El Salvador

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27th - 29th November

It was a long old day of chicken bus after chicken bus to get us from Guatamala to El Salvador, but rewarding none the less.

A bus to Guatamala City, a taxi to the main station, a bus to just past the border, a collectivo mini bus to another bus station, a bus along the 'Ruta de las Flores' (a slight detour and completely lacking in any evidence of the beautiful flowers it is famed for), another bus and 11 hours later... we arrived at Playa El Tunco. Playa El Tunco is famed for its 'great breaks' (aka surfing), and thus pretty much all the rooms had been taken. Eventually, after being turned away by at least 3 places and exhausting the Lonely Planet's suggestions, we found a rather shabby looking place with 3 single beds for $10 and settled for that. We then went in search of food and found the cheapest looking establishment and were aghast to find the cheapest meal (which was beautiful by the way) was $7! We thanked our lucky stars that our digs had a kitchen!

The next day was spent chilling out on the black sand and watching the surfers do their thing. We went to the main road to buy some food and James had a fish at a local Pupuseria cooked by a less than hygenic lady. The other women were busy making Tamale's on the table next to us. On the ground below was a waddling duck (wings clipped so possibly for eating) and a very loud green parrot (hopefully not for consumption). The fish, however, was good and the experience much enjoyed. Dinner was home cooked. The evening was spent celebrating the birthday of an American accented German girl (also staying in the 'Surf Shack') with a few beers and a rather strange tasting cake we had bought opposite the Pupuseria with a match stuck in it.

The next day we were on our way to Honduras. It was a shame that we had so little time there, but time and financial pressure won out, as it always must.

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Photos

sufer dudes and dog
The one on the left's board had just broken!