Heading towards San Salvador–Tuesday 17 April 2018

Our local El Salvador guide, Ben, doing what he does so very well, make both the day ahead and his country sound like the best ever. As you might notice, we four tour members have finished eating. Ben on the other never seems to notice his food has gotten cold, he is that excited about what he does. It is guides like Ben that have made us true believers in O.A.T. tours.

Black Christ on the cross. To make a long story short, it was one of those answers to, if He is the God of everyone why is his skin white while ours is dark?

Linda thought seeing eggs and toilet paper sitting out next to each other in the market was strange, so she took a photo of it. I have a fairly good idea of what will happen if I don’t post it, especially since she told me all about right after she took the photo. Sometimes husbands have to do things even if they don’t have a clue as to why they really should. Clueless Bob.

Street food lesson courtesy of Richard. It is mango season. A plastic bag filled with a sliced fresh mango with some salt and ground pumpkin seed sprinkled over them. Totally awesome and why we travel. Cost: $.50.

Daily Chicken Bus photo.

Cow foot soup on the hoof. Really. Cow foot soup is a big item here and just as the name implies, the feet of cows boiled for 24 hours is what makes it taste so great.

Typical street scene.

It is impossible to try and appreciate life in other countries unless you see it for yourself.

A wood cutter pulling his cart along the street. We learned he has done this for 25 years and is currently supporting his wife and two children on the $10 to $15 a day he earns cutting wood with a machete and selling it to people in town.

Going up hill he pulls the cart, going down hill he sits on a piece of wood, steers with ropes and brakes by pushing down with his feet on these pieces of tire tread. He said he had to add a new piece of tread about every two weeks. He works seven days a week to buy just enough to support his family with nothing left over.

You can see the ball bearings in the wheels. He said he will only replace his bearings with bearings from the US. Chinese bearings are junk and don’t last. America makes good products.

He gave me a ride on his cart. The steering and brakes work well. He didn’t have much but he keep it in good condition.

Dana from our group gave him the ultimate gift, an axe and file. The man kept saying “I fell out of bed this morning”, meaning he couldn’t believe his good luck. And all because he stopped along the street and began talking to us through our guides.

He was a very happy man!

And we think life is tough when we get a hotel room that overlooks the rooftop air conditioners. Do any of us really understand just how fortunate we are to live where we do?