El Salvador

I'm sitting in my hostel room in Mexico writing this.  It's raining - obviously that image of the dry hot, eternal sunshine of Mexico doesn't quite hold true.  I hear we're in for hail which is not so great because we have seriously limited cold clothing.  It could be worse I guess - we could be in extremely cold Europe right now with the same amount of cold weather clothing.  I shouldn't complain. 

So El Salvador.  We didn't spend much time there, and only made a few stops.  It was also the first country where I was fully mobile in Central America - as long as I didn't try something silly like walk up a volcano.  We basically hit San Salvador (one of the crime capitals of the world), Ruta de Las Flores (The Route of Flowers), Mark climbed another volcano and then left for Honduras.  Not too much.

I honestly wasn't expecting to be dazzled, not quite sure why.  I guess we hadn't meet many people who had been there so there wasn't that buzz created from shared conversations. Not so many tourist often results in a really underdeveloped tourist structure, ie super friendly locals who are incredibly curious, very simple hostels, transportation and attractions and very very simple local foods.   El Salvador had shades of this. 

We were in and out of San Salvador, not so safe. We decided to skip the beaches, we don't surf, and the pacific coast isn't great for sun lounging, nor do we really enjoy roasting in the sun. 

We arrived at Ruta de Las Flores and discovered we had a arrived for the towns annual saints day held on their WEEKEND FOOD MARKET.  Yep you heard me, we arrived in time for a WEEKEND FOOD MARKET!!  And it was amazing.  It's billed as an international food market, but really it's one giant bbq.  Stall after stall after stall of aromatic (I wish I could bottle it) bbq'd food of all descriptions. There was also pumpkin boiled in honey - amazing.  I gorged.  Ok I wish I did, but I filled up quick.  Fortunately while Mark climbed his volcano I went back to the market and ate seafood...  Soooo good!

We also checked out some of the surrounding towns which were - ok - with two Swedish friends, Karin and Elin, but the highlight really was that amazing food festival.

typical offerings

where to start??

pumpkin boiled in honey

Following the food orgy we headed to Honduras, which is for another blog.  If you want to see more of Mark's photo's (sans food), click the link here.  

Finally I'm contemplating a series of 'best of' blogs (best beaches, best islands etc) anyone interested?? 

Nubile Nicaragua*

We have three weeks left - ahhhh! 

Ok Nicaragua.. I've been raking my brains on what to put in this blog, and how to start it.  Hence the less than impressive opening paragraph.

After Costa we were looking forward to heading to Nica, meeting up with our friend Allen and hitting Corn Islands for Christmas and New Year.  Except...

NEVER ever cross the Costa Rica/ Nicaragua boarder just before a holiday.  It was a mess. Getting into Nica took (no exaggeration - it's Bridget writing) 5 hours of standing in the sun (it wasn't raining any more - small mercies) in a queue that snaked around the building, through the car park and into the bus station.  There were loads of Gringos who cheated and paid to jump the queue, and much resentment because of this.  As I still couldn't stand too much, and certainly not with my bag on my back, poor Mark had to line up while I watched the bags.  What a hero!

Once through immigration and into Nica it was all about getting those elbows out to get onto the bus.  Just when you thought they couldn't squeeze another body on a family off six would arrive and you'd find your nose in the elbow of someone who hasn't washed in a week and the lady next to you spits her chicken bones onto your skirt because she can't move her hands to put the bones into a bag or out the window.

Thankfully this was our worst bus experience in Central and Nicaragua picked up from that point onwards. 

Meeting Al in Granada was pretty exciting.  He came with gifts from friends, Christmas pudding, mince pies and a couple of jars of Vegemite for Mark.  We had Christmas in Granada, complete with Al's festive jumper and then flew to Corn Islands and settled into Little Corn.

Every other visit by Al has been actioned packed and very very busy.  He's either hiking with Mark, or we've put together a massive itinerary involving loads of site seeing and much drinking.  This time it was (to Mark's slight disgust) all about lazing on the beach and finding the nicest cafe on the island to drink cocktails, gorge ourselves on good food and watch the world go by.  We managed a bonfire on the beach with horrible marshmallows, got some fresh coconuts and mixed the juice with rum and tried to avoid sandflies and mozzies.  It was AMAZING!!  No hiking, no ruins or site seeing, just a whole lot of chewing the fat and relaxing. 

We said good-bye to Al and headed to Ometepe which is an island in the middle of that massive lake in Nicaragua (can't miss it on a world map).  Mark climbed a volcano and I discovered the best breakfast of Latin America - sadly on our last day.  My mission when we get home is to recreate it.

From there we went up north near Leon and we to a small coastal town to go turtle watching.  Up and down the pacific coast of Costa and Nica over the months October to January turtles come to lay their eggs and then hatch. Unfortunately we were too late in the season to watch them lay eggs, but we did manage to arrive in time to help release baby turtles after they hatched.  Quite elated we head back to our hotel room to find a bat going for a swim in our loo - our life is cool!!


So that's the boring we did this, we did that bit on Nica.  What did I think of the country and people, and food? There are some amazing gringo run restaurants.  The local's favourite meal is gallo pinto (rice and beans) it's served with every meal, and we fast developed a loathing for the stuff.  The people are friendly an there's a good mixture of tours if you want them and cheaper activities.


*This was the only acceptable aliteration.  "Nice Nicaragua"  just didn't cut it.