Tezra and I spent about two weeks in Guatemala, but just over 24 hours in El Salvador. Turns out, it was on my birthday! And what a day it was...

Our bus left the station in Guatemala City at 7:30 in the morning. Like so many other travel days, we were up early. I really felt as though my brief time in the city had only shown me parts of town which were quite a bit more updated from how it had been described to me. As a result of the location of this bus station, we got to see a part of town that was much more raw. The streets were full of people and the buildings seemed in need of some serious repair. It wasn't the sort of neighborhood I would have wanted to take a stroll through after dark.

There was a bakery across the street from the terminal, so I had a rather plain muffin for breakfast. Consumption of the coffee looked as though it might be tempting fate, so I stuck with the water we had with us. The bus left basically on time, and I was anxious for the five hour ride to be over so I could eat something of a bit more substance. Well, about an hour into the drive we pulled over to the side of the road and came to a stop in front of a small store. Tezra informed me she had heard the driver say there was something wrong when they shifted gears and he wanted to check it out. We had sat for about an hour when I decided to step off the bus and get some fresh air. Just like anywhere else, a mechanical problem seems to draw a crowd. There were three or four men standing around the engine in the back of the bus, with one covered in grease. I´m going to guess that at least half of those men didn't know the first thing about engine repair, but thought that their advice could be valuable nonetheless.

Two hours after we pulled off to the side of the road, a second bus came by from the same company, and we piled in. It´s funny how one adjusts to the different ways of thinking about time. Tezra and I talked about how back home people would have been furious over a two hour delay. Here it is taken as no big deal by most everyone. I can´t say that the wait bothered me in the least.

This new bus already had passengers on it, and it turned out that there were exactly enough seats for everyone to have one. We ended up in the back of the bus where three people could sit next to the bathroom. After another couple of hours, we finally made it to the border. While waiting to get into El Salvador, or seat mate climbed off the bus and returned a few minutes later with a black bag. He opened it up and pulled out a cold, local beer. I must have been staring at it, because he offered me one from his bag. Then Tezra was offered one. He introduced himself as Ernesto, and we started to small talk. His English was very good, and it came up that it was my birthday. As we were still at the border, he stood up and told us that he was going to go and get more beer.

Ernesto came back with a six-pack, which meant that there were three beers each for us. It was a warm day, and they tasted great. Maybe too good. Mine went down really quickly...along with one Tezra didn't drink. Half an hour out of San Salvador, I sat in the back of the bus with a dumb smile on my face and gratitude that this was how I would remember my 25th birthday.

As we pulled into town, Ernesto made sure that we had an idea of how to get to a hostel from where the bus would drop us off. Once he felt that we understood the directions he was telling us, he jumped up, told us goodbye, and quickly excited the bus. Tezra looked at me and started to laugh. ¨Do you think that guardian angels ever show up bearing beer?¨ She asked me. I wasn't in any state of mind to contemplate such notions.

The rest of the day went quite smoothly. After finding our hostel we got a Frosty at Wendy´s. Then, a few hours later, Tezra treated me to dinner at a Mexican restaurant a short walk from our hostel. It had the best (and loudest) mariachi band that I have ever heard live. Since it was my birthday, we went out for ice cream afterward. Our guidebook told us about a place called Mr. Donut, and I had been wanting to go to one in El Salvador since reading about it. Just our luck, I spied one right next to the ice cream shop. So again, since it was my birthday, we went and had a donut right after ice cream. I slept well in my food coma that night.

There was time for just one sightseeing event the next day, as our bus back to Honduras left at noon. Both of us wanted to make our way to the university to see the Oscar Romero Museum. Oscar Romero was the Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador during the time of the countries civil war. Like many priests, he became an activist for the poor, and spoke out against the government when it became clear that they were killing entire villages just to get one or two people who were suspected of being communist. In the end, he was shot in the head during a church service while preparing communion. He was not the only church worker to be killed, as six Jesuit Priests were also murdered on government orders on the university campus.

The museum is small, with a collection of many of the priests personal things. The clothes they were wearing when they were murdered are also on display. Oscar Romero´s robes and staff are on display, as well as some wonderful artwork. We agreed that is was the most well put together museum that we have seen down here. Tours are run by students, and you also are shown the rose garden that has been planted on the soil where the six priests bodies were found. On top of all of that, the museum is free. I´m glad that so many people have access to it.

From the museum, we made our way on to the bus station and from there to Honduras. Tezra had to pick up the rest of here belongings before we could make it back down to Costa Rica.