May 20 - Gas Stations
Before hitting the discos on Saturday night, we stopped by at a few gas stations. It's a phenomenon that I've seen only in San Salvador. Young people start their night here, they park their car and have some beers in the back of their pick-up truck. The stations provide you with every sort of beer and liquor imaginable.
Sometimes, to add to the atmosphere, there are Mariachi bands hanging out there as well. They are sitting outside in their cowboy outfits, practising their instruments, waiting for you to order a song or two from them.
Most of the stations have a VISA cash machine or two. Recently they are even starting to put Internet terminals in there. The most significant difference from back home is maybe the guard armed with a shotgun patrolling inside.
San Salvador is a place in contradiction with itself. On one side the center is really run-down, ugly, and very dangerous at nights. Then there are all these middle and upper class areas that look like copies of a western suburb, including McDonald's, Wendy's, Dennis, Dominos and every imaginable fastfood chain there is. The prices are the same as in the US, which makes you think of all the people living in tin shacks along the highway that would never be able to afford to buy anything from there.
I went to Suchitoto, which is just a one hour bus ride away from the capital. It was nice to get away from the bustling, polluted city, and walk around in the little cobblestoned town next to lake Suchitlan. You'd see old men in their cowboy hats carrying a load of firewood on their shoulders, and chubby ladies walking seemingly undisturbed, balancing huge baskets on their head.
It's definitely two different worlds in one country.
