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Published: November 19th 2009
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I started from Antigua with the first 50km being pretty much as expected -- scenic and downhill. This decent from 1,500m to sea level is one of the most beautiful in the world. As I road out of this colonial city, the highway to the coast splits the two stunning volcanoes of Fuego and Agua. As to give me a send off, Fuego spewed some smoke and ash as I went by (see picture). It always amazes me how quickly the temperature and humidity changes with this kind of decent.
The next 110km were not to be so kind. With temperatures close to 35c and humidity higher than I want to know, the day started to take its toll on me. Normally in the tropics I try to get my riding done by 11:00, but I had no choice to ride 160km on this day, as I had read that this stretch of highway was one of the worst in the country for robberies. The ride along the Guatemala coast was pretty boring, though, with little to look at other than sugarcane fields, rivers, and police check points. Other than the Escuintla (costal connecting point for Antigua and Guatemala City),
the highway didn´t even go through any major towns. With the increase presence of coordinated police/army patrols, I felt much safer on this highway than I thought I would. I did, though, understand why this highway has been targeted so much by banditos -- it is so quiet! Most of the commerce between Guatemala and El Salvador moves along the Pan-American Highway, which runs along the mountains.
The border crossing was pretty uneventful. I didn´t even get a stamp in my passport on the Salvadorean side. There is now a free-trade zone between Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras, which is making these kinds of border crossings easier than ever. It will be interesting to see what happens at the El Salvador/Honduras border.
The first thing that became apparent as I crossed into El Salvador was the level of poverty -- materially lower than in Guatemala. This was surprising, as I thought the El Salvadorean economy was the economic tiger of Central America. However, I guess it takes times to rebuild from a civil war. I finally pulled into Cara Sucia (Dirty Face) around 16:30. As I have said many times, I don´t mind cycling through crap all
day, but I want a good bed and a nice meal. At first, this looked like it wasn´t going to be possible. There were no hotels, but there were a couple of hospedajes -- one step down from a hotel. The "best in town" would have made Shauna´s stomach turn. The walls in the rooms were filthy with no private bathrooms. The showers and toilets were all clustered together towards the end of the parking lot. The stench was pathetic. When I asked the owner of the hospedje where the best restaurant was, she directed me to a couple of fast food joints (Pollo Campero and the El Salvadorean equivalent)! These would be similar to KFC, but only in the type of food they served -- not the quality. Fortunately, I had seen a nice restuarant in the back of town, so I headed there and I ended up having quite a nice meal of shrimp, rice, salad, and tortillas. The night at the hospedaje could have been worse, as at least the sheets were clean, if the walls weren´t, and it did have A/C.
What stuck me in this little town, with no tourists, was the number of people that spoke perfect English. As I was looking for a place to stay, a couple of men came up to me on different occassions and asked me if I needed help. They both had worked in the US for many years. A large number of Salvadoreans were displaced during the civil war and ended up in the US. Remittances from these emigrants totals in the billions of dollars each year.
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