This May half term I fancied a trip to El Salvador. After the last disastrous trip I was a little cautious as I was on my own the entire time. Another bloody volcano erupted
nearby but luckily not affecting my flight. A thunder storm like no other came across Central America and threatened to wipe out all of mankind, even so approx 200 people lost
their lives. I couldn’t believe how bad this trip was turning out to be. Just arriving in San Salvador and my journey to the hotel just looked almost apocalyptic. Thunder and lightning, landslides, up rooted trees blown on to the roads, bits of houses flying across the road. I looked at the driver who looked at me and laughed. Not sure if that made it worse. I got to my hotel and was lucky to have made it although slightly damp I was actually looking forward to the rest of the week.
Well the first day I couldn’t even go out. I had an umbrella but the wind and rain made it impossible. I forgot my rain coat but really would not have ventured out in that weather. So a boring start to my week just hanging about the hotel and trying out my Spanish on the poor lady who ran the hotel. She was a bit pessimistic from what I understood. She said I couldn’t go anywhere because of landslides. Couldn’t go up north because of the ash clouds coming from Guatemala causing muddy rain…can you believe it, muddy rain? The Americans I met said I couldn’t go south now as there were mini tsunamis coming up the coast. Bloody hell, didn’t really expect to stay in the hotel all week. If I did I would have booked a 5 star hotel with a pool, spa and lots of entertainment.
The second day turned out to be a brighter day and also a bit of a shock when I looked out my window. I was staring at one of the largest volcanoes in El Salvador right outside my
window. In fact the odd smell I encountered the night before was sulphur. Yes, it is a live volcano. This year my track record with volcanoes hasn’t really been fantastic. So I
kept an eye on that mighty volcano when I could see it that is, as the next morning it had disappeared again in the rain clouds and fog. It was so thick I couldn’t even see next
door’s building.
The rest of the week improved and I started having a good time. This was mainly down to my guide Maru. Together we did 3 trips and our favourite trip by far was the military day
visiting the army base museum and air force museum. The soldier that took us around was a bit of a laugh and surprisingly I was able to take pictures of ANYTHING on the compound. And I took loads of photos mainly of the soldiers and tanks and weapons. Looked like I was doing recon for some outside government agency. I couldn’t believe how laissez faire they were to me and my camera. The air force base a different outlook on photography altogether. I got out of the car and started taking pictures of the military planes and was promptly told to put my camera away or else. Apparently the air force was not as friendly as the army. I did manage to get some sneaky photos along the way.
Finished off the trip spending the evening with my guide. I visited her house, met her lovely puppy with very long ears (never seen a dog trip over it's own ears before) and very hyper active niece. We went and did a bit of shopping in one of the many local malls and rounded off the evening with a movie.
All in all a very relaxing trip, some might say boring but after the last trip it was a welcome relief to have nothing major to worry about, apart from the bad weather.
