Arrived in San Salvador after departing Vancouver and spending 3 hours in Houston on layover. The entry fee payable in the airport is $10 US. Not much of a wait, and the officers all seem really helpful and friendly.
From here, it was a 40 minute taxi ride to El Tunco beach, arriving at 6pm ($35). Got a room with bath at Tunco Lodge which has a big pool and lots of lounge areas for $35, and then switched to a smaller room without bath next two days for $25 each night. Had dinner at Take A Wok up the street, which is a lively place popular with surfer backpackers, and then had a couple of craft beer at Mopelia's bar behind the restaurant. Nice vibe there. Any of the small surfer hostels would have been fine: Papaya's Lodge, La Sombra Hostel, Mopelia. They all run about the same price.
Following day, had breakfast at an organic place on the main street (great smoothies and sandwiches), and spent some time exploring the very small town and walked the length of the beach as far up as Zunzal, and back. As I'm not a surfer, I could only really play in the shallows of the water, as the waves are a little rough at times. The beach is not the nicest, it has no palm trees to sit under, and is extremely hot weather-wise. Around 5pm, went to the wall to have a couple of beer at Happy Hour, and watch the surfers along with a bunch of other people. Cool area. Again, went to Take A Wok and the craft beer bar, as there wasn't much else in town. Great place to chat with other travellers. Third day was pretty much the same, but spent some more time at the hotel's pool, which is what a lot of young backpackers seemed to fill their days with around here. Also purchased a shuttle bus ticket to Santa Ana for departure the following morning at 9am.
Headed to Santa Ana, which took about 2.5 hours. Nice small city, not too many sites to see, but the Casa Verde hostel here was very nice. Had a nice long walk through the very active market not far from the hostel. Also had dinner at one of the few restaurants that seemed to be open in the evening. The downtown gets eerily quiet after dark. However, it was a good city to use as a starting base for the Ruta de las Flores the following day.
Early next day, headed by chicken bus to Juayua and stayed at Mazeta Hostel. Nice cobblestoned street town. Very small. It was Sunday, so the food fair was in swing. To be honest, I was expecting more, but it turns out that the food stalls took up two blocks. Not as large or rambling as I expected it to be from all the hype. Went with a few other backpackers that I ran into to Ataco, another of the villages, and it had a food fair also, although even smaller. Nice to see another village though. Back in Juayua, there is not much to do at night, as the streets roll up, but I did go to dinner at R&R, one of about 3 open restaurants at night, with a couple from Canada. Great steak.
Next day went on the 7 Waterfalls Tour with a guide. I was the only one, and it cost $15 through another hostel in town. Was great practice for speaking Spanish (as Douglas doesn't speak English), and the walk was great. Took about 6 hours total, and involved a little bit of rappelling down a set of waterfalls, and some up-and-down paths; ended with the 'infinity' waterfalls; overall, it was a little tougher than I thought really, and I'm a hiker.
From Santa Ana, went to Lake Coatepeque by chicken bus (50 cents), and stayed at Los Torremolinos Hotel, which was utterly quiet. Went swimming in the lake and took a nice long walk along the lake road. The restaurant closes at 7pm, as does much of the town.
From here, thought I might go to Cerro Verde for the 3 hour hike, but would have had to wait another full day as the local buses are ridiculously absent. You have to be there for 11am, and the bus was going to arrive at 1pm, in 4 hours time! Frustrating to say the least. So I hopped on another chicken bus and went back to Santa Ana briefly, and then caught a chicken bus to the border of Guatemala.
Quick passage through the border (no fee), and then caught a bus on the Guatemalan side to Antigua. There are scores and scores of decent hostels in this town. Stayed here one night, and walked around the town checking out stores and cafes, and had a nice dinner, and headed to Panajachel, Lake Atitlan by shuttle bus. Stayed in Panajachel for one night. Went from Panajachel to Chichicastenango for Sunday market day (Thursdays and Sundays only) which was much better than I expected. Very good photo ops, and it was no problem spending the few hours here before taking the shuttle back. I then moved on to San Pedro for a couple of nights (Gran Sueno Hotel, near the main dock, $20 single room with bath). I enjoyed the laid-back vibe of San Pedro, and all the small alleyways leading to different cafes and restaurants. Went for a nice long swim off the rocks. It's very young, and has a bit of a frat party atmosphere to it.
From San Pedro, went by boat to San Marcos. Loved this little town. Very zen, lots of yoga retreats, and organic cafes and restaurants. Not the frat party that San Pedro is. Stayed at Paco Real, which was very nice ($20 single room with bath). Was able to relax and work on some personal projects while there.
From here, went back to Panajachel by boat, stayed for lunch, and then caught a bus to Antigua for one night, where I met a dear friend I hadn't seen for 15 years who used to live in Canada.
Next morning, returned to El Salvador and onto El Zonte Beach for one night, and then decided to take a couple of chicken buses to Cuco Beach for the last 3 days of the trip, staying at La Tortuga Verde resort. To get there, I went to San Salvador by shuttle, and then changed over to the Oriente bus station by cab ($5), and then the regular large express bus to San Miguel ($5), and then the chicken bus to Cuco Beach ($1). It took a full 6 hours. If you get lucky, every other day there is a shuttle bus run by Gekko Tours that goes from El Tunco to Cuco Beach direct.
The time at Cuco Beach was nice; not a lot to do but relax. While there, all your food, bar drinks and the room are on a tab, which you pay for at the end of your stay. Interesting mix of people there, and if you are social, you will end up chatting with some people, particularly at the bar in the evening.
Midmorning, took the chicken buses back to San Salvador, where I spent the last evening at Ximena Guest House (the place is quite old and unkempt), after taking a couple of hours to see the city centre, which was actually quite awful.
Back to Vancouver the next morning.
