Nov 8, 2012 - San Salvador- El Salvador

El Salvador A fleeting visit. A relatively short 6 hr bus ride to San Salvador but we would have happily ridden the Pullman tour coach all day and all night. More mod cons, comfort and free food! Than Ryanair and easy jet put together. Comfy first class reclining seats and movies in englis with headphones. So we were a bit too relaxed and squishy round the edges to hit San Salvador. A major city, hotas you like and at least 7 people taking to you at any one time.  Taxis were advisable everywhere. We ventured to ' centre historico' but it...

May 30, 2011 - They had problems with their father's law. They sleep in the back

And the leaves that are green turn to brown, And they wither with the wind, And they crumble in your hand. This is the way I always dreamed it would be The way that it is, oh oh When you are holding me I never had a love of my own Maybe that's why when we're all alone I can hear music I can hear music The sound of the city baby seems to disappear I can hear music Sweet sweet music Whenever you touch me baby Whenever you're near Lovin' you It keeps me satisfied And I can't explain, oh no The way I'm feeling inside You look at me we kiss and...

May 26, 2011 - pardon my backfire!

I noticed on the home page of yahoo.com.au that tonight for you guys the temp is to be 5C...you lucky lucky bastards! What a great time of year....here it is 26C but humidity makes it seem like 28C though at night it will drop to 21C. We are 958metres above sea level...the rainy season should have begun already ...when it hits it is like north Queensland~~tropical......i tried a local bus today..those old US school buses have all been shipped to latin america...it was almost 3 feet up to the first step and you hop off the back....cost...

May 25, 2011 - all these towns look the same to me the movies and the factories

or should that be the shopping malls and the shanty towns...here in San Salvador...it seems you can have 250 shop malls and another smaller one 60-70 shops next door to one another with an 8 cinepolis cinema ...El Salvador is $USD 150 a week....but a third of the population lives well below that..in poverty....a monument reads "the greatest gift a man can have is a the right to a free vote..." while nearby down the median strip of a major thoroughfare is a pop art installation of 6 huge coke bottles painted in garish colours...the current...

Feb 9, 2011 - El Salvador

The 5th Feb we went on an epic trip from Antigua to Guatemala City, then on to San Salvador. We had more issues with our hop on hop off bus pass as they told us incorrect pick up times twice so we wasted our last morning in Antigua. When we got to Guatemala City we were taken to a bus station that had two heavily armed guards to protect the passengers and bus - crazy. We arrived in San Salvador after dark so squashed ourselves into a taxi with another 3 backpackers and found a hotel. We decided not to spend the next couple of nights in the...

Jul 2, 2010 - Tour of Mayan Ruins

Our tour host Rodrigo met us smack on time at 8.30 when he introduced us to our English speaking guide for the day, named Moises. Our first destination was Joya de Ceren, which was named as a World Heritage site in 1993. Whilst excavating to build some more corn silos on a site, the workers came across some buildings underneath the soil. At first because of the style and condition of the ruins, it was thought they were only 50 years old. A US expert was called in and took samples back to the US where he had them tested and he could confirm...

Mar 29, 2010 - San Salvador

Before leaving Playa El Tunca got in a bit more body surf action...who knows when next! To San Salvador, very excellent connections via bus Directo w/ AC, 10am trip on bus thru mtns. On way to the beach the day before we saw quite a bit of furniture for sale along the road - chairs w/ caning -, basketry, and woven bags, products I am guessing are manufactured/made by locals living in mtns. We see more of the same today. 11:30am ck in at Hotel Pasadena II, room #5 again, ha! Go to Volcano Boqueron (Big Mouth) w/ second cone inside crater...

Mar 24, 2010 - San Salvador, El Salvador Via Santa Rosa de Copan & Nueva Oc .. & El Poy

Bus out of Gracias. They tried to get us on an "Executive" bus with AC, windows darkened w/ curtains etc but we finally convinced them we wanted a chicken bus so we could see the countryside. It left 9:45 arr Santa Rosa de Copàn 11am where we picked up another immed to Nueva Ocotepeque, then a short colectivo ride to the border crossing by 1:30. No stamp, just pass on thru after guard cks passports in their computer. El Salvador uses US dollar as its currency!! Really weird. The mtns we pass thru are quite spectacular (tho no where close to...

Jan 24, 2010 - El Salvador – The Finale

News flash! We have just been informed that as an official member of the Soady family the new Mrs. Soady will be henceforth known as Cris, her middle name, rather than her first name Edy, which we have through out this journal. Wednesday, January 13 after breakfast we bid Vladimir adieu and headed west to see three Mayan ruins, the two we missed on Monday plus another that David found on his map. He was determined to show us as many points of interest as time would allow, even after such an important event as their wedding. All three sites...

Jan 23, 2010 - El Salvador – Part II

Monday, January 11 was transfer day to the small town of Suchitoto, site of Tuesday’s wedding. But first David, Edy, Lynda and I went into the center of Cojutepeque for a traditional Salvadorian breakfast at an open-air café; eggs, chorizos (small local sausages), red beans and rice. Then there were sights to see and people to meet before going to Suchitoto about 30 miles to the north. David and Edy were anxious to show us as much of El Salvador as possible in the available time. If David had not been on crutches we would probably have been...

Jan 21, 2010 - El Salvador-Part I

We were up early on Saturday January 9 for our flight to El Salvador. Rick dropped us off at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport a little after 7AM for the 10AM flight. We didn’t know what to expect getting through security after the recent events on the Delta/Northwest flights into Detroit so we wanted to allow plenty of time before the scheduled departure. Besides we planned to buy Interline tickets (known as ZED) on Continental as a backup, for our return from El Salvador to Phoenix, in case there were no standby seats on Delta back to Atlanta...

Jan 20, 2010 - Joya de Cere'n

For those of you have been following our Central American trip we are changing the name to The Route of the Maya. We are doing this to include some our new friends we have met on the tour. Our tour started on the 19th, or that is to say that is when we all arrived at the hotel for our first night of rest. In actuality it was Wednesday the 20th for breakfast and a meeting before boarding our bus. After introductions and some general guidelines we were on our way. First we had a quick tour of San Salvador - a city of two million people that...