Back to Antigua Friday 27th August Today should be an easy relaxing day as we make our way from Juayua back to Antigua in Guatemala. It's about a 4 hour drive and Alberto is going to take us in his minibus. We start the day with a very local breakfast of coffee and pupusas. The coffee is from Alberto's coffee plantation. Pupusas are unique to El Salvador - they are like a small tortilla made from cornflour with various fillings and then cooked on a griddle. Some of the local women have come to the hotel to show us how the pupusas are made and, of course, we have to have a go at making them ourselves. The morning is spent by most of us looking around the town again while Mark and Gemma are feeling ... read more

101 Things to Buy on a Chicken Bus in Central America OK. This list was inspired by a journey on a chicken bus out of Santa Ana in El Salvador. Up until that point we had been fairly impressed by the range of things being sold by sellers coming onto the buses. But in Santa Ana the bus station is in the middle of the market and as the buses work their way through the market at less than walking speed a continual stream of sellers goes from bus to bus with quite a range of stuff on offer. Our attempts to remember 101 different items has only reached 90 so far {with no cuddly toys or chickens yet} but I hope people will comment and add to the list and that it will soon get ... read more

Hammock Time Surfer Dudes Hang Loose in El Tunco El Tunco {Which means "The Pig"} is a small village on the Pacific Coast of El Salvador. It takes us less than an hour to get here by bus from San Salvador and as we arrive on a Sunday the village is at it’s busiest with lots of Salvadorians making the day trip. There's very little to El Tunco, about two streets and a beach - this is definitely a place for chilling out. And it's not a beach for sunbathers. For one thing it’s cloudy and raining when we arrive, and for another this is not a sandy beach. For some reason the pebbled beach reminds me of childhood visits to Rhyl. This is a beach for surfers. All the other guests staying at our hotel ... read more

Cinquera The village of Cinquera is about an hour's drive from Suchitoto. The village was a stronghold for the guerillas during the civil and all the houses in the village were at some point destroyed by the army. The village is now being rebuilt but there are lots of reminders of the civil war deliberately left in place and a museum is meant to be opening there quite soon. In the morning we go to Cinquera Park, an area of forest in the hills around Cinquera. Some of this area had originally been farmland but it was abandoned when the army destroyed the crops and has since returned to forest. Further into the hills is the area where the population of Cinquera fled to when the army arrived and eventually formed themselves into guerilla bands. We ... read more

On The Buses Wednesday 18th August Today is another long day of travelling as we leave Honduras and head towards El Salvador. Our ultimate destination is the town of Suchitoto which is going to be four or maybe five bus rides and a border crossing away. The first panic of the day is caused by me. The driver of the eight o’clock bus decides to leave half an hour early and I’m the only one of the group who can’t be found. {Whoever heard of a bus in a third world country leaving early??} They manage to find me though and the bus waits and we get underway OK. We are travelling by a public minibus which goes through lots of small towns on the way to Santa Rosa as the crew of the bus seem ... read more