Maybe we should sing Skinny Love again....

Training is over.

Three weeks of tech training and spanish reconnect... Really wonderful, energizing, and insightful.

Coming down from that, we made the disastrous mistake of going to Playa El Espino, El Salvador's best beach. Bullshit. They're all liars.

El Espino Recap:

Dead puppy

Fishy beer bottles

No beach

No tiendas

No transportation

I drank too much two nights in a row and regret it, as I always do. I wanted to have fun, I wanted to boot off the feeling of panicky blues I had. Didn't work.

I still feel bummed, and I'm stuck in San Sal for the night, because I couldn't get out of that terrible beach town in time to make it back to site. I could go on and on about my frustration, but I won't. Instead.... here is a better memory....

Suchitoto, boyyeeeee The city of birds and flowers.

Suchitoto recap:

Has a PLAZA,

Affordable drinks

backpacker hunting

immobile marching band

dirty, cheap hostels

Crepes with Nutella

Ferries across the lake

Danny Hinks and I took a weekend to get away from the madness. Two hours by bus, we found ourselves in a rainy, rainy little town. Vista al Lago offered an incredible view of the lake (best enjoyed with two bottles of tinto) and a mosquitero... Only 8 dollars a night, but the walls were fake, and we wanted to keep searching.

Night Two brought us to Luna Blanca, where the dueno sat down for a 10 am beer with us.

Unfortunately... I lost all my self esteem in Suchitoto.

We need to learn to say "no" in a way that caring Salvadorans will understand. Por Ejemplo...

If a Salvadoran man insists that you relax in a hammock, and you say no, and he puts it up and stands there waiting for you to get in... just DON'T.

The truth of the matter is that when he says it's old, but still works, it DOESN'T and you will sit in it for thirty seconds before one of the little ropes breaks and you're hanging by your pinky toe and laughing so hard that you can't move.

The next step is to not allow the man to insist that your friend Dan Hinks then tries the same freakin hammock. But he will, and another little rope will break, leaving him on his ass too.

Why do we let ourselves be put into these situations? For god's sake.

All in All, Suchitoto won, big time. I can't wait to go back, and it was pretty much perfect, while it lasted.