[By the time you see this post, Dear Reader, The Fox will have left Marina Barillas on April 1 and will have (hopefully) visited anchorages in the El Salvador portion of the Gulf of Fonseca, then moved on to explore a bit of Nicaragua. However, for the past 2 months as we've traveled ever-southward, we've been unable to post to the blog while underway due to ongoing connectivity problems with Skymate, our onboard satellite-to-computer link. We'll let you know how the troubleshooting goes. Meanwhile, here's something I wrote when I still had conventional Internet connectivity in Barillas. Enjoy.]
During our time in Marina Barillas from 12.March to 1. April - including time spent watching the weather for a break in the Papagayo winds - we wanted to see inland El Salvador before moving further south. Most yatistas who bring their boats to El Salvador and want to do some inland touring, leave the boat at either Bahia del Sol or Marina Barillas and head immediately by bus for Antigua in Guatemala, rent a car there or take another bus, and then visit the ruins of Copan in Honduras. Those are each world-class destinations and should not be missed, but our agenda was a bit different so...we missed them. Our pals on s/v Curare were also here in Barillas and were willing to chip in with us on a rental car, but they couldn't leave faithful boat-dog Jessie behind. Therefore, it made far more logistic and economic sense for us all to rent a car locally. However, if you rent a car in El Salvador, for insurance purposes it needs to stay in El Salvador. No problemo; El Salvador's great.
Curare and we toured the country for 5 days (3/16-3/21). Had big fun. If you believe El Salvador is scary-bad, please be reassured: we felt safe and were welcomed everywhere. GB remarked, "El Salvador is a country of small surprises." One such surprise was, unlike Mexico, Jessie-Dog was welcome everywhere we went - hotels, restaurants, everywhere but museums and Mayan ruins. Salvadorans like animals; they all asked what Jessie's name was, and one kind restauranteur even offered to give Jessie some tasty chicken scraps while we humans sipped our beers. We found that as long as you and your dog behave yourselves the Salvadorans will happily accommodate you.
Downside: the Pan-American Highway and many roads in El Salvador are well-paved, but many others are not. Directional signage is intermittent to nonexistent, and some of theAlegria - nice, clean, friendly small town; won first place in 2009's "Pueblos Vivos" tourism poll. A good choice of small hotels and cabanas near the zocalo; and a very open and friendly yet vigilant constabulary. When we were undecided about where to stay (due to lack of off-street parking for the rental car) one of the local police officers personally led us to Cabanas la Estancia de Daniel with its secured parking. Free parking, double beds, private bath, TV, free Salvadoran coffee in the morning, $20. Nice. Visited Laguna Alegria (volcano's crater lake just a couple miles outside of town).
Next day's trip took us through the towns of Ilobasco (handicrafts, bought some) and Cinquera (civil war mural and memorial in zocalo, stopped and paid our respects). Cinquera's war memorial consists of the tail piece of an American helicopter that, according to the story told by the mural and the plaque at the war memorial, was shot down by locals in the jungle when the helicopters threatened the town and destroyed the town church. It was informative, to stand in the town square as a very obvious gringo and see the effects of US involvement in prolonging a civil war for 6 years by supporting the wrong side. Kudos to ya, President Reagan and CIA director George HW Bush. Good for us all that this blog discusses cruising and not politics.
Suchitoto - pretty Colonial town with large lake nearby; tidy, friendly, many photo opportunities, good restaurants, many hotels to choose from at various rates. We enjoyed Hotel La Posada Alta Vista 2 blocks off the zocalo; it includes free secured parking in what used to be this private house's inner courtyard/horse stable/carriage area. Double beds, private bath, A/C, TV, access to rooftop patio, $35/night. What a country.
We visited 5 sites of Mayan ruins: Cihuatan (most extensive and first-excavated site in country, excellent museum with English translations), Joya de Ceren ("the Pompeii of the Americas") and nearby San Andres, Tazumal and nearby Casa Blanca. More detail soon coming in a post near you.
Day trip to La Palma in NW highlands near Honduras border. Spent night at Lago de Coatepeque, another volcanic crater lake, at lakeside Hotel Torremolinos. A nice lady who ran the small market where we bought our evening's beverages, allowed us the use of her hostel's dining room and pool table so we could dine in comfort, eating the pizza we ordered from the takeout joint next door. We paid $5 to "rent" her rec room for a couple of hours. What a country.
Next day: day trip thru NW highlands and Concepcion de Ataco & Juayua (coffee plantations, handicrafts). Overnight in San Salvador's Zona Rosa; dined across the street from hotel at Japanese restaurant Kamakura. Big city, Japanese restaurant, sushi...equals big-city prices. But what a treat. Next day, big-city provisioning with big-city American prices at one of San Salvador's big malls, then return to Marina Barillas. Whew.
We had a great trip and were well taken care of throughout the whole country. Many Salvadorans speak at least some English, if not incredibly fluent English given that (1) so many of them fled the country during the troubles and spent a couple decades in places like the US, Canada and Australia before coming back home; and (2) there are English-language academies for locals in San Salvador and many upscale parents send their children there. Anyway.
My suggestion to all you future El Salvador visitors: taking small 3-day trips to specific areas of the country, by bus or tour van, may be the most efficient way for you to visit El Salvador, But it's definitely worth a traveler's time!
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