Blogs from El Salvador, Central America Caribbean - page 45

We decided to spend a couple of nights just north of San Salvador on a farm owned by the people who owned Ximena's, the place we stayed in San Salvador. It was called Lisa's Place. It was pleasant enough and there crops up the back to explore. But we were surprised by the collection of German Sheppards and Rottweilers around the house. They were breeding them and they had the cutest little puppies. We had a couple of objectives during our stay. The first was to see the Mayan ruins at Cihuatan. We took a bus which dropped us at the gate but the security guard wouldn't let us pass. Well, he had the gun, wasn't interested in cash, and there was a notice saying 'Parque cerrado hasta nuevo aviso' ('Park closed until further notice') so ... read more

I was dreading today. Pieter loves a border experience but I was starting to hate them. And today we had two borders to cross. We were travelling from Managua, Nicaragua via Hondorus to San Savlador, El Salvador. The Tica bus left at 5 am and followed highway 1 to the Hondorus border at El Espino. We were not too fussed when the bus guy collected our passports and US$8 each. At least we didn't have to stand in any queues, we just hung around the bus. But we were a little horrified when we got the passports back without any stamps. Panic! Through every border on the trip so far we were always so careful to be sure we had the correct stamps. But the driver and the some other guy assured us this was normal ... read more

A tough day, ad-hoc travelling.... Up at 6 and just time for a street breakfast before the 7am bus to Retalhuleu, we are only guessing this is the place to go and change bus, seems right on the map... We arrive about 9 and are quickly helped onto another bus to Escuintla at 9.30. The progress is great! The second bus is quite luxurious as it has real seats and not American school bus style where they cram as many people as possible per bench. We are just relaxing into our seats, and realise we are lucky to be girls. A young bloke is moved from his window seat so that a couple and two children can take both seats, just as he gets comfy, he´s moved again to allow a young woman to sit down ... read more

Hehe.. . had to get them Athlete lyrics in there... We did actually know why we were going to El Salvador and what for - Claire was pretty much whacked out following her Shamanic training, and we decided a couple of weeks by the coast was the order of the day before continuing our journeys through the rest of Central America. After finding a fabulous retreat in the pages of the trusty local Revue Mag we headed out of Antigua by coach and slipped across the border into El Salvadors capital - San Salvador. Having read many scare stories of tourists being held at gun point by local bandits, violence, crime and its general lack of tourist infrastructure, I must say how unexpectedly clean, tidy and prosperous this city appears with gleaming glass tower blocks and ... read more

After such an intriguing conversation with my guerrillero friend Saol in El Salvador's capital- Veronica, Achim and I agreed that it was imperative that we visit the former FMLN (Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion Nacional- named after the former leftist guerrilla organizer and Salvadoran martyr from the 1930s- Farabundo Marti) stronghold of Perquin- in the northeastern region of the country. We arrived after losing about 5 lbs each in sweat after being stuffed with 23 other people and a panting chicken in the back of a pickup truck (camioneta)- with a black roof panel (of course black- always a good idea to use the color that is best at absorbing heat in a region that sees mid 90 degree temperatures on a daily basis) that enclosed the entire truck with only ventilation for the people ... read more