Making our way to El Salvador...

 

Playa Las Flores, El Salvador

I'm writing this on my Canadian Tire fold-out camping chair at Rancho Alicia in El Salvador, listening to the waves crash on the Playa de las Flores. 

A stream of ants run underneath my chair, from one palm tree to another, reinforcing their arboreal nests. A beautifully black-tailed rooster and his flock of hens nestle down in their bamboo rafters for an early night. All is heaven until. . . a mango falls on my head. Not kidding. I seriously did get hit on the head by a freaking mango, at it hurt all the way to my molars. 

(UPDATE: Apparently, I'm not the only one afraid of falling mangos. My friend Jonathan sent me this poem, Problems with Hurricanes, written by Victor Hernandez Cruz.)

According to a fellow camper, I was just lucky it wasn't a coconut. The legend is that you are five more times likely to die from a coconut injury than from a shark. However, not true. For a history of "death by coconuts", check out thiswikipedia page. I think the best one was where a guy died trying to crack open a coconut with the butt end of his rifle. Spoiler alert: it did not end well.

Up at 5:30 am for surf lessons at Playa de las Flores

Surfing waves breaking - we did not go for those ones

Cashew nut. Also falling from the trees at random, thwocking intervals. Warning: do not try to harvest a cashew nut yourself without personal protective equipment because there's caustic acids inside the nut that burn your skin. If you ever wonder why you should skip the cheap cashew milk and buy free trade, check out this video on what they do to women's hands. Here's a video from the peace corps for a more sustainable process.

Dinner on the playa

King rooster and his girls

Our campsite

Tonight's our last night in El Salvador, and I have loved it here. 

But I am jumping ahead of our story. Let me catch you up on how we got here and our first few days on the coast of El Salvador.

1. Rio Dulce 

On our way back to Antigua, Guatemala, for a doctor's appointment, we stopped in at Rio Dulce,  a 43-KM waterway connecting Lake Izabal to the Caribbean Sea. We stayed at a campground just off the highway and walked into town looking for a beach to beat the heat. We found a public access dock, but like many sweet waterways in the region, it was mainly used for washing clothes. So we bit the bullet and paid to go in to see the 17th century fort (Castillo San Felipe de Lara) on the water way.

To get there, you first pass through a beautiful tree-lined garden. Then, out of nowhere, you find yourself walking through a very packed graveyard. For those who haven't seen graves in this region, they're brightly coloured, concrete mini-houses or above-ground crypts. I forgot to take a photo, so click here to see the historic graveyard we passed on Alamy. Strange to pass a graveyard on your way to a resort-like tourist area.

Fun fact: The guard we met at the entrance was a Guatemalan who'd returned from 20 years in Canada working as a welder in the oilsands. He said he does the tour guide job so he can buy school books for the children in the area, but lives off his Canadian pension. 

Drawbridge

Courtyard in the castle

Ivan manning the cannon

Me holding my hat - the wind was ferocious

View from the local river access (and beside the bird shit)

The swim was a bit slimy, but the trees lining the shore were huge and gnarled and shady and it was nice to be in fresh water for once.

2. Finca El Paraiso

The next day, we hit the thermal waterfalls at Finca El Pariaso. You hike in to a local water where a waterfall from a hot spring pours into a cool, ground-fed pool. So while your back is pummeled by hot water a-la-Nordic-Spa, your legs are gloriously cool with fish nibbling the dead skin from your toes. there's even a section where you can swim through an underground hole in the rocks and surface inside a small cave. Most locals will spend the whole day there, BBQ'ing on charcoal grills and cooking eggs directly in thermal hot pools. 

Pigs enjoying the downstream waters from El Paraiso

Ivan on the path into the pools

The thermal falls!

The egg cooker is the circle of rocks in the centre of the photo

3. Antigua's Best Kept Secret - El Pilar

So I thought that after spending months in Antigua, Guatemala, we'd pretty much have seen everything there was to see. But then we were told about a hidden gem, El Pilar, a biodiversity preserve where you can see hundreds of rare bird species. 

We got up too late to miss the early birds, and - full truth - we forgot our binoculars. So not a successful mission from that perspective. Still, the place was bucolic and - on a hot day - offered the best swimming pools in town. The place is not advertised, but for birders "in the know", this place is a real mecca.

Ivan readying for the start

In the canyon

At the cerro

Many many stairs...

5. Lenten Procession in Antigua

For our last night in Guatemala, we were lucky to be able to witness one of the main Sunday Lenten processions that precede the city's famous (and crazy-busy) Semana Sentana. 

All afternoon we kept asking, like the gringos we are, "When will the procession start?". And everyone gave us the same response: "Tarde." Later. 

But slowly we noticed more and more purple-cloaked people coalescing in the square. Smoke from incense began whirling ... then Mary, Mother of God, and her son turned the corner on the big float. The tubas started, and we were on. Full on.

Two saints being carried down the streets towards the cathedral

Jesus on his cross being carried by the men in purple cloaks

Preparing the design on the streets with coloured sawdust before the procession passed

Vegetable mosaic to go under the Virgin Mary's float

Decorations at the cemetery

6. Guatemalan Church Fairs

And, since it was our last night in Guatemala, we ate at the local church, which was serving its Lenten fare. This included lentil soup and Guatemalan "enchiladas", which are pickled beets on a tostada with dried cheese, lettuce and a light dried meat topping. Spectacular.

Local abuelas and mujeres preparing our torta (grilled meat, guacamole, refried beans, magic sauce, on a toasted bun)

Eating my half a torta - had to try everything

More abuelas serving dinner

Guatemalan beet enchilada - purple for lent

7. First El Salvadorian Sunset

Our first stop in El Salvador was at a restaurant by an estuary where we ate seafood, hung in hammocks, and watched the sunset over the Pacific. I thought the best I'd see would be in Guatemala, but I was not ready for El Salvador.

Prepare yourself for the insane number of amazing sunset photos to come in this post and next...

Sunset view from the palapa at Vina de Mar

More sunset

8. $1 Dollar Dinner

Then, there's the street food. This border town had a middle aged lady cooking Pastellitos de Papa beside the highway. We got six of these packets of goodness for $1US and they were so good, we came back the next day for more! Best food in town.

Street vendor who sold us the pastilletos

Deep fried potato chicken goodness pastilletos with curtido (pickled cabbage slaw) and El Salvadorian tomato sauce

,

Shouldn't eat and drive but honestly these are sooooo good.

9. Beaches where it's just you . . . and the sand flies

Next stop was several nights in paradise. An isolated beach, only one other van. It was so isolated Ivan managed to skinny dip in the ocean in the middle of the day. On one side was the ocean, on the other an estuary that we paddled and saw hundreds of birds. Incredible. 

Our beach view

Beach for miles

Highlight of every night was the sunset

Kayaking the estuary

Palapa at sunset

We loved it. Unfortunately, so did the ants and sand flies. We could have stayed forever, but after three nights, legs aflame, we had to head inland for a reprieve.

But that's enough for one post. I'll catch you up on El Salvador as we moved inland and hit the main tourist stops.

Happy first day of spring everyone! Hope it's warming up over there and hope to see you soon.