F
ound this shocking story on the Guardian website a few days ago and was outraged. A hard drive holding testimony from survivors of the civil war in El Salvador was stolen from the Washington office of a human rights organisation. The CIA are in the frame for this despicable act as survivors continue to search for justice more than 20 years after the war.
Sorry for the delay in bringing you episode 23. We’ve been on the road pedalling our legs off riding across eastern El Salvador, before zipping through the south of Honduras and travelling the length of Nicaragua to our recording place of San Juan del Sur, down in the south of this interesting land on the Pacific Coast.
We are joined by a special guest this week. He’s another cycle-touring drifter out drifting. Ivan Said (aka Pistache Radioactivo García) has ridden here from his hometown of San Luis Potosí in Mexico and will join us in a mini peloton as we head into Costa Rica and beyond.
We compare travelling tales from the last couple of weeks on the road and share with you, our dear listeners, a Nicaraguan folk story. There’s also perhaps the launch of an exciting new segment: Poetry Corner. Hey we’re drifters out drifting so why not?
Clockwise from top left: recording; Pistache, Shell and Baden; the Christ on the hilltop, can you see it? Can’t be that big then eh?
Clockwise from top left: Jose tries to help Baden with a broken spoke; at Ramon’s bike shop; Yummies; kids along the Pan-American Highway in Honduras; school named after Morazan.
Left to right, top to bottom: we think this model at the museum is of Nicaraguan rock star poet Ruben Dario; Take your Tit, outrageous dummy for an outrageous folk story; the death cart or La Carreta Nagua; Cathedral in Granada; notice to customers of abandoned ferry service; ferry to Isla de Ometepe.
The Jaguar Smile
Salman Rushdie
When travelling to a new country it’s often hard to know where to start. In order to better understand what you are seeing from the saddle it is beneficial to have some understanding of how the country got to where it is today. I read The Jaguar Smile just as we arrived in Nicaragua and it is a great first port of call. Read More
If you read the news, you could be mistaken for thinking that if you go to El Salvador, you are going to get murdered. Well, it turns out, that you are more likely to have a great time, see beautiful things and meet lots of interesting people. What a boring non-click baity article that would be.
On this week’s How Are You? Where Are You? podcast we visit El Salvador’s Route of the Flowers, cut open and look inside some unfamiliar fruits and reflect on Guatemala’s horrific landslide tragedy, which struck last week. You can donate to the Red Cross’s efforts in Guatemala to help the victims here: https://www.ammado.com/nonprofit/crg
Clockwise from top left: welcome sign for Juayua; family that shared our table; Bienvenidos! We felt welcome too; Cipitio celebrity actor Rolando Menedez performs; Piña loca.
From L to R: Flowers on the route of the flowers; Iglesia de San Andres in Apaneca; Kike leads us back to his place; our incredible hosts, Kike and his mum Maritsa; exotic fruits (clockwise from top left is Jokote, Zapote, Carambola, Maracuya and Grenadilla); Baden’s leftovers.
Special montage honouring the wonderful pupusa of El Salvador. The middle one is Baden’s.
The World Until Yesterday
Jared Diamond
This book is instantly fascinating but really feels like it skips around a lot. I’m not sure I loved the way Jared structured the information but I guess it was always a pleasant surprise to see what the next chapter had in store. Read More