The next day Mario had to go to work and suggested that I get on the bike and go with him. Well it turns out that between running around doing some things for work, we went all over the western half of the country and took in some local sites. Here is the cathedral in Santa Ana.
I thought about riding right into the church, but I don’t think that would have gone over so well. I have to remember, I’m not in Guatemala anymore, ” in El Salvador we have traffic laws,” blah, blah, blah.
We left Santa Ana and rode up to coffee country.
Stopped and had some coffee, and what the Salvadoreños call a quesadilla. Its like a thin pastry, really tasty.
The mountains around coffee country. Its nice and cool, well, cooler than San Salvador as we are about 4500 feet elevation here.
Hummm. What is this interesting contraption sitting on the side of the road? Looks like a bunch of boards with some wheels thrown on. Wierd huh? What could they possibly use these things for?
As I was contemplating the purpose of this contraption, a big pile of sticks came flying down the road at a good 50+ mph. Whoa. So what are these contraptions for? Stupid gringo question. These things are for transporting firewood of course. Duh…. It took us a while to catch this guy, he was freaking crazy, really moving.
I caught him in the curve.
Just take one more look at these wheels! Now could you imagine, going over 50 mph on one of these things with a load of firewood behind you?
They can even ride two up with a huge stack of firewood, but these guys have some different wheels. They appear a little safer anyway. That is one serious Fred Flintstone machine right there.
Then the two aliens on big orange bikes continued to the town of Ataca. Ataca is kind of like a mini Antigua. Great artsy shops, outstanding restaurants, good coffee, and lots of tourists on the weekends. But it’s way smaller than Antigua. You can walk the entire town in only 30 minutes. Nevertheless its a great place to kill a couple of days and a respite from the heat of the lowlands.
I of course had to ride right into the town square for a photo. Damn hooligan bikers, what does this clown think he is doing?
Its a really cool little town, and if you are ever in El Salvador, you should go check it out for a day or so.
Kind of a neat little church in town as well.
Anyway, after leaving Ataco, we headed back to Santa Ana and had some lunch with a buddy of Mario’s. I cant remember his name, but he rides a BMW R1200 GS and is taking a trip to Alaska this year. He is going to leave from San Salvador and return in 40 days. He is going to be busy with that limited schedule. We had some great ceviche at this joint. Mine came in a huge hollowed out Pineapple and was fantastic.
I think it was a good day at work for Mario. Come to think of it, we didn’t work much, we just rode around the country, drank coffee and beer, and ate all kinds of food. Rough job, but someone has to do it I guess. Hey, Mario, do you need an employee? I seem to have a lot of time on my hands right now and the paycheck is a little thin, so I could help you out with doing what we did today.
Well the next day was my 43rd birthday. I don’t know how I let it slip. I guess when Fernanda asked me how old I was, I told her that I was going to be 43 next week. She didn’t forget that comment. Anyway, low and behold, Fernanda decides to throw me a birthday party. For those of you that don’t know me, I’m not real keen on having people go out of their way and do nice things for me. At times I feel a little embarrassed by it. I pleaded with Fernanda, “no, please, it’s too much, it’s only my birthday, it happens every year.” Well she would have none of it. She said that in El Salvador a birthday is a big deal, so we are having a birthday party, and its going to be fun, end of story. All I could do was kick back and enjoy the hospitality. It was really amazing. I had just met Mario and Fernanda a week before, and now they are throwing a party for me. Incredible people.
They invited some friends over.
Of course we hung out a bit in the garage with the other Mario (KLR Mario, a hilarious guy to be around) and Juan Carlos (JC)
Fernanda whipped up a huge plate of Paella. Me gusta!!!!! Wow!!!!!
Then the cake came out, complete with a candle that kept re-lighting when I blew it out. 10 year old Fernandita got a kick out of that. She was always laughing at me. When I would look at her, she would laugh. When I would say something, she would laugh. Whenever I would do anything, she would laugh. What would really crack her up is when she was trying teach me some Spanish and I would screw it all up. Then she would laugh so hard she would be in tears. Funny girl that Fernandita is.
After my big Four Oh, it was the best birthday I have ever had. Mario and Fernanda, you guys rock! Thank you so much for making me feel welcome and throwing me an awesome birthday party! Mi familia Salvadoreño es la mejor!!! Muchissimo gracias.
Well needless to say, I didn’t feel too good the morning after my birthday. I was drinking the same drink all night long, but it never seemed to get empty. But I had to rally because the next evening we had to go do this………..
It was the Luis Enrique concert at the fair. He is a very famous Salsa guy. I still felt terrible. At43 years old, when I party it up, it hurts the next day, terribly. I guess I can handle it once a year though.
Mario brought his binoculars to the concert so we could see better.
That night I met Fernanda’s friend Patricia. Fernanda is on the left, Patricia is the right. A smelly scuzzy biker like me doesn’t get to sit between two beautiful women very often, so I was all smiles. Patti and I hit it off immediately.
There were a lot of pretty girls there, so of course I had to get pictures. Mario insisted on it.
She is really cute.
I like green too.
The other cowgirls were very nice as well.
I like green. Did I already say that?
Anyway, we all had a great time singing and dancing, and I didn’t even know any of the songs, but I had a great time. I think we got home around 3 AM and had to get up 7 am to go to an enduro (off road motorcycle race). Fernanda’s older daughter was racing in the enduro that day so we had to go. That was a little painful as well.
Saludos, Vicente.