After El Valle, my next stop was Chitre. It was hot and flat and dried up.
Kinda like in a movie when the guy makes friends with some girl just to get to her hot friend, Chitre was my jumping off point for La Arena, known for its pottery. And we know I'm a sucker for pottery.
After 3 buses and an hour waiting at a gas station, I made it to Miami Mike's where I was enthusiastically greeted by one of the Mike's. Both guys who run it share the name.
I was shown around, and served up a nice plate of spaghetti, since I managed to arrive on free spaghetti Sunday. I ate up on the roof to enjoy the breeze and the view of the lit up cathedral down the block. (Sadly I never got a photo of it, they turned the lights off the second night right as I was getting my camera)
The next day was pottery day. I caught a city bus 15 minutes through town. It cracked me up that he had a rope strung through the top of the bus to pull to open the door at each stop. Accelerating from the stop closed the door.
Long story short, La Arena was disappointing. There was nowhere as many pottery shops as I thought, and what was there was small.
I found the shop most recommended that talked of a workshop next to the show room. The owner came and talked to me, he was extremely nice, but said he had been sick in the hospital and his workers didn't want to do anything, so his showroom was pretty bare.
In La Arena I walked past their church and park. Due to the history and colonization of Central American countries, there aren't as many wonderful cathedrals as in South America. The inside was still nice though.
I found another pretty cemetary too.
I found a small plate with a lime green turtledinosaurbird design at one of the shops, and headed home.
Oh, I got ice cream too. It was freezer burned and crumbly...
I washed basically all my clothes for $1.35 at the coin laundromat down the block, and hung them on the line on the roof. I never thought clothespin use would be a skill I'd acquire while traveling, but I have. I realize I've never really used them before.
Dinner, one more pleasant night on a kinda thin mattress in my personal dorm, and I was ready to get the heck out of dodge.
Verdict: not my favorite stop to date
No comments:
Post a Comment