The crossing into El Salvador was wonderful and hassle (and money) free. We just walked through and immediately hitched a ride to San Ignacio a small town a few km's in. We quickly found a lovely posada (Posada San Ignacio of course) and got a room with bathroom for US$10 (NZ$20 so probably not that cheap really). The town is small so not much to see so we headed to the next town which is more of a tourist spot but only 3km down the road called La Palma. The houses here are painted with bright designs and the day we visited there was a fair in town.
We had to walk past heaps of stalls selling sweets, the same stall exactly over and over. Lots of people selling but not many buyers, we got a yummy bag of coconut ice pieces for US$1 and devoured them. Carol fell on the seller of corn in the market, she loved eating them in Mexico and hasn't seen them since. The corn is boiled and put on a stick and covered with mayo and cheese and sauces, trouble was that this was not corn but maize which is much more chewy and not as sweet. Ah well...
The next day we caught the bus back to El Poy (border town) and walked to Citalà a couple of kms away. There we caught the bus to Metapan and were treated to an amazing journey over the mountains in the middle of nowhere. It took over 3 hours and was well worth the $2.20 each we paid even tho it was an old bus it was a good dirt road and the driver was careful.
At Metapan we ate then caught the bus straight to Lago Guija which we had heard was stunning and it lived up to its name. We walked a couple of k to the lake edge and met there the local policeman and some army guys. They were really helpful and found us a spot to camp right on the local soccer field (once the kids had finished playing) and right by the lake. The trout flies were terrible but our tent is fantastic so no problem. Behind us was the headquarters of the local vigilantes who also protect the area and they set up a light that shone out on our camp over night to make sure we were safe. Everyone that we met there was very nice.
In the morning Carol went with the women to meet the fishermen coming in with their catch of fish then went for a small jaunt on a launch with the police and army guys. That night we stayed back in Metapan as we were trying to get to Suchitoto but it has proved an almost impossible task. We tried to go to Santa Ana (pronounced Santana) to get a bus there as a road goes direct to Chalatenango and we can catch a ferry across the lake. When we got to Santa Ana but there was no bus so back to Metapan coz we had been told there was a bus from there at 5am.
This morning at 4.30am we discover the 5am bus was the one we came over the hills on and not one to Chalatenango so we jumped on the next bus to San Salvador the capital city. And thats where we are today, sitting in an internet cafe writing this before trying to find our way across the city to another bus terminal to catch a bus to the elusive Suchitoto. Life is not always easy when travelling, some days are quite hard yakka!
