Day 25

If you have facebook, you have probably already seen from the pictures that we traveled to another beautiful little town called Suchitoto this weekend. On Friday morning Vicki and I went to meet Joaquin (unfortunately the other volunteers did not come this weekend) and continued on (by one of those beloved buses of course) to the little colonial town. From our first walk through the town square I was struck by the charm and old world hisctorical feel that was present. We were surrounded by artisan markets, little boutiques, typical el salvadorian food vendors, a beautiful church and cobblestone streets in all directions. Our first adventure was a long leisurely walk down to the lake (one of the main attractions of the town). We sat and ate lunch overlooking the water with the mountains in the distance. We spent the rest of the day exploring the town- all the shops and just the streets themselves with the beautiful architecture was enough to keep our attention. With all its charm it is easy to miss the signs of war that are still very present. Joaquin pointed out the bullet holes that appear on many of the buildings and houses. This town had been taken over by the Guerillas and no one had been allowed to enter for 12 years during the war. It's so sad that such a beautiful place was kept from the public for so long because of war.

On Saturday we got up early to go meet our police escorts (I felt so VIP haha) that would be accompanying us to the waterfall (the other main attraction). Joaquin mentioned the way to the waterfall was a bit steep and that the police were trained if there was an emergency situation. Now, I totally thought he was just being overly cautious...until I heard the waterfalls and realized in order to see them we needed to descend down a mountain of slippery jagged boulders with no barrier to keep you from falling to the depths... So worth it though! I have never been so close to a waterfall, and the rock formation left by a past volcano erruption was amazing. Plus, going back up after seemed like a cinch in comparison to the way down :)

We returned pretty early on in the day to the house. Unfortunately we got caught in a torrential downpour (those tend to be common at some point almost every day now since we are going into the rainy season). As if the rain wasn't enough....Vicki and I were sitting in our room and all of a sudden our beds and the whole room start shaking. It only lasted a minute or so and I just looked at her: "Umm, was that an earthquake?"...Indeed, it was....they are apparently really common here- I'm not really sure how I feel about that, but no one here seems to be worried, so I guess I shouldn't.