Blogs from El Zonte, Western, El Salvador, Central America Caribbean

I didn’t really know what to expect when it came to El Salvador, for I had never met another backpacker who had been here. All I knew was that it is a small country with waves pummelling the west coast night and day, which is what drew me to its shores. Picture this conversation being repeated thousands of times over all my years of travelling: Friendly person I’ve just met: “Where are you from?” Me: “Australia.” Inquisitive person I’ve just met: “Oh, do you surf?” Me: “Ah, not really.” Very confused and uncertain person I’ve just met: “But you’re Australian!?!?” In Nicaragua, at the absolutely stunning beach of ‘Playa Hermosa’, I decided it was high time that I made a concerted effort to finally fit the stereotype of all those who call Australia home. After taking ... read more

For Semana Santa this year, I decided I wanted to head to El Salvador since it's one of the only Central American countries I have left to travel before I leave to head back to Canada in June. I do still have Panama and Belize as well, but I figure I can do those some time in the future as a trip from Canada. Paule had also never seen El Salvador and Bridgette decided to come along as well, so the 3 of us girls were off on Saturday, March 31st around 5am - heading to the Ticabus station to catch our 6am bus. I think it cost us about $30 round trip for our ticket! AMAZING! (Fairly comfortable bus too with a bathroom that isn't the nicest but functions for emergencies). It was about an ... read more

Kurzaufenthalt an der Pazifikkueste von El Salvador. Da auch hier zu viele "Gringos" anwesend sind gehts direkt weiter in die Hauptstadt San Salvador.... read more

Hola again! Thanks everyone for your comments and messages! This entry is from El Salvador... But before we get into that, a bit more on our last days in Monterrico, Guatemala. Tessa, Keith and I volunteered to do some teaching at one of the local schools, which was a bit daunting when our Spanish is so halting. It would have been even more daunting if we had realised in advance how little English the children knew! The school is a couple of kilometres out of Monterrico, so I got to ride in front of Tessa on a trusty Proyecto Linguistico Monterrico bike again. The school is called Escuela La Curvina and is for kids aged 6 to 12. They are busy catching up on class work after missing some school with the storm (la tormenta) a ... read more

Dear all, It's been a long time! These last two months have been full of hard work, success and laughter and I wish I could do it all over again. The English Summer School was a great success and last week at the Angeles Descalzos Christmas Party the infamous recorder group impressed us all with their renditions of Jingle Bells and Rudolph! I am really amazed at how much they have learned in just over two months, many of them are so talented. In January we are going to take the children on another Campamento where I am going to work with four girls who will continue teaching and developing the group in the new year. My time on the project has gone by so quickly, at the time you don't even realise and then, suddenly, ... read more