21/6/23
So I got up before 2am for the bus to be late. Thankfully, though, I was the final pickup, so as soon as I was on the bus, we headed off. Sadly, everyone else had claimed the good (multiple) seats, and so I was left with one while everyone else had two or three each for spreading out on. You win some, you lose some, I suppose! We crossed into Honduras uneventfully and drove through also uneventfully. I had heard some bad stories about Honduras, so I was pleased to be in and out again without drama. I got a breakfast muffin and coffee at some point, realising to late that they had an actual breakfast menu… we entered El Salvador (no stamps required) very efficiently, and then, at around 1pm, I was unceremoniously dumped at the side of the road, and the shuttle carried on to a popular beach town, and then Guatemala.
There were a few stalls where I had been left, so I asked them about a bus. They told me that there would be one in a few minutes. Sadly, the bus didn’t stop when I hailed it. I was trying to ask about the next bus to El Cuco when a family offered me a lift. The guy, who was driving, had come to pick up his wife and child from the stop and offered a lift to me, too. They had a van with a small cabin front and an open back. When I was putting my rucksack in the back, they waved me to sit with them in the cabin and waved their son to sit in the back! We chatted in Spanish along the way, and they offered to drive me all the way to my hotel before waving and driving on their way.
I chilled for a bit and finished my Netflix episode from the bus and then headed to the beach for sunset and got a shake. Afterwards, I walked down the road for dinner, dodging three barking dogs on the way back, and then I got an early night and enjoyed my private double room to myself with more Netflix!
22/6/23
Today, I got a beach front pancake breakfast before lazing by the pool with my book. Around lunchtime, I walked along the beach 5km or so to the town. There wasn’t much of a town, but there were some beachfront restaurants, so I picked one and ordered some fresh fish. It was scrummy, and I ate leisurely along with reading my book. Some stray dogs came and sat by me, so I fed them some fish bits and tortilla. I started walking hack after lunch watching the ride creep higher up the beach, but stopped in a nice resort for a fruit shake. Why not?! When I returned, two pelicans were sat in the bar area, pride of place!!
23/6/23
After my breakfast at the same place down the road as before (I had to dare myself to go back past the section with the mob of dogs, but thankfully they were calm today), I got my things and headed on my way. I was meant to be meeting Paolo, my travel bud, from Italy, who I met in Nepal just over a year ago, in a nearby city. Sadly, the bus from where I was staying to San Miguel wasn’t coming until gone 12 noon, so I decided I’d start walking in to El Cuco, 5km away to get a more frequent bus. I got about halfway before I was positively hot and fairly bothered!! A few tricks and motorbikes went passed and eventually, I found the courage to try and hitchhike. As it seems to be lately, the next van that I held my thumb up to slowed to a stop and signalled for me to put my bag in the back. Then I hopped in the front and sat next to the driver’s young son. They lived in La Union, another beach town, towards Nicaragua and were just here visiting family. We chatted the whole way until El Cuco, at which point, try as I might, I could not lift my backpack past the high rails round the back of the van. The driver kindly hauled my backpack out of the van, and off I went to wait for the bus. It wasn’t going to go for another 30 minutes, but I was glad to have saved on that time walking in the sun!!
The bus arrived in San Miguel a little after an hour later, after crawling up the hilly rural roads! I waved for the driver to let me off, and he looked confused when the one tourist didn’t want to get off in the bus station! I walked a few blocks and found Paolo’s aunt’s house. Inside, we caught up, and I met his cousin Elisa too. Then Paolo cooked pasta for us, and Elisa made fresh mango juice. After lunch, Paolo and I wandered through town seeing the sights, while Elisa went back to work. We walked through the market, saw the square, a big church, fancy theatre, and nice government building, which we were allowed special permission to go on the roof of! Of course, after our touristing, we went for coffee and cake.
The evening plan was to go to the country house, to see the one Paolo has designed for his mum as well as his aunt’s. It was pretty rural out there, with lots of fruit trees and great views of the volcano. We drank coffee and chilled after walking through the fruit trees. Then we went back (after asking a local to call a taxi for us) and had some sweet tamales at home since the local pupuseria had closed early.
24/6/23
Today was to be a day of wandering! After breakfast, we got a local bus to Berlin, named due to a German immigrant who built and founded it in 1885. To our surprise, it didn’t look much like Berlin Germany, but it had a cute town square and a nice colonial building, now a cute coffee shop. We bought some treats – ground coffee and what we thought were chocolate cookies, and then we made the most of the coffee shop. I drank a glorious coffee, and then we got the bus to Alegria, another cute hill town.
Alegria was bustling, with a big market in the square for the weekend. There were loads of stalls of nick-nacks as well as loads of food stalls. I was starving by this point, so we stopped for lunch, and I ordered a hearty plate of food. Afterwards, we wandered through the market stalls before going to a viewpoint from the town, overlooking the countryside below. We walked back up to the town and then went to a cafe where we were meeting Paolo’s ex colleague and now friend and his partner. The meeting was rather a challenge for me since everyone was speaking Spanish, and only Paolo spoke slow enough that I could try to follow relatively easily. We chatted a while before walking to a place recommended by Paolo’s friend. It was picture perfect there with views of a river, volcanoes and many a green field. We had drinks, I had a margarita and chatted as the sun setted. Then we left and got pupusas in a pupuseria before we were kindly dropped home by Paolo’s friends.
wanderingwelshie2 travels 