Adventures in Central America: El Tunco, El Salvador

Another early day; this time, I was outside the hostel in Copan before 5:00, and picked up around a quarter after.  Thankfully I had slept much better than Saturday night, and this shuttle was especially comfortable, and there were only three of us, so that meant lots of room.  I got to lay across three seats and nap.

Although it is not intuitive, the fastest way from Copan, Honduras to El Salvador is through Guatemala.  So we began our morning at the border crossing I had crossed two days ago.  Once again it went really smoothly, and there were no taxes from either country.

We drove in Guatemala for about 90 minutes, I think (I was dozing, so not quite sure) before we reached the border with El Salvador.  Here we got out passports stamped, but my Guatemalan stamp clearly indicates "entrada" rather than "salida" (so I now have three "entrada" stamps and one "salida" stamp), so I think the woman might not have realized what direction we were traveling.  Then in El Salvador the guards simply came to the van and talked to us.  They seemed confused, and we had lots of difficulty communicating but eventually they waved us through without stamping our passports.  Apparently this is normal--I guess I will see how it goes over at the airport on Thursday when I leave El Salvador.  In any case, for now I am somewhat pleased because, as much as I love passport stamps, I realized that two years into my ten year passport I have already filled it halfway!  It would be a shame to have to renew it before it is much closer to expiry.

We stopped in El Salvador in a town called Metapan at a chicken fast food place for breakfast.  It was a bustling place.  Here was my view sitting by the shuttle waiting for the driver:

I got a coffee and a muffin at the chicken place, then walked down the street to get a banana.  They use US dollars in El Salvador, which is kind of nice because it is familiar.

I stayed awake the rest of the way, watching the El Salvadorian countryside and cities of Santa Ana and Santa Tecla (a suburb of San Salvador) go by.

We could see the Pacific Ocean by 10:30, and arrived in El Tunco by 11:00.  I could not check in at my hotel until noon, so I sat at a cafe and ordered a banana smoothie and chicken quesadilla.

The smoothies in Central America have been wonderful, and by Canadian standards really cheap (usually +/- $2).  

I was pretty lazy for the rest of the afternoon, just relaxing in the shade, mostly, and enjoying the ocean view.  

Around 16:00, with the sun a little less intense, I donned my swim trunks and went on in.  The beach is actually quite rocky at first and not very pleasant, but after that there is lovely sand, and the water is a perfect temperature. 

After swimming I showered and changed and got up onto a patio of a bar to watch El Tunco's famous sunset.