead with it. A friend cooked a 30 lb leg of lamb, Delia made the salsa, I brought the tortillas and cheese and made a mole sauce for the pulled pork. Also brought cans of corn and jalapenos for a spicy topping and 30 lobster tails for grilling. Now the lobster in Cuba can be delicious and is generally cheaper than hamburger (which costs more since it is imported and the lobster is caught just off the shore). The problem with ordering in restaurants is that they tend to cook it for about 15 minutes more than they should. Also, when you buy it in the streets, they always always say it is fresh but it ain’t always the case. This time, they were great. Fresh and sweet and very white. I made a basting sauce out of garlic, extra virgin olive oil and butter, showed Jan how to butterfly and clean out the thingee, and grilled them until just barely done. Well, probably overcooked a few but I was running around trying to get the taco buffet set up, saying hi to new arrivals, and I was so busy I forgot to take pictures!

30 lobster tails ready for the grill

Delia was screwing around shooting tequila (we gave her two bottles of the good stuff for presents) so while all the food was out, none of the tortillas were. So people were loading up the plates with all the taco fixings without tacos and - the horror - were putting all the condiments on top of the lobsters. I guess they thought that the cooked lobster looked a little bare. Oh, and most people were putting grated cheese on the lobsters as well. I tried not to freak even when my friend Carlos came back with a cheese covered tail and asked for a refire ... which I did without stabbing him with the tongs and he made me try it and ... it .... was ... delicious. So f**k me, I’ll have to try that next time ... some kind of modified lobster rockefella skank with cheese and spinach or something.

Danny and Ana Rosa flamencoing

Party was going well but we were running out of beer. I had brought two cases and asked the foreign invitees to bring beer but almost no one did. I should explain that Cuba is probably the only country in Latin America (maybe even in the world) where a working man can’t leave work and have a cold beer. And that is because the vast majority of beer (and all the good stuff) is sold in Convertible Pesos and costs about a dollar which is two days average pay! So most Cubans can’t afford to drink a lot of beer and when it is at parties, it goes fast. I felt kind of bad that we were short but I also bought a case of good rum so it wasn’t like people were short of booze.

Miguel singing his heart out to an appreciative crowd

I had invited some good friends that have a flamenco dance company. Normally, I just invite them to hang out (I used to be their business manager and patron) and the girls are terribly addicted to chocolate which I always have at parties. This time I asked if they would do a few numbers and they said they would be happy to do so. They came with a singer, guitarist and three dancers and after they ate, we moved around some furniture and they did a great, intimate, and funny performance that everyone loved. I paid them with a four pound bag of Hershey minis ... but got hit up for a donation of $300 to buy stuff for staging their next performance which they are going to use for their very first ever tour outside of Cuba! They are off to Greece for month this winter ... so if anyone is in Greece and needs tickets, let me know.
So the party went on for a while. It was actually very small since Delia and I only invited close friends. We had maybe 40 people and there was some dancing and a lot of drinking and then some dominoes - which is the true national sport of Cuba. High spirited play, some really mean spirited bad winners who really rubbed the losers faces into it (which is very normal for Cuba), some tears, spilled rums, numerous delicious cigars, a lot of laughter ... and then the walk home at 5:00 a.m. If you have never experienced a party in Havana, you are really missing out.

One of my favourite photos of Grupo Ecos - snapped at the Teatro Mella during a weekend run where they played for 12,000 people

Next day had some final meetings and the head of the flamenco company came to take me to the airport. This was the deal for me buying car parts for him - an obligation that I feel that I have since it used to be my car. I used to have a registered office in Havana and had a couple of cars. When you-know-who said there were too many foreigners in Cuba, they decided to kick out half the companies including all the foreign lawyers so I lost my Audi to the police in a really ridiculous charade of governmental b.s. The Nissan we held onto until I was stopped by the cops (who had big lists of all the cars they were hunting down). I had to go to an office on the coast in Miramar and I sat there, in the shade with a nice ocean breeze, reading a book. I ended up chilling out for 8 hours which made the police very nervous that I wasn’t getting upset over the delay in processing my repo. Every few hours someone would come out and say the wait was almost over. At the end, some high ranking guy gave me a letter and apologized that I could only have 3 days to sell the car before I had to turn it in. I was shocked and amazed that they were even giving me the chance to drive away in it!

When Hurricane Wilma came to town - Parque Almadeo Roldan from my balcony

So I put the car in the garage and kind of forgot about doing anything about it for a year until Hurricane Wilma blew past Havana and threw an 18' storm surge at us which required us to move the car. During hurricanes, you can basically do whatever you want with your car. You can leave it in the middle of a public park, drive the wrong way on any road, and drive around without license plates ... and the police won’t bother you. We ended up putting the car up the street on Calle C between maybe 13 and 15 which was a good idea since our garage completely filled up with water. It took about 3 days for the water to recede and to clean out the garage and Fatima went to put the car back in the garage ... and started it but then the car ran out of gas, right in front of the Chinese Embassy. When she got back with a pop bottle full of gas, there were two security cars and a cop car waiting for her. They said they had their eye on the suspicious Sentra with no plates for days. Fatima called me asking me to bring the car documents which I happened to have in one folder. I brought it to them, they spent 30 minutes reviewing the documents and calling in on their radios and I said goodbye again to my trusty old 1989 Nissan Sentra (solidly built in Japan for the Canadian market) and, bizarrely, the cops handed back the documents and said I could go! So figuring that I had to do something with it, I decided to give it to my friend, the director of the Flamenco company, since he was getting around on buses and a bicycle. The transfer needed to be signed off by two vice-ministers (of Foreign Investment and Culture) which took a long time ... and 8 months later, the car was his!
So I got a drive in the Nissan to the airport. He has a general permit to go there but not a specific one to drop me off so we went into the parking lot and walked to the terminal in the rain rather than have him being stopped by the cops and questioned. Everything was fine but they were renovating the duty free shop and had moved half the cigars to the gate shop and I was sent there and then they tried to send me back but I held firm and got my cigars! Poor woman at the cigar counter was trying to do all the math in her head since they cash register had been turned off ... I hope she isn’t short too much money at the end of the day. Last funny thing to happen was watching the baggage coming off the plane I was going to board. One guy went into the hold and another guy was on the other end of the conveyor belt chucking bags into a truck. And he was being supervised by 4 people! At one point, it even got up to five. After the truck was full and drove off, the next truck was late in coming so the guy inside the hold came out and was metal detector wanded by one of the supervisors! So I guess he could only steal something made out of plastic or glass. One reason for all this security is that the Canadian travel agents association complained to the Cuban Government that they had been receiving numerous complaints of bags being broken into - so they added security to watch the supervisors who watch the workers. Ah, Cuba.

One worker, four supervisors

Flight was fine although the airline appears to be cutting costs and is buying food from the Havana flight kitchen. I was given a plate of lasagna that was so large that it was oozing over the sides of the plate. The bread was stale and the cake dried out but I didn’t touch those since I barely finished the lasagna and had indigestion for the rest of the flight. Reminiscent of Cubana’s "Tropical" class which was kind of like a business class but not really. On those flights, economy passengers would be given a tray of food with various edible and inedible objects ... and Tropical class passengers would get ... two trays!

Bus class meal ... Cuban style

We had to stop at the ridiculous San Jose airport which was apparently designed by someone who has never actually flown before.
El Salvador was great and I was third off the plane, second through immigration, and miraculously, my bags came out first and second on the conveyor belt. I have mixed feelings about this - with the amount of luck I had with that, I figure that I will never win a lottery in my life.
Back home and it is great here. Had some good beef, KFC one night, made a red Thai curry with coconut milk, leeks, zucchini, bamboo shoots, baby corn, wiskil (small soft squash), green onions, jalapeno, and fresh basil leaves over jasmine rice. And lots of good cold beer.

After living in Cuba for 13 years, I normally am not excited about going back but this was a good trip. Saw most of my friends and lamented/celebrated all those Cuban friends that now live abroad. I acted more like a tourist than normal and ate out a lot and I suppose that is why I enjoyed my trip. So if you haven't made it to Cuba yet, definitely go and go soon before it gets worse/better!

Comida Típica and the Market

2009-05-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

I have really been enjoying writing this blog and think it is great that someone from Moscow is reading about my life here. I am in the middle of reading Stalin’s Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith and would love to experience the Moscow of the homicide detective Arkady Renko. Interestingly, one of his novels was set in Cuba (Havana Bay) and I still recall from the first novel, Gorky Park, Renko walking around Moscow with a small Cuban pineapple in his pocket which he would periodically take out and smell to transport him to the sunny island paradise while his world was threatening to crash down around him in cold Moscow.

Rene, Fatima and myself at the Mercado
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I also see that friends in Spain are reading my blog - so leave comments if you have any questions about life here.

The pupusa!

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So I will finally turn to the local food or comida típica. I think I have delayed this because, while I really enjoy it, I don’t know it very well yet.

Our first starter at Maurita's - Quenelles of fresh salty cheese
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The most traditional food here is the pupusa - a corn or rice flour thick tortilla that is stuffed with cheese, chicharrones, and beans. It is made by making a masa or dough with the right amount of water because consistency is very important. Then you take a ball of dough, make a hole inside, put the filling in, fold the top closed and pat it out between your hands - no press or machine can do it as well. Oh, you can put a bit of oil on your palms so it doesn’t stick. Then fry it up and eat it with cortida (which is a vinegary cole slaw made with hand cut cabbage, carrots, sometimes onions and jalapenos, and oregano) and a water tomato sauce. Oddly, this national meal is also slang for a woman’s private parts because the patting together of the hands while forming the pupusa reminds some people of Lesbians getting it on. Excuse the vulgar anecdote here.

Our second starter at Maurita's - Chicharrones with fried tortillas and pico de gallo (the salsa like stuff)

This food is popular with all Salvadorans although some of my gringo friends hate them and claim that you will always get sick from eating them and that the pork is rancid. I have eaten them from maybe 10 different places/stands and never had a problem. On the Travel Channel, I saw a show where both Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern ate pupusas in NYC and they were both familiar with them and love them ... so that’s great food cred right there.

Fatima's separate and stuff technique

I think that Fatima has the best way of eating them. She separates the two halves and then eats them like two soft tacos with the cortida on the inside. We all love them in the house but don’t eat them very often since they are very fattening and very condusive to turning regularly proportioned people into very round people.

The girls at Maurita's
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What I find really maddening is that pupusas can only be found for breakfast or dinner - and I think it is the perfect lunch food! I have heard various explanations for this - that it was supposed to be a big filling breakfast that workers would have at home before heading out to the fields to work all day. And the opposite where the workers have such a big lunch with meat, rice, beans, salad, tortillas or bread that they only want something small like a pupusa at the end of the day. Whatever the reason, this is harsh fact of life in El Salvador - although we were able to get pupusas for lunch one day when Elliot and his two friends were visiting from Canada.

The amazing waitress (left) who found us lunchtime pupusas!
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We were at my favourite comida típica place, the Mercado de Antiguo Cuscutlan, looking for a food stand that had pupusas. A lot of the big flat top grills were making tortillas but all the fixings for pupusas were put away. I offered women $5 tips to make a few pupusas ... and was turned down at 5 different places.

Fresh oysters on the half shell at Maurita's

We ended up at Mauritas where I explained the problem to a waitress and she said hold on ... and came back saying she found someone who would commit the social outrage of cooking pupusas for lunch but we had to pay a 10 cent premium on each one and we had to order 20 of them ... done ... and enjoyed!

My favourite ... Sopa de Patas

So that is how we came to become loyal to Mauritas. There are probably about 40 food stands and we have eaten at maybe 8 of them. Many of them are very quiet and empty but Mauritas is probably the biggest and busiests (and they take credit cards). They have fresh oysters (for $8, $10 and $12 per dozen, depending on the size), black clams that my friend Minh says are like the kind they had in Viet Nam, and all the traditional meals. We always start with a fresh soft cheese, avocados, and chicharrones (which is actually the name of a fried pork rind but is made here with big chunks of pork meat fried in pork fat), with fresh and fried tortillas.

Sopa de Mariscada

The the girls usually have a big seviche and I will have a big bowl of Sopa de Patas - a very hearty soup made with cow’s feet and served with big pieces of tendon, tripe, and big chunky vegetables like corn on the cob, cabbage, yucca, wiskil, and carrot. It is served with chopped onion and cilantro and I cover it in hot sauce.

Counting the empties to get a free Pilsener key chain ... sweet!

Yum! Usually have 3-4 beers provided by the lovely Constancia and Brava beer girls who are constantly fighting for our patronage - Constancia has skinnier girls who offer little gifts like glasses and beer openers while the Brava girls are larger and bustier women who offer a free beer after having 6.

What's that smell? Oh, they brought the kids.
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The other great traditional soup is Mariscada which is a rich seafood soup made with fish, shrimps, langostine, and crab. Maybe some clams too? Then they pour heavy cream into it when they serve it (which is optional - you can have the healthy version which has more veggies in it at some places). Very delicious, rich, and messy if you take the small crab apart.
You can also get really fresh seafood - it goes from the fishmongers into the frying pan here. I tried a turtle egg once ... I know, a protected species but very popular here. It was put into boiling water for maybe 30 seconds and served to me ... it had a soft and leathery shell, you make a hole in the top, put in salt (maybe lime or hot sauce as well), then you suck out the liquidy mess ... did not enjoy that at all.

The stand where they grind the fresh corn for masa for tortillas
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Reminds me of the Sopa de Garrobo that I had once at another restaurant. An iguana soup where the reptile was first boiled to make a broth and then the carcass was fried and served as meat ... the broth was bitterish and quite unpleasant while the animal was extremely bony and had virtually no meat on it. Wow, not good. BUT, I was at a gastronomical food fair where 300 Salvadoran chefs set up at the Sheraton’s big ballroom and the best thing I tried was a Sopa de Garrobo ... rich, deep, delicious ... and am kicking myself for not finding out where that chef worked.
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Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables
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So we like to meet friends at the Mercado and we have a big weekend brunch meal. It has been getting a lot more crowded on Saturdays since Sky TV in Mexico took over the rights to broadcast Spanish Football in Central America. So the thousands of fans of Barcelona and Real Madrid have to go somewhere that has a satellite feed to watch their beloved team ... which makes the Market a popular place with TVs at every food stand. Afterwards, we go to the DVD stand and I buy a bunch of bootlegs to bring to Cuba and we go buy vegetables. The Mercado also has a shoe repair place, shoe stores, hair salons, a florist, stationary shop, and an artesanal goods shop. If you make it down to visit, I'll have to take you to this place.

Cooking pots and corn grinders made from volcanic rock

If you make it down to visit, I'll have to take you to this place.

More Food Verbiage

2009-05-08T14:57:00.001-07:00

I’ve had a busy few weeks. Had to head up to Toronto for about three weeks to take care of a family emergency. Did a lot of shopping and lugged a lot of stuff back to El Salvador. Had a pretty good time up there, was able to spend a lot of time with family, got out a few times with friends, and finally got to see my friend Jeff’s new house with his incredibly nice kitchen. Hand painted customs cabinets (including on the fridge and Miele dishwasher doors), six burner dual gas Viking range, and an island that includes a sink/garberator, large wine fridge, built in microwave, and a big warming drawer!

Jeff and the wonder-kitchen

It was my first time in the new kitchen in Owen Sound so I was happy to cook three meals over the weekend. On Friday, we did Korean food with 8 bottles of Soju and 2 bottles of the 100 year wine. I picked up some kimchee, Chrysanthemum leaves, pickled cucumbers and garlic greens, fresh perilla leaves from Korea (!), and bulgogi beef for a nice table top cooking session. Chilli paste, fresh serranos, big chunks of garlic, and grilled meat wrapped up in lettuce with some funky greens. I recall the meal being very delicious and it ended with cigars, whiskey and chocolate on the porch but I don’t recall very much more than that although there were rumours that we got really, really drunk. Mind you, I think that we only drank maybe 6 bottles of Korean booze (or maybe 8) … and a bottle of wine and the whiskey. The Andong Soju was really amazing – clean and fresh like very good vodka.

Andong Soju with unidentified pink bunny

Next day, I made that delicious simple tofu, green onion and beef soup that Mom used to whip up in about 10 minutes. My friends were amazed at how tasty and simple it was so I think that they have added that recipe to their repertoire.

Medium rare grilled lamb with roast veggies

That night, we decided to make a big meal and ended up with a nice deboned leg of lamb marinated in olive oil, garlic and fresh Rosemary and grilled on the Weber and served on a bed of grilled veggies.

Bacon wrapped to keep warm

... and served on a bed of roast potatoes and grilled savoy

We also, inexplicably, decided to do a roast steamer leg of pork covered in bacon and served over roast potatoes and savoy cabbage with a red wine jus gravy with parsley. What rocket surgeon came up with that menu? There were only 8 of us for dinner. Washed down with maybe 6 bottles of wine … ugh, wheel me to bed.

Good Canadian Pub Food

Other notably meals … convalescing family member at home where I cooked a nice mac and cheese au gratin with a very old white cheddar, giant BLT’s, chicken souvlaki with a Greek salad, and chicken and dumplings. Went out one night to my local Firkin pub and our table ordered 4 of the specials – prime beef ribs, charred on the grill and slathered with a sweet bbq sauce that comes, I kid you not, with a side of chicken wings and fries. Washed down with 5 pints of beer, yum.

Fixin's for Sukiyaki

Elliot, myself and Mom after dinner

Mom came back from Korea and China and we had some nice meals. I got to pick the last meal I had in Toronto so asked for Sukiyaki. Mom made it with beef, tofu, spinach, green onions, spinach, baby bok choi, and shitakes ... delish, and healthy too.

After all this food, it was nice to get back home. The rainy season has started and it will be overcast and rainy until October – although not all the time. It was sunny when I woke up this morning so as long as I get to see the sun every few days, I’ll be happy.

So getting back into the cooking and eating cycle here. Went to Minh’s Cuisine restaurant to celebrate my friend Pierre’s birthday. We ordered a few very tasty appetizers and Minh sent us a couple of nice freebie plates. For my main, I had a curry shrimp dish and it was delish and made even better by some pickled garlic and Habanero chillis. I foolishly ate a whole one including all the seeds and pith … and while it was awesome eating it, my stomach was upset all night. But that s**t is good for you and should keep most gastrointestinal maladies away.

The gift that keeps on giving ... pickled Habaneros and garlic from Minh

Then on the weekend, Keller was in the mood to smoke so he found a couple of local pork shoulders (none of that potentially scary Hillshire Farms factory pork from Pricesmart). He dusted up a rub and threw it on the smoker along with a beercan chicken and some brined salmon. Salmon was well smoked and awesome and came off first. Then we had to battle our friend who likes to eat his meat very rare. I was trying to explain that that may be okay for an expensive cut of meat but for something cheap, fatty and gristly, it would need 8 to 10 hours at 225 degrees. But nooo, he took it off at 3 hours and then at 5 hours … still not properly cooked. I acquiesced and said that he could cook one shoulder any way he wanted but I was going to do the other one … but he snuck the second one off when I wasn’t looking (possibly between my beers number 6 and 7). So I had to restart the firebox and left it on for another 3 hours … which I think took us to 11:00 pm. When it was done, it was awesome – soft and falling off the bone in chunks. Unfortunately, none of us were hungry anymore! But it made for good tacos later.

Sorry but I forgot my camera so no good food pictures! Just these weird ones that Keller took with his Blackberry. The second one is me with one of the smoked shoulders.

What we are most excited about now, foodwise, is making pastrami and Montreal Smoked Meat. I brought the pickling spices and the saltpeter from Canada and I just have to find some nice briskets. I have two recipes – one calling for a 10 day brine and the other for 21 days … don’t know if I can wait that long. We are planning on having a big deli dinner with dill pickles, potato chips, and pastrami sandwiches slathered in hot mustard that are so thick, you’ll have problems taking a bite out of it.

Organized a group of 12 of us to go to the Mercado Antiguo Cuscutlan tomorrow for some comida tipica ... and I promise to take photos and do a proper blog on the great local dishes and seafood.

To Have and Have Not

2009-04-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing stories from friends of mine living in Korea and China about the deprivations they suffer when living away from "home." I too am keenly aware of this after living in Cuba for more than a decade but I can happily report that we can get almost everything we need here in little El Salvador.

I chose the title of this blog as a tip of the hat to Hemingway's’s book about a charter captain who has to illegally transport Chinese workers from Cuba to Key West. Interesting echoes of my former life where I fished on charter boats that illegally came down from FLA to Marina Hemingway in Havana. I was also asked to join a business helping Chinese illegals to sneak into Canada on fake papers for $25K a person (I said no to this). Also, the book was turned into a movie with the screenplay being worked on by an out of print and out of money William Faulkner - who counts Ricardo Alarcon (one of Cuba’s top politicians) as a big fan.

My Canadian friend in China wrote "I mention potato chips because the anticipation of buying Ripples in China only sets you up for such a big disappointment when you take your first bite. Same goes for their chocolate bars (the ones without the melamine), hamburgers (excluding McDonald's), steaks, pasta, Korean, Thai etc. We do eat our share of Sushi. Salmon seems to be abundant in these parts so it's usually quite fresh- although there is fake squid here. An of course, they haven't even come close to copying a good jelly filled donut!" Ah, the life of the expat has a dark side!

My Canadian and American friends in Korea miss good Mexican food, wines, beer, and pizza that doesn’t have corn and mayonnaise on it.

As for El Salvador, we are pretty well set up. I ate most of a bag of Lay chips yesterday (from Mexico and they figured out that the chips are supposed to be crunchy, salty and light coloured - not cooked brown and bitter). We can get burgers at McD’s, a local place called Biggest with their Big Spam burger (not "the" Spam but just using the name), and Bennigans. Steaks, ah USDA choice sirloin, striploin, and ribeyes are available at Pricesmart. Pasta, several good Italian places like Enoteca (extensive wine list, fresh made pasta, and the lovely hostess/owner Lizette), Tres Fretelli, etc.

Fatima and MJ enjoying the appetizers at Pabelion Coreano

Korean food ... we have two pretty good places! Sushi in Central America is a sad joke but I have discovered that Korean (at least in Panama and El Salvador) is excellent - restaurants owned by Koreans, food cooked by Koreans, for a largely Korean clientele. We go for sam gyup sal (fatty pork belly cooked on a table grill eaten in lettuce wraps with a spicy salad), bulgogi (seasoned thinly cut sirloin cooked on the table and eaten with big chunks of raw garlic, slices of "Johnny Cash" jalapeno rings, and a chilli paste in a lettuce wrap), usually a chigae soup of some kind, we get at least 7 side dishes with at least 3 kimchees, and several bottles of Soju.

Thai and Vietnamese are represented by two decent restaurants - one owned by my friend Minh who came here via Viet Nam, Philippines, SoCal. He is very good and his south east Asian fusion is pretty creative and tasty.

Otherwise, we have pretty much all we need. Good crusty french baguettes (made by a french guy), Guinness draft in cans and export special in bottles. A surprisingly good Chilean table wine for $3.50 a bottle. Tofu, sushi rice, and kimchee at the Asian stores. Haven’t found good pastrami or hotdogs but I don’t need many per year and can get my fill in Toronto when I visit in the summer.

Our crack design team, Eric and Eric

What are our big "have nots"? Getting back to the pastrami and other smoked meats, a friend got it into his head to build a bbq smoker for another friend and I got roped into helping out with the design. So after numerous internet searches, we came up with a design we liked.
Then off to the friend’s large textile plant (where they magically turn tiny little plastic pellets into long threads made up of 72 different filaments) where he has a large scrap yard and a welder with some time on his hands.

The guys who actually did the work

We gave them some photos and plans culled from the Internet and some basic ideas of what we needed - a big 50 gallon oil drum, very well cleaned out, with a quarter cut out and hinged with a handle, sitting on a base with a pipe chimney and a smoke box attached at the bottom left with as big a transfer hole as possible.

Returning a few days later, we were very pleased to see that our ideas and their enormous skills had resulted in a kick ass smoker. They arc welded most of it, ground down the pointy welds, cut everything precisely. We asked them to make a few modifications and they had it ready in a few hours. So it turned out that two lawyers and an accountant were not, in fact, completely useless at doing something productive!

Rush back to my friend’s house, stop by the Pricesmart for sausages and ribs, a quick dry rub thrown together from whatever was in the house, start the smoker and wait. Wow, a lot of smoke but not too much heat. My friend had worried that the little Proctor Silex burner in the side smoke box wouldn’t be able to transfer enough heat and he was 100% correct. So we decided to build a charcoal fire on top of the burner and that helped enough to get the temperature up. Plus newspaper insulation on the smoke box, duct tape, and a hair dryer billows, 20 beers and 4 hours later ... pork ambrosia.

I made a bbq sauce with pureed onion, serranos and garlic, ketchup, balsamic vinegar and everything else from the spice cupboard ... delicious.

The next day, the boys were at it again but they have had time to think about the set up. So they dropped the electric element into the 50 gallon drum to raise the temperature, had an ash grill welded for the smoke box, plugged it in and started the fire and it leveled off at a perfect 225 degrees.

Crack open the beers, more ribs (brined this time with a fantastic mustard and habanero sauce), sausages, chops and a deboned leg. By this point, we had easily passed the point of too much of a good thing so have decided to take the week off but we will be back with brined and rubbed brisket (will try to make Montreal smoked meat) and we can buy pork shoulders cheap at Pricesmart (with a minimum order of 40 lbs, come on over!).

Food - El Salvador versus Cuba

2009-03-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a week since the election and so far so good. Nothing crazy has happened although some of the business community here are very pessimistic and are expecting El Salvador to follow the pattern of Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Others are expecting this country to follow the example of Brazil and it is a good sign that President Elect Funes went to visit Lula first.

Okay, it is not my intention to make this into a political blog and I have been spending way too much time this week arguing politics at parties ... so let me talk about something else. I was trying to decide whether to write about dentistry in San Salvador or food ... and I think the latter may be more fun.

I came to El Salvador after 13 years living in Havana. Havana has a vibrant culture and, seemingly, a diverse and interesting cuisine. Think about all those great cocktails invented in Cuba (Mojitos, Cuba Libres, and Daiquiris).
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Yoyi carving the pig in Yeya's kitchen
Think about Cuban sandwiches, roast whole pork cooked in a caja china, yucca con mojo, tostones and maraquitas, and fresh seafood. In reality, we ate a lot of cabbage (organic since the farmers didn't have the money for pesticides) and frozen chicken from the US (hormone enhanced giant chicken legs in 30 lb boxes with Russian writing on them) that fell off trucks.

We also had a lot of lobster tails (at a dollar per tail, it was cheaper than the imported hamburger) but there is only so much you can stand and with Fatima being allergic to it, I only cooked it when she was off island.
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Too much lobster!

Vegetables were really lacking. Sometimes all you would find was cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, and fruit. I only found green beans once in 13 years! Cauliflower maybe 4 time. Napa maybe 6 times - and of course I bought ever head they had so that I could make kimchee.

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Organic baby arugula salad in Cuba
The best produce we had was organic baby arugula that would cost a dollar for a giant plastic bag (until hurricane Wilma flooded the little farm in Miramar) and watercress.
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So when I moved to El Salvador, I was blown away by all the great food and produce. Four kinds of lettuce, zucchini, radicchio, daikon, strawberries, fresh chili peppers, fennel, sweet corn ... YEAR ROUND! A lot of it comes from Guatemala where I think they have the climate at altitude to grow through every season. We also have some nice culinary surprises like fresh mozzarella and a nice salty crumbly local cheese we use like Feta.
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Caprese on a stick with a balsamic dressing

The wines from Chile and Argentina are plentiful and very inexpensive - our house wine is an Undurraga that costs $3.60 a bottle. The meats are good although I have to confess that I buy most of that at Pricesmart so our beef is from the US and the fish is farm grown Tilapia.
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A dinner party in Havana with tamales and tacos
When we cooked for a large dinner party in Cuba, we would have a general idea of what we wanted to make and then we would try to find it. Depending on the outcome of that, we would have to change or tailor what we could serve. We did a lot of Mexican with tortillas brought in from visits to El Salvador. Our chicken mole was pretty popular.

In San Salvador, I can get an idea from the Food Channel or off the Internet, find everything I need, and then make exactly what I wanted to.
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Indian food dinner - butter chicken and homemade Nan

In the past year, that has meant such dinner parties like: Thai food with Jasmine rice, coconut milk curry, Pad Thai, and a green papaya salad; Indian food with a Goan grilled curry fish, butter chicken and home made Nan bread;

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Hand-rolls with avocado, tomago and shrimp

Japanese sushi handrolls with tofu miso soup; and a lot of beef with great salads and veggies like green beans with butter, garlic and almonds.

We have a nice condo but unfortunately we don’t have a private garden for a barbecue. There is a common parkette and I am contemplating setting up something there but it is a bit inconvenient. So we usually barbecue at friend’s houses.

A lot of big two pound sirloins on the grill and we recently did a proper barbecue with brisket and pork, cooked for 8 hours with a lot of hickory smoke.
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Pork and brisket in our improvised smoker
I am not much of an appetizer maker but I cooked for a friend's birthday party and she wanted some appetizers so we did pesto grilled chicken kebobs with grated manchego cheese, a nice caprese salad on a stick with local fresh mozzarella and a balsamic dip, and bacon wrapped figs with a mascarpone dip.

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Bacon wrapped figs with mascarpone dip

I have also been lucky to find plenty of friends who love to eat and also one who is a professional chef. Minh, of Minh's Cuisine, is a Thai and Vietnamese chef and he is just awesome to cook with. I like cooking and think I am a decent "cook" but Minh is a "chef" and is teaching me a lot. We once did a rotisserie boneless leg of pork and someone thought it was a bit dry. He was carving and said we should make a sauce. A quick rummage through the cupboards produced two cans of pineapples - through the blender, then into a saucepan with two sticks of butter, a touch of ginger, a splash of soy sauce, and finished with some sliced green onions and we had a 4 minute sauce done.

Now the big question is, what are we making next weekend?

We Have a Winner!

2009-03-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

9:20 p.m. about 300 yards away from where I sit, Mauricio Funes of the FMLN is giving his acceptance speech in the Sheraton Hotel. Fatima thinks that the Arena candidate is probably giving his own speech ... but after a long night of vote counting, it appears that we have a clear winner.

No violence! Lots of language about how this is a young democracy. Lots of foreign scrutineers and a pretty clean process. Saw some shenanigans like a group of 10 Nicaraguans who were given fake ID cards and hats and T-shirts of the right wing Arena party - but they were caught pretty easily so were they paid by the left or the right?

The ballots were pretty basic - about 8 x 10" with only two choices given by their squarish coloured logo. Mark one or the other. In one case, someone put the "X" in the middle and there was an argument because it was touching the Frente symbol. In another case, someone in the countryside was so nervous about the party observers and international scrutineers ... that they panicked and put an "X" through the seal of the country. A vote for El Salvador!

Throughout the night, the cable channel has been periodically putting the Emergency Alert System on so that this one electoral official could stumble over reading number after number. They interrupted Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, The Unit, and now Bizarre Foods. Okay, what is this guy saying ... 8 million votes, 91% counted ... 48.76% for Arena and 51.27% for FMLN! Fireworks are going off outside and we have a socialist government coming into power in May!

After 20 years, there is a new government and we weren’t threatened by the US this time. They normally like to make noises about how El Salvador may not receive special treatment related to immigration issues and remittances if the communists take power. But there was a lot of noise from the American Embassy or maybe the State Dept about how other countries (i.e. Chavez’ Venezuela) shouldn’t stick their nose into another sovereign government’s election process. So I guess they felt bad about doing it themselves.

I can hear cheering from the Sheraton but otherwise, San Benito is very, very quiet. No surprise since this is a wealthy neighbourhood and I am sure most people voted for the right. We can see fireworks way off in the distance. The TV stations (which are controlled by right wing voting groups) are showing mostly boring speeches - the head of Arena for San Salvador is saying how divided the country is ... and he appears to be drunk. Not much news of how the city is taking these results so off to the streets!

Wow, there are hundreds of cars driving up and down Escalon and all over the side streets. Traffic is mostly blocked and thousands of people are gathering on foot, wearing red FMLN shirts and waving flags.

Traffic is crazy and it takes us about 10 cycles of a traffic light to cross through Escalon. I have never seen people this happy and emotional before.

Normally everyone is so reserved in public and they don't make eye contact or talk. Now people are waving at me as I take their picture (sorry for the quality - I really have to get a better camera) and kids are directing traffic while waving flags.

Cars make U-turns to either get closer to the celebration or to get farther away.

A guy is walking up the street with a big hand-lettered sign that says "Cual miedo?" which means "Which fear?"

Booom! Someone is throwing giant firecrackers (the illegal foot long ones called morteros) on the street and one went off very close to our car. We don't want to get caught in traffic for an hour so we head further and further down a side street until we can cut across Escalon. Cars are still flocking up the street to join the party and it is good to see the cops are all out - but they are staying in the vehicles and there seems to be no problems.

The TV channels are showing the concession speach by Rodrigo Avila (the donut fan) but nothing of the massive celebration going on in the street. That's too bad because on the TV and amongst my expat business friends the mood is dour and pessimistic. But the people have spoken and now they are celebrating in the streets. Their faces are shining and they look euphoric with so much hope for a better future.

Election Day!

2009-03-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

I have so much to talk about that I am not sure where to start. I wish they had blogs in 1995 when I moved to Havana. At the time, I just sent out these very long "Letters from Havana" to friends by E-mail in which I noted all the bizarre things that happened to me and all the cultural ironies that I ran across. I stopped writing those when a friend of mine said that he would print out the letters and stash them in the can but that he was getting too far behind and was feeling guilty. So onwards and upwards!

Today is election day in San Salvador. Yesterday, the streets were quite calm although I saw various law enforcement guys throughout San Benito, the neigbourhood where I live. There was a group of 10 cops (male and female) in their quasi-paramilitary outfits on foot going through the Zona Rosa (entertainment district), there were two different types of cops in the parking lot of my local supermarket, and I heard a lot of helicopters out and about (there is a landing pad between our condo and the Hotel Sheraton one street over). I also saw two Japanese scrutineers with their credentials walking around - only a few of the thousands who have descended on the city to ensure these elections are fair.

Helicopters flying in the early morning mist on election day

I heard that the border with Guatemala has been closed - I thought for security purposes but I also heard it might be to prevent either party from bringing in fake voters.

Last night was pretty quiet since the Ley Seca came into effect, prohibiting the sale of alcohol for 24 hours on either side of the polls being opened. This meant that the many bars in our neighbourhood were closed and you could find parking! Of course the Super Selectos chose Friday to have a sale selling booze at cost! So to stock up, I got a bottle of Stoli Gold for $8, a Smirnoff Silver (for cocktails) for $6, and some Campari (for Red Square martinis - equal parts of cranberry, vodka, and Campari) for $10. Now isnt the point of the law to prevent people from getting boozed up and hitting the streets? Oddly, (or perhaps not), this same chain has similar sales before Christmas and Easter.

I am hearing what sounds like the drums of a marching band practicing off in the distance - it is 4:00 a.m.

As I mentioned before, I can see pros and cons to both sides running in this election. I have spoken to a lot of Salvadorans and the basic consensus is that the right wing ruling party has governed for almost 20 years and the rich have gotten richer while the poor haven’t been helped properly. One of my richer friends would refute this strongly and has pointed out all the public works the current government has done - building hospitals and roads. The amount of good that has been done is debatable but most people want to see some change, to let the left wing party take over to see what they can do. The left would be a shoo-in but for the fact that they have some old school rebel guerillas in their midst and there is some fear that they will assassinate their moderate leader and then go hog wild partying with Farc, Chavez and their old friend Fidel.
Wow, now I am hearing the roar of voices chanting along with the marching drums. Sounds like a war party getting their jones on.

The campaign was quite interesting. There were a lot of TV spots, most of them showing crowds walking behind their respective leaders with sweeping emotional music playing. And only a very few talked about the platforms - which were basically the same, i.e. encourage foreign investment, create jobs, help the poor. Instead of going door-to-door (which wouldn’t be very practical or safe in a country with a lot of walls, razor wire and armed guards), their supporters will take over a roundabout or a stretch of road and will fly their colours and give away car flags, stickers, plastic cups, brochures and stick notes emblazoned with their party or leader.

There has been some violence but little humour except for the giant billboards throughout the country. One party will put up a billboard as high as 60' off the ground and the other party would then carry up buckets of "mud" coloured paint to throw on the faces.

Who doesn't like donuts?
The funniest billboard has to be this one, in honour of the right wing candidate who used to be the head of the police and, while he did a good job, isn’t considered to be the sharpest guy around.

The polls are open and there is a feeling of anticipation. This could be a shining moment in the history of this country where the democratic voice of the people rises above fear mongering and prejudice ... or it could spiral out of control until we are reduced to a 10 second video clip on CNN showing police firing at masked prootestors with smoke hanging over this beautiful city. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

A New Life in El Salvador

2009-03-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

A view of the city

After being a fan of numerous blogs, I've finally decided that I wasn't wasting enough time reading other people's writings and have decided to throw in my two cents. I am also interested in discussing what life is like in El Salvador for people interested in a chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure.
I think Mexico is pretty full up (especially for anyone interested in an ocean front property), Guatemala doesn't have the nicest beaches, Costa Rica is seeing the beginnings of a backlash against foreigners, Panama is very hot and humid, so I think El Salvador may be next in line. Very affordable property, great standard of living (especially after spending 13 years living in Cuba), all the comforts of home, very localized crime (unlike Guatemala City, for example), and great people.

The view from our apartment
So a bit about myself ... I am a Japanese born Korean, moved to Toronto when I was 3, went to school there and then moved to Havana in '95 for work, met a wonderful Salvadoran woman, started visiting El Salvador in '97, and decided to move here in September of 2007.
When I first came to SAL, things were smaller and quieter. Less rampant American commercialism and only Metrocentro and Gallerias (two big malls) were open and only one ATM in the entire country. Now we have BK's, McD's, Pizza Hut, and KFC everywhere ... along with Tony Roma's, Wendy's, Papa John's ... list goes on. Can't say it is the Yanks' fault since I think all of these franchises have been brought in by wealthy Salvadoran families/companies that want an easy way to make money (more on this later). Roads were good then (and even better now), prices quite a bit lower, crime was much better with fewer mara/gang deportees from the US living here (although still a lot of guns and matériel from the civil war being used inappropriately - like a grenade being thrown into a bank), and people had less money and were less familiar with the comsumer lifestyle of North America.

My son at Punta Roca
Visiting over the years, I have noticed more and more franchises, more big malls, and now thousands of ATMs everywhere. The middle class is growing - which bodes very well for this country - although poverty is still huge at 35%. The upper class is still making a lot of money and are more conspicuous in the Porsche Cayennes, Ferraris, and their helicopters. There are a lot more maquiladoras or maquilas (factories using cheap labour to manufacture or assemble for export) with many being in textiles.
How are things trending? A lot will depend on the election tomorrow. I am not for either party and can see the pros and cons of both. Regardless, this isn't my decision but one the Salvadoran people will make. I just hope it is fair with little violence.
So back to what I want to talk about in this blog. Can foreigners come here to find a new life? I read and occasionally contribute to the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree Travel Forum http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=12 and there seem to be various people who find themselves in this country - be it a long stay traveling through the region, or for work, with NGO's, church groups, or to retire. In my case, along with most of the expats I know living here, it came about due to a relationship with a Salvadoran, a few visits to this amazing country, and then the decision to move here full time. We have escaped the cold and the rat race of North America (and remember what Lily Tomlin used to say, even if you win the race, you're still a rat) and live in a country where many people leave from, risking danger to go illegally to the country which we easily left to make money for their family's survival. But we are fortunate to have savings or jobs that grant us a very good standard of living in a country with a low cost of living.
More on all these subjects later!