Today was a day off completely in preparation for the boat ride tomorrow to Nicaragua, and boy did I need it after that hot ride yesterday! It was the hottest day yet, and hopefully now will be the hottest day for the rest of the trip. Yesterday was a bit hotter than that coming up (see forecast below). I’ll still take the heat in lieu of the rain here, because it is dangerous to ride in the rain, the logistics of getting everything on and off is tedious, and while you are wearing it all, it is hotter than this weather coming up anyway.
So today, I am just getting all caught up with work e-mails, and then getting ready for the boat ride tomorrow. It still all seems a bit sketchy to me, as there is not a lot of info online about how to do this, and the company/person I have this boat ride with, immigration out of El Salvador (which the company assures me to be there when they open at 7:00am, but a police officer told me they don’t open until 8:00), and then finally immigration at Potosi, Nicaragua.
Pictures below are just some interesting ones as I walked around town today.
I went back to that little family-area-mall and dinner spot by the waterfront for dinner tonight. I could have easily had what I had last night (for the next week too), but I figured I owed it to myself to try something different each time. With this being my last day in El Salvador, I think may have started a new tradition for my last night in each country: I looked at all the menus of the restaurants and decided to try this seafood place. I got this fresh fish right from the bay that was stuffed with peppers, onions, mushrooms, and then topped with mini-shrimp and cheese. Oh my God – that was the best meal of the trip so far! It just too bad that people have not perfected a way to record smells or taste yet, as I’d love to play that back in my mind so many times. Then, I walked it off just trying to fit in as a local would be with all the families playing basketball, or watching their kids on the carousels, even though I know I stuck out like a sore thumb. Then, a slow walk back to my hotel while gazing up at a cloudless sky, looking at some of the stars in the south that I have never seen before. It was the perfect way to end the perfect day, in an excellent journey through El Salvador. I just hope tomorrow’s boat ride and immigration process goes even somewhat acceptably well.
Overall, given limited information and any Google Streetviews, I was pleasantly surprised with my experience in El Salvador. I don’t know that I’m ready to pack up and live here, but there are places that are really nice to visit, and it is much cleaner than anywhere I’ve been to so far in Central America. I never felt unsafe once, especially with the national police everywhere. Things sure have changed here since the days of Fidel Castro’s 49-year reign.
Wow over 2,000 views of my journal now! Thanks to everyone for this. Sometimes it gets lonely on the road being solo – there are pros and cons to it I suppose, but knowing there’s a lot of people out there that enjoy living vicariously or otherwise just like my content helps me to know there are others along side of me throughout this! Also, special thanks to Cycleblaze member Bob Distelberg for the tip about the videos. They should be pretty obvious now, and I also went back and changed the link format to all the previous journal entries since the beginning that had videos on them.
My room is the first to have a giant hammock that goes diagonally in my room. I went out early this morning to find some papusas for breakfast, and when I came back, I took a little nap here
These panoramic shots never come out as good as they do by looking at them on your phone, but basically, the two big volcanoes on the very right is Nicaragua, and everything else you see is Honduras. Yes, there are a lot of mountains there! That's why I'm taking the boat ride to skip right by all of that nonsense.
At the seafood restaurant. They didn't just give me a complimentary basket of chips - this was a miniature nacho order (and probably not even that miniature)!
Best dinner of the trip so far! And the service was impeccable as well. I've always found that to be outstanding in Mexico (to the point of wanting to bring some employees down to see examples of outstanding customer service), but apparently it expends beyond Mexico. Pefect mouth-watering stuffed fish, baked potato, quesadilla-tortillas, rice, salad, nacho appetizer, and fresh-squeezed lemonade again: $17. Definitely helps to offset the ramen dinners!
