El Salvador

Ver Our Journey en un mapa más grande

We left Lanquin pretty early in the morning which is no big deal for us as Nev is usually up at around 6 am.  Our plan was to head to Guatemala City so we could catch an international bus to El Salvador.  I found a place in a residential part of Guatemala City that was near a big park and zoo.  It ended up being a bit of a pain since we were pretty isolated from any resources we needed such as banks and laundry.  Plus it turned out that it was a holiday so many things were closed.  In the evening we did head over to the zoo.  Being that we were in Guatemala City and we were planning to head into town to try to find an atm I left my camera behind.  We went to the zoo first and found an atm so we didn’t need to go further into town which was good as the taxis were a bit expensive.  We walked around the zoo until it closed ( a few hours).  This zoo has got to be one of the best zoos I have ever been too (if not the best).  They had so many different animals; lions, tigers and other cats, camels, giraffes, monkeys, lots of birds, many other tropical species.  The thing is that you were able to see all of the animals and they looked really alert and happy.  It was not like a lot of zoos I have been to where you could hardly see the animals because they were hiding out in some dark corner of their “cage”.  These animals were sitting out in the open, walking around, the monkeys were swinging around like crazy.  I don’t know what they are doing but the animals looked comfortable and ”happy”.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera.  I was pretty bummed by that.  I know they would have just been zoo pictures but I think I could have gotten some good shots of the animals. 

We left Guatemala City on the best bus I have ever been on.  Their regular class seats were like first class seats in an airplane.  They also had first class seats on the bus which had even more room!  There was wifi on most of the trip plus when we crossed the border to El Salvador we did not even have to get off the bus for immigration, they got on the bus to check our paperwork.  Of course it was more expensive than the other options but the convenience was well worth the cost, especially because Nev slept right through the border crossing. No need to wake him up and walk across the border with all our stuff.

We arrived fairly late in San Salvador and had a taxi driver take us to a hotel near the bus stop we needed to get to the coast.  The hotel was interesting to say the least, geared not so much for the traveler but maybe for the guest who prefer an hourly rate.  However, it was convenient for what we needed and it felt safe considering the guy at the front desk was packing a pretty large hand gun (many people are armed in this country).  The next day we headed to the bus stop and started to get our first real experience of El Salvador.  The people here are very friendly and helpful!  Many people who saw us wanted to tell us where to bus stop was.  Although many were wrong in where we needed to be standing their intentions were all good.  We finally got on the bus and it was extremely crowded to say the least.  We did not make matters any better with our massive backpacks and a surf board but the people did not seem to be bothered.  All the seats were full.  Carissa got a seat with Nev on her lap and Micah and I made seats in the aisle with our backpacks.  After an hour we had to switch buses to a less crowded bus.   This took us to Playa El Zonte were we found the great little surf camp/hostal recommended by Allison and David from Panajachel, Estancia Nativa.  We stayed here for a few nights.  Micah got to surf and Nev and I spent a lot of time in the pool.  The beach was not super friendly for kids since it was really rocky but there were lots of kids for Nev to play with.

 

Our last night there Nev got to participate in a birthday party.  They had a piñata and they let Nev swing first without a blind-fold.  All the kids started chanting his name when he started to hit the piñata.  This kind of embarrassed him or something because he put down the stick and walked off.  He warmed back up when he watched all the other kids swing at the piñata while the others chanted their names.  In the end he got some candy and some cake.  A night full of sugar! 

El Salvador blew all the stereotypes we had about it.  We had the impression that it was a pretty dangerous place and probably one of the rougher places in Central America.  This did not seem to be the case from what little we saw of it.  The people seemed very happy, friendly and helpful.  The city seemed like one of the most Americanized cities we have seen so far (not that this is a good thing).  However another thing that gave an indication they were not so primitive was the roads.  The roads were in pretty good condition.  They seemed even better than in Mexico.  Another misconception we had was the cost.  We thought it would be cheaper than other countries but at least from our experience this was not the case.  It was a bit on the expensive side.  Maybe this is because they use the U.S. dollar there.

In the end we wished we had stayed longer.  I would love to see more of this country so hopefully I will have the chance to return.