Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador have all been traumatised by internal conflict both historically and recently. El Salvador had its civil war in the 1980's and the last few years have been about the war against the drug gangs. It is worth looking up some photos about this on the BBC website, especially the prison ones. We are staying 'simply in the west' of the country and have not encountered any sense of conflict, despite the country being top of the murder league. Most places are very quiet; the streets, for example, are empty at nine o'clock at night. During the day there are a few manual workers out and about doing things. But that's about it - similarly we are often the only people in our accommodation or in the restaurant. Otherwise there are lots of people sat around watching the world pass by. We wonder where they got their energy from in order to mount a civil uprising?
Our first stop in El Salvador was at lakeside Suchitoto. Another Spanish colonial town with a relatively well preserved single storey historic centre and the inevitable white church. Apparently Suchitoto was a chic weekend abode prior to the civil war and then a ghost town during it. It has probably never recovered since. All these places will have suffered significant social and economic damage during the pandemic. With zero income there was zero investment and a lot of the places are therefore a tad sad. At the lake there were about 20 motor launches ready to take people on tours of the lake. There were 30 or 40 people there ready to either take you on a launch or sell you a drink, ice cream or meal. One restaurant complex alone had well over 100 seats as well as a swimming pool. We were two of the ten tourists there, who might potentially want to part with some of their money - and three of the others were Mormon missionaries. But we did meet a lovely German couple in Suchitoto that evening who were travelling for three or four years in their van and we spent an evening and morning chatting with them. They are not the only nomads we have met.
Suchitoto was on the list of must-see things in El Salvador. So was the Ruta de las Flores. So we arranged to meet people we had first met in September 2021 at a UK motorcycle event at the top of the Ruta de las Flores. We had previously said we would meet them somewhere in Central America as they are travelling the Americas on their bikes too, but North to South. Let's just say that it must have been the wrong time of the year for the Ruta de las Flores as it was devoid of flowers. Not a single one. So we continued our sociable time in El Salvador by chatting with our friends and exchanging ideas about what to see, visit and do in opposite directions.
From Apaneca on the Ruta de las Flores we travelled down to the Pacific to ride the road bordering the fabulous surf beaches of El Salvador. Another must do/see. But you could hardly see any beaches or the sea from the road. We could, however, see the sea and the rather large waves at Puerto La Libertad where we stayed. The beach was stony so we went for a coffee and cheesecake instead of a swim. The town was more noteworthy for the Chinese soft invasion. There was a new amusement park being built, a new fish market with restaurants, a new bar and restaurant complex and two new jetties. Posters showing pictures of the buildings but also stating the contribution of the Chinese were on the hoardings around the unfinished parts of the complex. Presumably the Chinese are safeguarding the future food stock for their prawn wontons - which will then be sold in the yet to be built Two Panda's Supermarket: yes, we have seen one.
Still riding together we looped back to the very large Coatepeque crater lake - another must see. But it was hazy and misty... However we could still see enough to eat our lunch whilst overlooking the lake...
Our last full day in El Salvador was a hike up the country's highest volcano. We were in the clouds where we parked the bikes on top of Cerro Verde at just over 2,000m and feared the worst. We walked down a few hundred metres before climbing to the Santa Ana volcano rim at 2,380m (the volcano last went pop in 2005) where the view and feeling were incredible. The rim was basically ash with nothing to stop anyone so inclined jumping down into the crater and ending it all. We trod with care.
Next stop Guatemala. We have been on the road for six months and covered over 25,000km (@ 16,000miles) despite having slowed down considerably recently. But before we could enter Guatemala we had to leave El Salvador. There were not many people at the border, so we became the victim of the El Salvador tourist questionnaire. Answering the fifty questions took longer than completing both the El Salvador passport and customs formalities! We couldn't leave El Salvador without being the victims of something.
Cada día es diferente. Cada día trae consigo sus desafíos y, a veces, sus preocupaciones. Pero cada día nos trae sorpresas y sonrisas.¿Como podríamos cansarnos de eso?
