Where's Andrew

PLAYA TUNCA & SUCHITOTO, EL SALVADOR - APRIL 20 - 25

I left Livingston for El Salvador early on the 7:00AM water taxi through the Mangrove swamp which was the same swamp I went through a few nights earlier. I'm on my way to Playa Tunca on the Pacific coast. On my map, it does not look far to go and I'm hoping to be there just after noon. Well, 2 chicken buses, a boarder crossing, 3 more chicken buses, rush hour in San Salvador and I finally get there around 5:30PM. At my last bus transfer in San Salvador, I  had some time to get some money from an ATM. El Salvador uses US currency so this would also be a good time to replenish my emergency fund. At the first ATM, my bank card and both credit cards do not work. same with the next and then I find a HSBC ATM (my bank is HSBC) and again all 3 cards do not work. Now I'm getting worried thinking my cards have been put on hold but I finally try a CitiBank ATM and it works. Its seems that more than 80% of the ATMs in El Salvador do not support Canadian and US bank cards or credit cards. I must admit I was getting a little stressed with it being 4:00PM on a Friday afternoon and only $35 cash in my pocket.

Playa Tunco is about 10km north of Puerto La Liberstad. It is a small surfing town with a very nice 1km long black sand beach. I get a room overlooking the beach at La Guitara Hotel, the view from my sundeck is awesome. The town is full of surfers, half are from the US and Canada and the other half are locals. There are good size waves with a couple of good breaks for surfing. They are close to shore and its awesome to just sit and watch the surfing. There's a dozen hotels along the beach with numerous restaurants and a couple of night clubs. The bar right below my room and the one next door have live bands that night. That night, the bar below me is packed with surfers and the band plays Reggae. It's a good thing they do not have the "No shirt, no shoes, no service" policy because the surfers never seem to wear either. The band is pretty good and I stay until they finish at 1:00AM as there would be no way to sleep in my room above the bar. The next night the other bar has another band. It is a Sublime tribute band and they are really good and I spend an enjoyable night with some people I met from Toronto.

The next morning I do a side trip to La Liberstad, it's a 10 minute chicken bus ride away. Right after getting on the bus we get to a police road check. All the guys on the bus are ordered off. We all line up parallel to the bus. A few guys put there hands on the back of their heads holding the ID between their fingers. About 4 or 5 police start searching everyone's bags and frisking most guys while another 3 or 4 keep us covered with machine guns except they totally ignore me. There are a few guys that the police seem to know, they are the ones that put their hands behind their heads as soon as we got off the bus. The police spend a lot of time searching them and are a bit rough with them. They take photos of these guys and a few others. I'm told later that this stop was likely about the police battle against street gangs throughout El Salvador.

I end up staying at Playa Tunca a little longer than expected because my guide book does not have much of interest listed in it. After a 3 night stay I finally decide to go to Suchitoto in the central part of El Salvador next to the country's largest lake which was formed by a hydro-electric dam 20 years ago. It's about a 4 hour chicken bus ride with a transfer in San Salvador. One strange thing about San Salvador, all the manhole and storm drain covers are missing. People steal them to sell to metal recyclers. It keeps you focused on where you walk.

Suchitoto is a small village in the hills above the lake. It has cobblestone streets with a beautiful central plaza. In the evening, residents sit outside the front on their houses and socialize with their neighbours while the kids play on the street in front of their house. It may be the friendliest place I've been so far with no peddlers trying to always sell you something. I get a room in the Posada Alta Vista and spend a couple of relaxing days. Other than going for a walk down to the lake, there does not seem to be much to do here.

I decide to head to Honduras to see the Mayan ruins of Copan which will be the last Mayan ruins for this trip. Then I will head to the Bay Islands in the Caribbean. Looking at the map, I can tell is will be hard travel to get to Copan. There is no direct route, and after conferring with the hotel owner, I will have to take 5 or 6 different chicken buses and I won't get there in one day. With that in mind, I head to Gringos Restaurant for dinner. There I meet Robert the owner. He was born in California and is mother is El Salvadorian and he moved here 18 years ago. There is a couple of American travellers here for dinner and they are talking to Robert about a shuttle that he has arranged for them the next morning to go to Copan and it will only take 6 hours. I ask if there is room on the shuttle for another as there is. I'm so pleased to avoid all the chicken buses and it will only costs me $35US. I have a great dinner eating some pupusas which is the national food of El Salvador. It is a flour tortilla with various combinations of meat, cheese and beans inside. The rest of the evening is spent talking with Robert and the 2 other travellers; Erin is from Idaho and Cory is an old university friend from Michigan. I'm so happy I went to dinner at Gringo's.

El Salvador is very nice. The standard of living is higher than Guatemala. The people are very friendly and most are of mixed European and native decent. Tourism has only recently started in any real way with most of it centered on the Pacific coast. Gangs are still an issue here but the police have really cracked down in recent years and street violence is rare. I think El Salvador will become a much bigger tourist place in the coming years.

It is amazing how soccer mad El Salvador and the rest of Central America is. The hole country seems to shutdown when Champions League soccer is on or English Premier League or Spanish League or any other major European league.

Well I'm off to Honduras tomorrow. I can't wait to get to Utila to get my diving certification. Adios amigos.