coffee, beer, and ice cream

Fridays have become special days for Scott and I. Last week we ventured to El Lago. Today we decided to hit up some Mayan ruins in Chalchuapa. Welcome to Tazumal!

Ok. Having major problems (still) with uploading pictures onto blogger. Not sure if it's blogger or 3WC internet. Anyways, between Scott's Central America Book, Lonely Planet, and the Cabrera-Barahona family, we've been able to get around El Salvador with ease. We took the 202 from El Congo into Chalchuapa and walked a few meters to the ruins (you can see pics on FB, ugh so annoying). This was the first Mayan ruin I've ever been to so I was pretty excited. The entrance fee was $1 for natives and $3 for extranjeros. I swear if I didn't open my mouth (or if I was fluent in Spanish) I could probably pass for a native. Today at the market, while I was trying to bargain down a pretty sweet hat, the vendor asked if I was from here. To his dismay, I am not and had two guesses- Hawaiian/Chinese or Filipino. Ding!Ding!Ding! The funny thing was he pointed out how my eyes were different and proceeded to pull back the corners of his eyes and say "chinky". I'm pretty sure Joe would've loved to be there for that moment. I honestly don't even think I have asian eyes, but es muy bien.

Scott and I met this endearing American, Tyler, at Tazumal. He is a 26 year old from Portland, Oregon who spent almost a year teaching mathematics and sociology in Columbia. Once that gig was over, he decided he wanted to work his way up back home. He went to Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and now finds himself in El Salvador. He will be meeting his parents in Guatemala next week. I give him a lot of credit. I can live vicariously through him, because I'm not sure I could be a lone traveler for that long.

He told me that when he gets really frustrated in his travels there are 3 things that make everything all better: coffee, beer, and ice cream.

I was thinking today about what my 3 things would be and I came up with: coffee (coffee is pretty fantastic), shopping, and a hug. I got all 3 today :) Coffee I've been able to have everyday. Finally, we got to go through a pretty cool market including a lunch that cost us $1.50 each. And when we parted ways w/ Tyler, he gave me a hug goodbye. I haven't had a hug since I left on April 3. I guess I didn't realize how much of a staple that has been in my everyday life. I'm hugging everyone when I get back!