Travels of the Bay family and the Yoda Van

We left Honduras decided to go back through El Salvador.  After our first couple of border crossings on this trip we decided we wouldn’t go through El Salvador on our way home because border crossings can be such a pain.  However once we actually got to El Salvador and saw how amazing this country is, an extra border crossing or two wasn’t going to stop us from returning. 

Our first stop was Perquin.  It is a small town up in the mountains close to the Honduran border.  It was the headquarters for the FMLN (which was the party of the guerillas during the civil war) and there is a lot of history.  We had met a Peace Corp volunteer who was stationed there our first time through El Salvador.  She said that if we were even in Perquin we should get in touch and she’d be happy to show us around.  First she helped us find a nice hostel, and then she took us up to the top of the mountain as the sun was setting for a spectacular view of all the surrounding mountains and volcanoes.  As we were climbing the mountain we passed bomb craters and escape trenches used by the FMLN radio station which broadcast from Perquin during the war. 

Our first night in the hostel we also met two other Americans: Nick and Jessica from Chapel Hill, NC.  They also quit their jobs and were doing a similar trip as us.  It was great to talk to them about where they had been and share stories.  Unfortunately they were the first people we have met that had anything bad happen to them.  Earlier that day when they were walking back from a waterfall they were robbed by two men in masks.  They didn’t hurt them, but they did take everything they had on them.  Nick called Jessica his big set of testicles because apparently Jessica started negotiating with their muggers.  She asked if she could keep the ring her Mom gave her, and she also worked out a deal with the guys so she could at least keep the memory card in their camera so they wouldn’t loose their pictures.  Either she has gotten really good at bargaining after being in Central America for so long, or her attackers were real novices.

The next day Nick and Jessica just wanted to leave Perquin.  Totally understandable after what had happened to them.  They were headed towards Alegría and then to Suchitoto, two towns that we were also interested in seeing.  They called us later that evening and we told them we’d meet them in Alegría.  Alegría was really beautiful.  It is a small town perched on top of a volcano covered in coffee plantations.  Its claim to fame is all the flower nurseries in town.  Nick found a great pupusa restaurant and we had great Salvadorian dinner.  The only bad thing about this town was the church sermon going on in the Parque Central where the preacher was ranting about the evil militant Americans, homosexuals and hermaphrodites.  One other neat thing we saw in Alegría was a cock market.  One of the nurseries has 100s of fighting cocks for sale.  Each one goes for $100.  Considering the wages of people here it tells us there must be big money involved in cock fighting in El Salvador (which is illegal in this country).

The next morning we all hopped into the Yoda Van and drove to Suchitoto.  It was fun to have others along in the Yoda Van.  I also figured it is a good thing to stay close to them since it is very unlikely than anything bad will happen to them again anytime soon.  In Suchitoto we all went on a hike together down to a swimming hole at a river, we went on a boat trip to an island that is covered in thousands of birds, went swimming in the pool at our hotel, ate lots of pupusas and drank lots of beer. 

Next stop was San Salvador.  Nick and Jessica wanted to stay there for a few days and go to a bunch of the museums there.  We all drove to San Salvador together and then split up.  After a visit to the Children’s Museum, and lunch at Pollo Campero (the favorite fast food restaurant of all children in Central America), we headed to the coast for a few days.  We went swimming, relaxed in hammocks and had a lot of shrimp for dinner. 

Today we met up with Nick and Jessica again in a town called Juayúa, which is in northwest El Salvador close to the Guatemalan border.  Every weekend they have a food festival with all sorts of stands set up and artisan markets.  Unfortunately we only had a few hours with them and had a nice lunch.  They are on their way back to San Salvador and then to Nicaragua where they are meeting Jessica’s family.  This has been one of the great experiences during traveling – making fast friends with other travelers who are also far from home and sharing a bit of our adventure together. 

We left the coast of El Salvador after 6 nights.  We had found a great place to stay and really enjoyed meeting the Peace Corps volunteers and the Austrians, but the new crowd was becoming dumber by the minute.  By the time we left we had actually wished we had left a day or two earlier since El Salvador has so much to see and we felt like we wasted a bit of our time hanging around a bunch of losers.  One day I was sitting in the internet café next to two of the girls there and one says “I’m so fucking bored.  Is anything going on in this town?”  The other girl responded “No.  And to be honest, I’ve never met anyone here that I would actually really want to hang out with.”  And the first girl says “Yeah, that’s pretty much Central America.”  Aside from this place and one other place, we’ve only meet interesting people.  We were just on a different wavelength than these people and knew it was time to leave.
 

We left the coast and took a drive along the Ruta de Flores and over to Lago de Coatepeque where we spent one night.  This supposedly beautiful route up into the mountains along coffee plantations was quite disappointing (probably due to the overcast weather), but the lake was spectacular.  The lake is in the crater of a volcano that erupted long ago.  It is almost perfectly round and you can see from the slope of the bank of the lake that you are in the middle of a volcanic crater.  The lake has very clean turquoise water and there were no tourists.  We only met two tourists at the lake, and they were only on a day trip from San Salvador.  It was a very quiet and peaceful place.
 

Next we drove through the capitol San Salvador and onto Suchitoto.  Suchitoto is a very charming city with cobblestone streets and a nice white church in the central square.  Our Peace Corps friends gave us a recommendation for a good hotel and we ended up spending two nights there.  We had great food and they had a swimming pool and lots of kids which was perfect for William and Julian.
  We only spent about 9 days in El Salvador and I wish we had more time here.  There are a bunch of other lakes and nature reserves I wish we had time to visit.  Even though it is such a small, densely-populated country there is a lot to see.  Aside from the surfers we only met 3 tourists in the entire week and a half.  The roads are great which made driving easier.  The people were so curious about us and friendly, too.  The border crossing was easy, cheap and not-corrupt.  Originally we thought we would not return on our way home, but we might have to re-think that.  This country has been such a pleasant surprise and I hope we are able to return on our way home.
 And almost the best thing about El Salvador is that they have the best ‘80’s music radio stations ever.  I can’t remember the last time I heard Stevie Wonder 3 days in a row, or woke up to “Eye of the Tiger”.  Guatemala was pretty good in that respect too, but El Salvador is even better.