Day 32 - San Salvador Revisited

This morning we stuck around the hotel for some breakfast before heading off to San Salvador to return the car and stay another night at the Holiday Inn. The drive from Costa del Sol was only highlighted by our stop at the gas state in which a small Toyota van must have had 25 people inside of it. We had never seen a van packed as full as this one.

In San Salvador we decided to go to the mall before returning the car. We looked around for Santa, a replacement camera for Tegan and some fever medication for Elliot, who now had a fever. We bought the medicine for Elliot and enjoyed a couple of donuts and Tegan found an elf to pose with instead of Santa. We went across the street to the other mall with a Walmart in hopes of finding a camera or Santa. The mall turned out to be more of just a Walmart with some small shops around it. There was no Santa here and no camera as well. We left the store having purchased snacks for the bus trip tomorrow and then we finally went back to our hotel.

Back at the hotel, I called the lady to return the car and she came and got it within an hour. Correen and Tegan went to get some food across the street and returned with some McDonalds. I still had some stomach woes and didn't feel much like eating and Elliot was still dealing with his fever. The kids watched some TV and then Tegan went downstairs for a swim in the pool with Mom; however, the water in the pool was too cold and they returned to the room within a few minutes. We just hung out in the room watching TV, ordered some room service and then went to bed for some rest before the bus trip tomorrow to Guatemala.

Day 27 - Suchitoto: The Gem of El Salvador

Sleep-in, Elliot did not.
Hungry, Elliot is.
Awake, I am.

So Elliot and I went downstairs for some breakfast at the restaurant. It was sort of a buffet, but Elliot only wanted cereal and I was only feeling like toast and jam. After breakfast Elliot and I went up to the room to wait out the rise of Mom and Sis. Eventually the woke up and Tegan and Elliot got into their swimsuits so they could go for a swim after Tegan and Mom had breakfast. Elliot tagged along with Mom and Tegan while I went to the business center to do some work on the blog.

After a few minutes in the pool the kids decided it was too cold for them and they were out. We all reconvened in the room before lunch and started to pack up. We had to go to the Sheraton and pickup our rental car from Budget. When we got there, not only was there nobody at the Budget counter, but there was no car either. Contacting Budget revealed how incompetent they really are. There was only 1 car in all of San Salvador and it was the one we reserved, only it was being looked at by a mechanic and wouldn't be ready until 3pm. The concierge of the hotel helped us out by hooking us up with a local lady that rents cars out.

So we ended up getting a 2007 Volvo and it was delivered to us in under an hour. We had lunch while we waited for the car to arrive. A quick signing of papers and some money paid for the rental period and we were off to enjoy our El Salvador vacation finally. We headed immediately for Suchitoto a small town that is a recommended visit. After some crazy buses and a police checkpoint we made Suchitoto. It immediately had a feel to it uniquely it's own. We parked the car and walked to the Parque Centro where a huge celebration was happen for the children. There was a ferris wheel and a carousel as well as street performers. I went in search of a hotel on foot while Correen and the kids enjoyed the festivities. I found a spot just down from the Parque and said I would be back in a few minutes with the family.

The room was basic, yet it worked for us. I asked for good restaurant nearby and was given directions. We followed the directions and they led us to a pupuseria. Correen couldn't believe this was the place recommended to us so we had to go looking for a better place to eat. We ended up walking a little over a km on our walk and ended up returning to the pupuseria. They weren't impressed when we first walked away and dealing with us ordering, what is their national dish, didn't impress them either. The reality was that I was ordering a couple of pupusas for a fussy boy, an uncomfortable wife and Tegan didn't seem to care much what she had. So thinking Correen didn't want cheese and the kids did, I ordered a frijole and a queso. Turns out Correen only wanted a cheese, Elliot didn't eat much of anything and Tegan ate the cheese pupusa with Mom. I had to eat the frijole version to save my reputation in Suchitoto. What a complicated meal. We paid out $3.50 for our meal and went back to the Parque Centro to check it out.

The festivities were still running perhaps a little subdue now that the rides had stopped and were packed away. Elliot got a plate of fries and Tegan went and played with a group of kids by the carousel. Tegan was the center of attention for a group of 5-6 girls. I think Tegan was the first girl their age to have visited Suchitoto at least it felt that way. They were interested in learning the English word for things and where she was from and how old they were. I asked for their names and one of the girls gave her Christian name that consisted of 5 or more names rolling together, the other girls stopped her and told her to say only her first name. I said my name and Mucho Gusto which made them smile.

We stopped off for an ice cream treat from the tienda and then went back to our room for bed.

Day 26 - 13 Hours of Bus Joy

Correen was none to happy about getting up at 3am to catch this bus to El Salvador. The news that it is an 11 hour bus trip didn't make her smile either. Frankly, the kids and I weren't thrilled about it, it is just one of the sacrifices that go along with traveling between Central American countries. Lucky for us we were mostly packed and ready to go. The taxi ride was only 10 minutes to the Tica bus station. Nothing much was happening when we arrived at 4am. Correen and the kids went and got some breakfast for themselves. Eventually we started making lines to drop off our bags and get the documents needed for crossing the borders. Today we would be exiting Nicaragua for a short ride through Honduras and eventually arriving at the El Salvador border later in the day.

I sat next to Elliot and Tegan sat next to Mom in the seats across the aisle. All of us slept for the first 2-3 hours on the bus. Elliot was keen to play games which he did while the rest of us still slept. We reached the Honduras border around 11am and left our passports with the Tica bus representative to process us through the border. There was an $8 each exit fee associated with this crossing too. We were able to get off the bus here, stretch our legs and grab a treat from the local vendors selling their food stuff at the border. We then had to board the bus and travel to the Honduras side, where we went through a similar process but this one included a baggage check.

Once this was completed we boarded the bus for our passage through Honduras. A few hours later we reached the El Salvador border, but this time we didn't get off the bus. Instead we waited there in the highly air conditioned bus while our documents were checked over. The a quick cross of a river to go through another document check. Then we were off... to the narcotics department down the road escorted by the police. One person was asked off the bus and he and his bags were given a work over by the dogs. Nothing was found on him, so back on the bus and bound for San Salvador. At this time it was just after 2pm and given we were 200 kms away from San Salvador we should make our 4pm'ish arrival. Or so I thought!

Also we were near starvation as there was no stop for food at the border. It was another hour before we stopped and the crazed hungry people from the bus marched into the gas station to get food from the comida inside. We grabbed some fried chicken, fries and a sandwich for Tegan and I to share. The food was far from delicious, but it did the trick.

We arrived at the first bus stop at 6pm and since it was closest to our hotel we were out of the bus, gathering our bags and hailing a cab for the ride to our hotel. The Holiday Inn was really nice and Jorge the concierge was very nice and helpful. Our room was perfect and we had a pretty good view from our 6th floor room. We decided to go across the road to a plaza that had many different restaurants and settled for some sushi. The sushi was a little different and Correen and the kids had some of the safer choices from the menu. I thought I might be able to handle some beef soba noddles but the sauce they used was too strong and I couldn't eat much of it.

After we walked down to an ice cream shop, Tegan and I shared a banana split, Elliot had a cone and Correen ran into McDonald's for an apple pie. Back to our room to watch some TV and finally sleep and look forward to a sleep-in the next morning.