Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Tastes, Traffic, and Salvadorian Friendliness




Like I mentioned in the past blog, Salvadorians love their famous pupusas. There are pupuserias all over the city and usually their goodness can be found in each and one of them. For the first two weeks all I did was eat pupusas, by now I feel like I have them coming out of my ears...so I decided to switch it up a bit. In North America, our fruits, vegetables, and other "natural" foods are often sprayed or grown with some weird chemical. In El Sal, however, fruits and vegetables are quite delicious and full of flavour.

Making my way around San Salvador has been quite the difficult task. As opposed to Toronto, here people do not use N/S/W/E directions to find their way. Instead, everything is followed by land marks. This means that when you ask for directions or you are trying to tell a cab driver where you are headed you will be directed by this: "I need to go a house near the other side of the university, close to the street vendor with the umbrella full of colour's, and just past the park with the blue swings"...it is quite hilarious but at the same time it is also the most practical way.

Salvadorians are extremely nice and attentive. In the mornings when I make my walk towards the bus I am greeted by 40'000 strangers..."buenos dias don", they say...I love this because I was born in a country where everybody starts up conversations and greets the person walking beside or in the opposite direction. It is quite unfortunate that in Toronto people can be as cold as the weather. In El Sal, it really does make a difference when someone gives you a wink, a wave, or a big great smile. Culturally it real does make a huge difference...