Every country, just like every person, has its quirks and certain ways of doing things which upon first observation, elicit responses in me that range from amazement, to being instantly charmed, to somewhat annoyed, to aghast. This collection of novelties, as it were, like the language, food and climate of a place combine to create the flavor of the country that differentiate it from its neighbors and let us know in no uncertain terms that we're somewhere else. Adaptation, either to stay alive or just to navigate daily life, activates the senses in figuring out how to appropriately react and act in any new situation. No doubt many of these idiosyncracies are not exclusive to one place, but appear in other countries as well with their own indigenous twists. As you get to know a place, recognizing the local oddities requires attention to detail and a sense of humor to ensure your experience moves from exasperating to successful and maybe even fun. Example: "Oh, here they exit the roundabouts from the INSIDE lane?"
After living in El Salvador for 2.5 years, I've collected fifteen localisms that I can count on experiencing in a given day. I don't mean a work day when I'm stuck inside, but a day when we're out and about on the road. I'll tempt fate by saying I can guarantee you'll witness half of these in just a 15 minute drive, but really - you will. Go for two hours on a weekend and the chance of seeing the entire list rises to about 80 percent. You'll see these have nothing to do with language or food, instead they're all observable from the road. Which is why I'm calling this Salvadoran Road Bingo.
I'll give the list with descriptions, in no particular order, and then present a body of evidence for you to have your own little windshield tour of the country. The quality of these photographs is often poor as capturing them involves me grabbing and trying to focus my camera quickly from the moving car, because after all, that's the whole point. Here we go:
1. At least three still-running, mid-1980s Toyota Tercels.
In particular, the 1985. How am I able to be so specific? I'm not a car nut, but this was the first car I ever bought and I still recognize its boxy self. And recognize it I do - EVERYWHERE. America, let me tell you, you just didn't squeeze enough juice out of this car before thoughtlessly sending it out of the country where it has enjoyed an extremely fruitful second life on the streets and highways of Central America. Mexico may be mad for the VW Beetle, but El Sal loves the Tercel. Hatch-back, SR5 wagon, two or four door - they're all here and going strong.
2. Someone peeing alongside the road.
Certainly not endemic to only El Salvador, but this classic is such a reliable sight that it had to make the list. And the fact that public urination is a punishable offense in many countries gives its inclusion on this list of quirks credence. Notice I didn't say a MAN peeing alongside the road. This was not an oversight.
3. Someone driving 15-40 mph under the speed limit.
Certainly this habit has to do with people driving 37-year-old underpowered cars, but not always. In fact, it seems to be drivers in later model cars that are the more often guilty of driving 16 mph on well-paved roads under good conditions, for no apparent reason. My hunch is that it's simply a lack of confidence in driving abilities, because it seems to be neither gender nor age-specific. I just wish they'd use the right lane when they do it.
4. A wandering minstrel.
Exactly as it sounds. A guy with a guitar, and sometimes the whole band, either on foot or on a bicycle - heading off to warm the hearts of a couple on their first date at some restaurant. Do I even need to mention the hat requirement?
5. An astounding tree.
I mean the kind of tree that makes you stop and take pictures. Either because of it's impressive height, girth, or the color of its blossoms. But what gets me is the reach and tangle of branches, stretching across the road to touch the opposite edge and providing rain and sun shelter for the inevitable gathering of life beneath.
6. Someone helping a buddy with a breakdown.
See again the first and third entries above for background. When you drive cars that rolled off the assembly line before there were assembly lines - the chance of a roadside breakdown is pretty high. But where this becomes a localism, and an illustratation of the closeness of Salvadoran family and friendships, is that everyone seems to know a guy who can come help. Available at the drop of a hat, they'll slide under the disabled car, legs protruding into the road, or crawl up under the hood with a pen flashlight in their teeth to see what's up. And just like driving too slowly, this is not relegated only to old cars, but to any model, any year, which I fear says more about lack of understanding of basic car maintenance or tire selection than economics.
7. Something that makes you smile.
The first of our open-to-interpretation items on the Bingo board. No matter my mood, there will always be something that makes me smile. Usually it's another person smiling at me, or at someone else, that is sweetly contagious. Salvadorans are very affectionate, open and kind people by nature which places this habit in juxtaposition with many other places where a frown is the default setting.
8. Taking a siesta ANYWHERE.
I thought it was only soldiers who learned how to sleep flat on their faces in the dirt. I was wrong; Salvadorans can catch a few winks in any setting, on any surface - moving or stable. Please don't take this as a veiled attempt at labeling them lazy, because it is not. Quite the opposite, they are exceedingly hard-working folks, which is why just after lunch - there's a need for a cat nap. And if that happens to be in a wheelbarrow - so be it.
9. A man with a machete.
Don't be afraid, but a lot of men carry machetes a lot of places. Okay, there are certain times and places when you should be very afraid of seeing a guy with a machete, but in broad daylight, walking down the road is not one of them. This is a tropical country where no seed falls on infertile soil. This means that frequently nature has to be whacked into submission so that we still have passable roads and paths, and gardens and crops not strangled by weeds. Hence, the machete. Usually it's slung over a shoulder in a fringed leather sheath with EL SALVADOR carved along the length.
10. Something incredibly beautiful.
Another in the eye-of-the-beholder category. Whether it's coming around the corner and being surprised by the view over a craggy cliff to the crashing waves, a volcano filling the horizon, or simply a brightly colored mural lining the main street of a dusty town. Something will brighten your view for just a moment and give you reason to be amazed.
11. Someone selling something unrecognizeable.
This could be a crop of something in season, some type of fruit or vegetable stacked on crates, something hanging to dry that later will be stewed or ground-up or... I don't know, something floating in a small plastic bag and waved at your car window, and something unnaturally colored to catch your attention. I'd tell you what all these things are, but I still haven't figured them out.
12. Something that makes you say, "Huh?"
Similar to number 11 above, but instead of a foodstuff you can't recognize, this will likely be an activity, or maybe an architectual feature that you can't make sense of. Not necessarily dangerous, but it will make you question what they were thinking.
13. Someone working harder than necessary.
This category speaks both positively of the Salvadoran work ethic and negatively of the infrastructure of the country that requires people to work ten times harder than necessary to accomplish something or solve a problem that has long ago been remedied elsewhere. As in many places around the world, Salvadoran women in the towns are still compressing their vertebral discs by carrying 5 gallon (40 pound) cántaros of water on their heads from a young age. Another example: we watched two construction workers diligently trying to keep the dust down on a newly-graded dirt parking lot by using their safety helmets to splash water from 50 gallon drums in the back of a truck, as their buddy drove in a spiral to reach every bit of the lot. Extra points for ingenuity to the folks just trying to get something done with the tools they were given.
14. The bread boy and his enormous basket.
This is somewhat self-explanatory, but it's also very Salvadoran. One of the first three horns or bells you'll need to learn in the neighborhood is the clown horn call of the dinner roll boy outside your door. (The other two are the cow bell from the garbage truck and the doorbell of the water vendors.) Sometimes on a motorcycle, but more often a bike, they cruise by in the morning and evening selling exclusively white bread rolls - square or hot-dog shaped - from their oversized baskets or hanging from bags off their handlebars. Keep in mind this is a mountainous country with only the coastal stretches of land making for easy, flat biking terrain. These guys also fall under the previous category, and I like the cross-over with number seven, too.
15. A really bad idea.
The last of our open-to-interpretation categories. I attribute these activities to the theory of alternate physics. That is to say, it may be dangerous to ride on top of an unsecured stack of pipes in the back of a pick-up in the U.S. - so it's illegal there. But in El Salvador, where there are alternate physics, this is perfectly safe and therefore a common habit. Don't think too much about it, just enjoy the ride.
Scroll through the pictures below for your own Salvadoran Bingo experience. While many images will be self-evident, I'm certain that something I penciled into the "really bad idea" category will be someone else's "something that makes you smile" - that's what makes it fun. There are more than 15 photos to give you multiple examples of some categories.
P.S. After writing, but before posting this, my husband and I went on an afternoon drive to a town about 30 minutes from our house. We covered all but two of the Bingo squares (no peeing person and no wandering minstrel).
