La Palma

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We found that Tortuga Surf Lodge was a great choice. We met the owner Roberto last night who was a very interesting and friendly guy. As you would expect he is surfing mad but after having a few beers with him and watching him in a surf video we realized there was more to him than just surfing. He explained the whole history both political and geographical and it was obvious this place was run more out of love of surfing than a business venture.

For a tiny country El Salvador has about 10 murders per day (mostly gang related) which makes it one of the most violent countries in the world. Although you don’t see this first hand (hopefully) it is easy to believe just by looking at the number of people carrying arms. So setting off this morning on the local “chicken buses” we were a little bit worried that we were crossing the country right through the middle of the capital San Salvador without really knowing how many buses we would need and how we would connect with each. Although we had a good laugh along the way on the old American school buses (Matt could see the road under his seat), this was one of those days where everything went our way. We ended up taking different chicken buses, including one that crossed the centre of San Salvador to get us to our bus terminal. This was probably the freakiest part of our journey and after confusion why everyone we asked for directions was obsessed with the number 7, we realized bus number 102 from our starting point, dropped us well short of our bus terminal. We needed to flag down bus number 7D to connect to our last bus that would take us out of San Salvador to our destination near the Honduras border La Palma.

As we boarded the 4th bus we looked at each other smiling in amazement at how we managed to get on and off the correct chicken buses to get across the country. San Salvador is not the type of place you cant to find yourself in the wrong area as even gunmen our standing out front of supermarkets. Safety is a relative term in this country as we learnt the night before when we were told “of course El Salvador is safe unless you are stupid enough to do something like drive at night.” But we have find El Salvador very friendly and have had a great few days.

We are currently on La Palma which is 15minutes from the Honduras border and is known somewhat of an artistic village. It is described as having every beautiful influence of art. The lampposts, building and walls are covered in bright murals and the village is set at 1200m surrounded by lush green mountains.

We have had an enjoyable afternoon exploring and a nice surprise to find cable TV in our hotel as the rain sets in for the afternoon. Do an early night before we make our way to La Ceiba in Honduras tomorro

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Photos

Chicken Bus
Budggie on the Chicken Bus