Oh Lord, I'm stuck in Suchi again

So I have no idea where I left off. I've been drinking pilsner for a while, so, well, here we go:

I think I left off with us heading to San Salvador. Yup, San Salvador was sweet. But something that quite nearly made me believe in gawd happened before we left. We walked out to a restaurant at the edge of Suchitoto that looks over the lake. It was an incredible place and we had it pretty much to ourselves. We had really enjoyed Suchitoto and so we were celebrating and drinking and the only other people there were at a far off table. After we had eaten one of the best meals we've had in central america we watched the sunset, drank more beer and watched the firefiles on the cliffs below us and the lightning above us. The restaurant was supposed to close soon so we asked for the check and the lady who had been serving us asked us if we would like to instead join "him" with a nod of her head to the other table. Mind you we were having this conversation in Spanish (not Spainish, we spoke that later). We were a little confused but we were waved over to the other table by a man there.

Turned out dude was the owner and he was entertaining some friends that were in from San Salvador. We stretched our Spanish legs and talked with them all about art and music for a few hours. We learned gradually that these people were all highly educated artist and teachers, and that they spoke alot of English, but didn't mind our Spanish (always nice to hear somebody tell you your favorite lie). Then the owner turned to me and said in perfect English, "So you are a musician. Now, I will drive you to your hotel and we will get your guitar. Then you can play for us and I will see if I can give you a gig." No, I'm not James Bond, I said something incredibly articulate, like, "oh, feck, really..., cause, like, feck!". Five minutes later we were in the town central park and I was drinking more beer from my new jefe's wife's bar and giving a little concert for a couple tables full of people. Auna and I did a number, it was tranquil and yummy.

So I got the gig and was to return to Suchitoto for a Saturday night show at my now favorite bar in Suchi. To give ya'll a little more back story, the first week in August is pretty much a national holiday, so the entire country shuts down and parties. Hard. Like frat boys with a coors sponsorship. But with nice people. And cute children that like to sit on Auna's lap. Bitchen camarro, eh? Ehhh? So we went off to San Salvador to stay with Auna´s family friend, but i had left my heart in Suchi.

And my nerves. I was really nervous to play for what could be a mostly spanish speaking crowd. But Auna helped me not be a stress biscuit by keeping me in sweet, sweet lovin and chocolate and peanut covered frozen bananas. Dude. I have no sweet tooth. But. But feck me on a tuesday those chocobananos were kick-ass-tastic.

So back to San Salvador. We went to the local fair, the modern art museum, the anthropology museum, a nearby Mayan site and out to see some music with my newest favorite person Karla. I have to give a super big thanks Auna's aunt and uncle for the hook up with her. Karla had taught english to them and they had stayed with her during breaks from there time in the peace corps down here. She turned out to be our best friend, info source, political debate partner, spanish teacher, cook and just all around best friend. Yeah dude, she kicked ass.

Besides all that, it was really cool to be speaking Spanish with her everyday and not just about simple things. She is well educated and politically aware, so we learned alot of new vocabulary if you catch my drift. No not swearing. Other stuff.

I don't really have it in me to go into detail about everything. But here's some really brief highlights. The Mayan site is called Joya de Ceren and is basically the Pompeii of the new world (dangerous phrase that one). If was amazing to see the food on the table and the crops in the field as they had been 1500 years ago.

The Modern Arte Museo or MARTE was really fascinating for a couple reasons. The first of which was that all though it's centrally located by the fair and another museum, people that live and work within a block of it have no idea it exists. I had three women in a farmacy tell me that I didn't understand them and that what i was asking about didn't exist. But the problem was more likely the material in the museum not my Spanish skills. My favorite exhibition was a series of monkey images using many different techniques and based on phrases from Kafka. In Spanish, that qualified as some "over my head" shite. Really, really fascinating though. We spent hours there, it was Auna and I's virgenal museum trip and we sang Madonna the whole time.

The last thing of note was when we went out to see some music and got rocked in at least two ways by a band playing, yes yous guessed it: Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses and Def Leppard. Seriously, only the hits. Two horns up.

So yesterday we came back here to Suchi and I played two long sets at Rene's Vista Conga Restaurant. First gig in El Salvador. And besided that, fun as hell. I had a mostly bi-lingual audience, and a few peace corps quys. Everybody was well lubricated and having fun. Auna and I did a number together and that felt really, really good. It was our first time performing together. We got fed, beered, rummed, and paid forty bucks. Hell´s yeah. Rene, si estas leyendo este, muchas gracias y buena suerte chero. So yeah, I'm on cloud nine.

Tommorrow we're on to Santa Ana. We don't have much time left and since I'm feeling better, my slight homesickness has evaporated and I don't want to go home. But that's for later today we are celebrating. Besides we were up until 3:30 last night and I'm a very fuzzy boy. Gawd i hope this is comprehensible.

Rawk on ya'll.