Ruta de las flores

So, in El Salvador (and many other Spanish speaking countries I think), they actually have a holiday to honor their teachers called "El Dia del Maestro" and there's NO school on this day. I think it's a wonderful idea that the United States should add to the list of holidays already existing for veterans, MLK, dead presidents, and labor unions. Anyway, because today was this very special day here in El Salvador, instead of going to school, the Maedas and I took a scenic road trip through two of the western "departamentos" of the country, Sonsonate and Ahuachapan on a road called "Ruta de las Flores," a beautiful route that most admirably demonstrates the beauty of the Salvadoran mountains and countryside and also winds through a few beautiful little towns.* We stopped for lunch at "El jardin de celeste" and ate a delicious (but perhaps a little expensive) meal surrounded by beautiful gardens.

 One of the many beautiful flower arrangements at El jardin de Celeste

  Yummm, lunch! 

(This big plate of food was split btw 4 people)

This area of the country is located in the mountains, and it therefore goes without saying that it was much much cooler than the weather in hot, muggy San Salvador. Probably the coolest thing about the day was getting to watch the mist kind of roll off the nearby mountain and envelop the restaurant (which was more or less outside). When Daniel (Dome and Brenda's cute 3 year old nephew) saw this happening, he exclaimed, "Esta lloviendo humo!" or "it's raining smoke!"

A beautiful little church on the garden's grounds

On a side story about Daniel: Now, someone with light skin, and light eyes, and lighter hair (my hair gets called "blonde" quite often) sticks out like a sore thumb in El Salvador, for while there are a lot of people here with lighter skin (who are given the nickname "chele"), they almost always have dark eyes and/or dark hair. And if they have blonde hair...well, it's more than likely not "real" blonde hair. Anyway, the combination of the three characteristics
automatically screams "foreigner" and draws a lot of curious looks sometimes. Now, after lunch today, we went to this other place where there supposedly was a little zoo, and while we were getting out of the car, two vans pulled in to the lot full of young people with lots of blonde hair and light skin and Daniel said, "Amigos de Natalie!!!" It was so cute.

Me and Dani, the "chele"

All in all, it was a nice, relaxing day getting to see some beautiful sights. School tomorrow though. Hmmph.

*For those of you who saw me write on facebook that I was going to the beach, we were going to the beach...but at the last minute, there was a change of plans.




A mural in Ataco