The El Salvador I know

It’s funny, though I am quite a journey away from Canada, daily life in San Salvador seems very similar to life in Toronto. Here in San Sal, most mornings I wake up to a sunny sky, dogs barking, neighbours getting ready for work (just like Toronto) and when I walk out of our gated neighbourhood to go to school at 8:00 AM or to go to aerobics with Sam at 6:00 AM, buses are crammed full and the streets are packed bumper to bumper in morning traffic JUST LIKE TORONTO. But there are also many differences here. Unlike Toronto, San Salvador is fairly small so for the majority of places I go, traffic never affects me because I can walk. When I do need to take a cab or a bus, sitting in traffic is never a problem because:

1) I do not have to worry about arriving anywhere late because being on time is not a universal concept here (sometimes this is a blessing; at other times, this can be stressful)

2) The most a cab has cost me here is 5 dollars (Why do taxi meters start at $5.00 in Canada?)

3) Cab drivers always want to chat with you and when you’re on the bus, you always run into someone you have seen before or know and chatting with them makes the time fly by.

The food.


Have you ever read a travel brochure that advised you not to eat food sold on the streets in foreign countries? Who are the people writing these brochures? Before I came to El Salvador, I received warnings from my doctor, read a million warnings online, and was repeatedly told by my father to avoid, at all costs, all food sold on the streets. ALL. No exceptions, because you don’t know where the cook’s hands have been. Was that it dad? The fact of the matter is that’s probably true. I don’t know for sure where their hands have been but I think that it is the unwashed hands and the knife that was just dropped on the ground and has directly gone to flipping over my pupusa that adds the bien savor! In reality, I question whether any of the people who have written these warnings have ever travelled before. If you have ever been into a food market in El Salvador, you would never advise someone not to try the different vegetables being deep fried and dunked in sauce! Every time I pass a stand in El Salvador, my mouth salivates and next thing I know, I find myself saying “que es esa?... que? No importa... si, dos por favour!” And you know what? Every single time without fail, it has been worth the traveler’s diarrhoea!


Here in El Salvador there is a lot of food made with corn flower. It’s what they have an abundance of, it’s what’s cheap, and it’s what keeps you full. Making tortias or pupusas out of corn flower here is a tradition and you can find it almost anywhere! Fresh fruits, vegetables and lots of beans are also typical sides to all corn dishes. A typical breakfast here is eggs, beans, platanos and tortias. Lunch for me is usually 2 pupusas and dinner in our house is usually done Canadian style, some pasta, rice or bread with some local vegetables that we have cooked in our own way.

One huge different I notice between Canada and El Salvador is in the fruit. The fruit is extremely fresh here! Most people have some sort of fruit tree in their yards and for those who don’t, sometimes you can find a perfectly ripe mango on the side walk that has fallen from a tree in someone’s yard. Though I haven’t picked any of these up yet, I have friends who have and not only have they lived to tell the tale but they continuously pick up the fruit (that I have never before seen done in Canada).


Adventure


When I first arrived in El Salvador, over research of the country restrained me from going out and trying new things. One thing I have learned from this trip is that yes traveling has its dangers, but you can’t let fear of these dangers keep you in your home. This isn’t to say that you should let your guard down but the point is to get involved in the community, meet the locals and feel more at ease in the knowledge that there are good people everywhere!


Living with all Canadians has its positive and its negative side. One negative is not much Spanish and Salvador culture is brought into our house so lately Sam and I have made it a goal of ours to go out and find Salvadorian culture.


In the mornings, we’ve been going to the park to run the track and take aerobics classes, and in the afternoons, we have been discovering new comedors, chatting with locals and trying out dance classes and the experience is definitely starting to feel more authentic!