El Salvador

Thursday 28 May 2009
I intended to travel to Santa Ana from Coban. I had to change bus in Guatemala City. Then on this bus you are meant to tell the driver if you want him to drop you off in Santa Ana otherwise he'll drive straight to San Salvador which is an hour away. I know that now! So I ended up in San Salvador and there are no buses late in the evening for safety reasons. Not a good start to El Salvador for me.

Friday 29 May 2009
Finally I get to Santa Ana. The bus dropped me off outside the city centre so I walked all the way down and around and around looking for a hotel. This is in 36c heat with a backpack weighing 15kg and a bag with me laptop in. I certainly stank as the sweat poured off me. After about an hour I remembered I had wrote down a name of a hostal given to me by someone who had stayed there. I got a taxi there and it was only a couple of blocks across from where I had got off the bus. Oh well. Things did get better as it turned out to be a great place although I was beginning to find out that El Salvador isn't that well prepared for tourists.

Saturday 30 May 2009
Went to Cerro Verde by bus with Bridgit, a German girl who was staying at the same hostal. The bus was so slow it took two hours to get there. From here you can hike up to the top of Santa Ana Volcano and look down into it's crater. It wasn't that difficult a hike as it's only 2,381 metres tall and the sights were amazing. Once again we had a police escort. Are the places really that dangerous or is it just me?

Tuesday 02 June 2009
Took a bus to Chalchuapa and visited the Tazumal ruins. Not that impressive compared to others I have visited so far but I think these are some of the few that El Salvador has so shouldn't complain. Although I walked down to Casa Blanca and those weren't even excavated so you pay $3 entrance to see six small mounds.

Wednesday 03 June 2009
It was my birthday so I spent all day and the next day in a bar drinking, like I had done the previous Sunday and Monday. The beer is only $1 a bottle but this week I managed to spend six months of alcohol budget. Nevermind, I calculate that I can start drinking again just in time for Christmas.

Saturday 06 June 2009
Went to the estadio Cuscatlan to watch El Salvador v Mexico. The ground was full three hours before kick off. It was lots of fun as anyone wearing a mask for protection against the swine flu would get beer thrown at them. Also the crowd all imitate the rowing action together, it looks weird I tried recording it.

Hope you can see it alright, it's cool.
I had a problem, best described as getting what Englands Cricket team can't get - the runs. The toilets in the ground were awful and there was no water. After two and a half hours I was feeling really bad so had to leave and head for a farmacy. So after taking a detour from my travel plan so that I could watch football and spending a few hours at the ground I had to leave twenty minutes before kick off, great!