Blogs from El Salvador, Central America Caribbean
Hotel Villa Real
January 20th, 2012 El Salvador We left the Ticabus terminal a little late and arrived at the El Salvador border around 5 in the afternoon. It took well over an hour to clear the border, with us simply following along and doing what our fellow passengers were doing. We also converted our remaining Guatemalan quetzals for US dollars, the currency in use in El Salvador. Of course, the money changers try to take advantage of ignorant tourists and offered us only $21 US for our 300 quetzals. They used fancy math on their calculators to justify their offer. They were using a simple trick, but I had checked the rates on the net the night before and knew what we should get, and we finally settled for $36. Quite an experience! We arrived in San Salvador ... read more
Lago de Atitlan
Today, after two and half great weeks, we finally left Guatemala for El Salvador. I'm currently sitting in my hostel in El Tunco on the Pacific coast, the first time I've seen the ocean since Tulum in Mexico. Due to its notorious reputation and some previous advice, I hadn’t planned to go anywhere near El Salvador but travellers I’ve met out here said it couldn’t be missed. In my first day on the coast I've been greeted by a stunning sunset, friendly locals (who sang British songs to me in a restaurant and invited me to a local festival) and a huge meal for just four dollars - so far so good. This time last week we (I'm still travelling with Amber and Rob) visited the Guatemalan mountain town of Chichicastenango. Every Sunday they hold a ... read more
Helping out the hawkers
I had managed to book a shuttle from Antigua to Playa El Tunco in El Salvador, this was the furthest away from my final destination I would be which means that from now on I would be headed back in a roundabout route to Cancun.<span><span><span><span> In the shuttle was a Canadian (there are lots of them here) 3 Dutch guys and 3 Brits so we all had a good laugh on the journey.<span> The journey took 6 hours across sometimes potholed roads and dirt tracks.<span> The border was a bit crazy with huge tailbacks and the queue for immigration took 45 mins to get through and after all that they don’t even stamp the passport! But at least they don’t charge you to cross the border. <span>Fellow travellers have always said that the people from El ... read more
It felt like my head had barely touched the pillow as my alarm went off at 6am. Wide awake with the nervous energy that usually precedes an international flight I showered and packed my bags before heading up to the bar for breakfast. Due to the fact it was so early, only bread rolls, coffee and hot water had been put out. I had to make do with the slightly dry, sickly sweet rolls and Coca Tea until I got to the airport. My secure taxi had arrived promptly at 7.15am and even though I could have haggled with an unofficial taxi for a cheaper fare, it was too early in the morning to run the risk of something untoward happening. Alberto whisked me through the city, taking as many short cuts and detours as he ... read more
Playa el Tunco
<span>Spent 10 days in El Salvador, a country a similar size to Wales. One of the first things we noticed was how polite and courteous everyone was. No-one batted an eyelid at the monstrously tall, ice-cream eating, lost Europeans showing up. <span> Started off in Alegria, a tiny town which is the highest in the country. A cooler mountain climate was very welcome after escaping the furnace that was San Miguel. Its hard to pick a highlight from the truly stunning views, the eccentric ensemble retro electronic equipment, or rather good coffee but the real winner here, head & shoulders above the rest, was the absolute luxury of a hot shower. <span> Got rudely forced back to reality by having to brush teeth and shower in salt water in Playa El Tunco. On the plus side, ... read more
After our breakfast in the Hotel, we boarded our NPH bus to see the Mayan Ruins of Tazumal. Our tour guide was old (maybe late 70’s-early 80’s) yet very knowledgeable, confident, passionate, and proud. He led us through the museum and explained the eras, the artifacts, culture, and the people. He wanted to make sure we knew that this historic site was one of the two most important in the Central and Latin American area and beyond. Authenticated by North American archeologists, who were amazed at what was discovered, the Tazumal site in El Salvador was one of two most important in the world. He led us into the very large courtyard outside to show us one of the palaces, which lined up from this site to the highest temple several miles to the foot of ... read more
John and Girls
This morning we boarded the NPH bus and arrived at Casa Sagrada Familia at 8:30. Today was the NPH graduation ceremony for the kindergarten students and the 9th grade students. We started off in the chapel for Mass. We found our seats and soon after Olivia was at our side greeting us. We had hoped that she would sit with us, but she was playing the piano with the group of musicians and singers. The chapel was beautiful and I imagined all of the wonderful services held there for the students. Once the procession began led by the kindergartners with their caps and gowns, there was a hush. While all the students processed in, I began to think about where these kids had come from and how they beat the odds and were making something out ... read more
Church where Oscar Romero was assassinated as he said Mass.
Our breakfast was an included part of this trip. We had scrambled eggs with cheese, 1 pancake, 1/2 toasted cheese sandwich, mixed fruit and Watermelon juice (John) and Georgie had 1 toasted cheese sandwich, mixed fruit, and watermelon juice. After that we got on the bus and began our side trip to the capitol city of San Salvador. The sun was shining brightly, the views were marvelous (a mix of valleys and small mountains, about a 1 mile long area with black lava rock) and the conversations were buzzing. About 1 ½ hours later we arrived at Providence Hospital Chapel, the site of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s assassination in March 1980. This horrific event escalated the Civil War among the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicauragua, and Honduras. Fr. Ron celebrated Mass again except the atmosphere was ... read more
Bus being loaded
Antigua to El Salvador Today we travel to El Salvador with the goal of being on the bus at 7:45 so we could leave at 8:00 a.m. We went next door for breakfast and when we got back we learned that there was a huge snafu with the bus. We were supposed to have a big coach bus so all of our luggage could be placed underneath in the bus but the bus that was ready to go was a little charter bus and all the luggage had to be loaded on top. There were a few frantic phone calls were made to see if we could get another bus, but to no avail. The bus would not be able to navigate the narrow streets. So with some help from our tour group we placed a ... read more
First impressions.... ROCKS!
Getting up at ridiculous hours for tours or buses has pretty much been the norm for us now for the past 6-7 weeks, and we therefore felt a well-earned break was on the cards for all our ‘hard work’. In particular, this seemed to come to light one evening during dinner, when after a gentle yawn I said to Donna that I was knackered and that it was probably time to ‘hit the hay’ after dinner, to which Donna responded, ‘Mike it’s 7:30pm!’. The days of staying up till silly O’clock at home seem a long way away at the moment, as we appear to be evolving and morphing into what we once feared….morning people! Hopefully, this is just a phase though, and we will continue to try work through it. So, a break from buses ... read more
