1up

Even though there's 20 days left on this tour, it feels like it's coming to an end. 2009 is going to be a thing of the past soon, and so is this trip shortly after.
Today is another early start, I made it a goal to wander the town and absorb what El Salvador is about. I managed to do some productive aimless loitering in and around the plaza. I can people-watch here all day.


During breakfast, Deborah and I had an interesting conversation. We spoke about our lifestyles back home. Trying to control ourselves and our surroundings is a lot of work, it's enough to stress about for days. With so many external factors coming in to play in our life, who can actually successfully control things as planned? It's a map with several road blocks and closures. Sometimes, you just have to look at that map and say, "fuck it! i'ma just have to be me and be where i'm at". In my aimless wandering, i ended up buying an old super nintendo controller from a cute old man in a cowboy hat. He initially tells me it's for a dollar...then he lowers the price to 50 cents. I pull out lose change and show him i've only got 35 cents. He sells it to me for 35 cents as he says sweet nothings. As I sit in front of the water fountain by the church listening to a CD vendor blast different genres of music, i reflect. I just bought a controller that I no longer have the machine for. The buttons are stuck and it's actually pretty much useless. It's either I have a shopping problem.......or I just bought a metaphor.
God will do with us as he wishes to do with us. I bought a controller that I can't control. With this, I give up trying to have everything go as "planned". This yearning to control certain aspects of my life has somewhat made me emotionless for the past couple of years. By having this control, I've been protected from what could potentially hurt me. But where's the excitement in that? Being vulnerable is not always a weakness and I realize that now. In the movie, 'Monsoon Wedding' a girl says an inspiring quote. "How can a kneeling coward ever know what it's like to fall if they never get on their horse?", she says.
As I reflected, sitting on that plaza bench, the 'Minuto' man came up to make conversation. Today was hot and he joined me in the shade. We talk for a while until he realizes the others in the plaza would probably enjoy a nice cold 'minuto' from him in the hot sun. I said goodbye and headed to where I was supposed to meet the others from the group. We're off to roll cigars.
We used Honduran tobacco leaves. As a non-smoker, i wouldn't have been able to tell a Cuban cohiba from a Honduran so it was all the same to me. I was the first one up and a little old woman teaches me how to do it. She's impressed with how quickly I learned and how well I rolled. I bought a roll of 20 cigars which she has rolled up earlier and we head over to Don Alejandro's house. Don Alejandro is a diplomat who runs his house like a museum. An old movie producer/director and a collector of art, his house sits on a cliff that overlooks the lake. I was more impressed with his panoramic view and home than his collections but i stay awake.


After the tour and dinner, i head back to the hotel and pack my cigars and controller into my backpack. It's over to the next level tomorrow.