Hola! We have passed through another country - El Salvador. We did manage to get up very earlyfor the shuttle and 4 hrs later were in Santa Ana,El Salvador. The shuttle driver was very good and got us a taxi as it was raining and we were on the edge of town.We were taken to best hostel of the trip so far.Very clean, great amenities,a kitchen just like home,great internet and a movie room with english dvd's.However couldn't spend all day there so did a quick recce around before the afternoon rain. Whilst in Santa Ana we went to do a volcano hike but the tourism police and guides said it was too dangerous due to recent and impending rain - disappointing.We also had a quick trip to Lago de Coatepeque - a volcanic crater lake.Unfortunately we had to move on and leave this wonderful hostel and we caught a chicken bus to Juayua about 60kms away but about 3 hrs on the bus.Many people hopping on and off. We landed there in the middle of a huge thundertorm and had to stand under an awning like drowned rats for 40mins before a break saw us hot foot it to only the next corner and the hostel.Luckily we did it then as it continued to rain.In this area we visited another little town up the road - Ataco and went to a garden restaurant down the road for my birthday lunch very nice and popular with the locals. Juayua claim to fame is a food festival every w/end. People come from all over and the locals do it well - plenty of tents with food,entertainment etc.WE then went to Santa Tecla - a satellite city of San Salvador for 2 days which was okay but busy. After that went north to Suchitoto where we made a big mistake and checked in to possibly our worst hostel experience - musty,not very clean. We were so disgusted we left the next morning after barely spending 20hrs there. An experience we don't want again.El Salvador is a very small country so we,in retrospect should have just done a day to suchitoto from San Salvador. But people were very friendly. A Lady at our Juayua hostel offered us a door to door lift to Santa Tecla. She worked for a bank and when she finished her inspection at Juayua she took us with her. And we had barely spoke to her at the hostel. In Santa Tecla a local man there gave a lift back to the hostel and it was out of his way. Anyway after Suchitoto we bussed it to a bus terminal in San Salvador where we booked a bus to Leon,Nicaragua leaving at 3am the next day. And very conviently the teminal had a hotel on top to stay in which is what we did. Nearby there was a bar where Gary caught the opening game of the world cup before an early night for an early morning wake up call. All in all our El Salvador experience was not as great as some of others.We spent 11 days only there. Now we are in Leon,Nicaragua which is on a lowland plain,so it is hot and humid and there is no wet season here yet. There are volcanos all around and they beckon for adventure.But Gary is hoping for some downtime to fit in some world cup viewing.
