Iglesia El Rosario

I meant to post this last week and things have gotten away from me, but on Saturday in El Salvador we went on a little sight seeing tour and one of the places we went was the Iglesia El Rosario. The church from the outside (seen above) pales in comparison to the cathedral across the Central Park in downtown San Salvador. In fact, barring the post-modern bell tower, you would never know it was a church. It looks much more like an aircraft hangar from the outside. But I cannot image that the traditional cathedral can hold a candle to the interior of the all concrete, glass and steel decor of the El Rosario.The architect designed everything from the exterior to the interior and even the stations of the cross and the stained glass that tells the stories of the Bible (you can see these in the Pano, they are very stylistic panels of steel over clear glass across the top of the doors and back wall) from the three simple materials. 

The walls are fully ventilated in a way that is really too hard to describe, but let me just say that the outside air literally blows straight through the building. I counted only  about a dozen small light sources that were not provided by God himself. Everything else was natural light.

The Stations of the Cross didn't actually show the entire body of Christ. For the most part they were just his arms, or hands. The entire space was truly a work of art. Although I didn't take my panoramic head and tripod on the day long trip, I did manage to hack together a panoramic that will give you a good idea of the space and its beauty. 

HERE IS THE PANORAMIC

If you make it to El Salvador, please make a trip to see this amazing building. But please... take a tour guide or fixer. It's in a rather rough part of the downtown market area but is well worth the trip. 

Little Dune Buggy.....

On Saturday Fran got tired of laying around the lush gardens of the Rancho Estero Y Mar and decided to take out all her energy on the beaches of El Salvador. So we rented a dune buggy and hit the beach, it was a lot of fun. Here is a little video.
Little Dune Buggy.... from Shane Bevel on Vimeo.

Traffic Clowns

As we were pulling across a particularly hairy intersection on the Pan American Highway we heard a whistle and looked out the bus window and saw a clown. When asked about it our tour guide simply stated... "Traffic Clowns... you know, police make you cry, but clowns make you laugh!" That was really the only explanation we got. And I suppose... the only one we needed.

Funerales

This funeral home on the main street of San Luis Talpa is open more than any other business in town and is available 24/7. A stark reminder of how hard life can be for the people of Central America.

Sunset

Being near the Equator, the light in El Salvador is brilliant. And the sunsets are even more stunning. The first day I went out to shoot a photo I thought it looked very different and really neat, but could not quite put my finger on it. Then it hit me.... the sand is black. Like other highly volcanic areas the sand in La Libertad is made from volcanic rock and therefore is black.

La Libertad Market

After the fish market we walked across town to the main market. It was an interesting place with hundreds of nooks and back alleys and side stands. The merchants spilled out so far into the streets so far that they had to move their wares in order to allow buses to pass. We had already bought a hammock at the pier for the backyard, so we just browsed the hundreds of tiny stands and tried not to be overwhelmed by the number of people and merchants and buses. It's certainly eye opening to see how most of the world does their shopping.
After the market we headed down to the beach for lunch. Dozens of waiters stood in the streets trying to convince you that their restaurant was the best. Since they all had the same sign (provided by the El Salvadorean brewer of a great beer called simply "Pilsner") There wasn't much to choose by, so we selected pretty much at random.
For somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 total we had four beers, two plates of mussels on the half shell, two plates of small marinated shrimp, a Red Snapper served whole and pan fried with rice and vegetables and a plate of rice with calamari. Wow, what a lunch.

Puerto La Libertad

OK, Lots of back posting to do here, but let's start with the Thursday that Fran and I spent knocking around in La Libertad, El Salvador. It's not exactly a resort town but is a beautiful city with lots of kids and smiling faces. We started out the day at the Puerto La Libertad fish market. The entire market is on a pier over the Pacific Ocean. The fishermen use a long narrow boat with a traditional outboard. The more sought after catches (red snapper mostly) are sold fresh while smaller less desirable fish are dried on the concrete seawall surrounding the beach.

When the fishermen return for the day the boats are hooked to a crane at the end of the pier and are hauled up and loaded onto carts. From there the carts are rolled to the fish market at the end of the pier and the catch is off-loaded and sold. Can't get much fresher than that!