Driving in El Salvador

The last time traffic at the El Salvador del Mundo roundabout was light ... about 50 years ago.

I have been driving in El Salvador now for about four years and, knock on wood, no accidents yet. Some important pointers - make sure you have insurance with roadside assistance. If you do have an accident, be cautious of where you are and what time it is. If someone runs into you from behind, you may want to stay in your car and signal them to follow you to a place where there are lights and guards - a police station is ideal or otherwise a gas station or other business establishment with lots of light and traffic. On the other hand, it may be important to have the insurance guys look at the accident in situ but only do that during the day when there are lots of cars around.

Situational awareness is very important. Driving at night, stopping at a traffic light, keep a watch around your car. If someone comes up to you, don’t hesitate to drive away. The cops are pretty lenient about running reds at night. Windows up and doors locked in any dodgy areas.

You are pretty safe in most of El Salvador except for at night in certain bad areas such as Apopa, Soyapango, and maybe El Centro. Don’t go into these areas unless you have to and try not to go at night. The main thoroughfares usually have cops but avoid getting deep into these areas.

A GPS is a good idea - see http://www.elsalvadorgps.com/ES/index.html. You may want to buy a cheap Garmin Nuvi in the U.S. or Canada and then have Ben Quan put the El Salvador and Guatemala maps onto it (either directly or he can put it onto an SD chip). I think he charges $150 for the map program. The GPS is pretty good although when making a long trip, try to confirm the route with a map. On a recent post, I mentioned that we had it set on “shortest distance” and it took us through the mountains.

Driving in San Salvador may appear crazy to you (unless you are from Boston) but you’ll get used to it. In round-abouts, drivers in the left lane may try to cut right and drivers in the right lane routinely cut left. Expect the unexpected and a signal (or lack thereof) means nothing. Some of the crazier things I’ve seen is someone backing down the middle of a two lane highway because she missed her turn off to Sonsonate. There were two full lanes and a shoulder but she drove backwards between the two lanes. When I honked at her, she acted surprised.

Also, on the turn off to Santa Elena beside Multiplaza, there is a exit lane on the left. Cars will routinely drive along the adjacent lane and then cut in at the end. This is normal. What is bizarre is that cars will drive two lanes to the right and then cut in on the people trying to cut in.

Another good rule is that you have to drive aggressively in San Salvador to get anywhere but you should always drive cautiously in the countryside to avoid accidents. I saw two nasty ones on two consecutive trips out to the golf course. The first one was on the new highway that goes from the road up from Lourdes/Santa Ana to Santa Tecla. They have opened a ramp going out to the roundabout in Merliot so you can take the great, empty 3 lane highway into the city. I was driving in with a friend when I saw a small white van in the middle of the road. We get out and the driver said that he was driving along when two racing cars cut in front of him. He hit the breaks and spun but then hit a dark speed bump (watch for those at the end of the road) and tipped over. We tried to lift the van up but couldn’t. Another driver stopped and the four of us managed to get it right side up ... and the driver started it and drove away.

The next night, we were driving down the hill from Santa Tecla towards Lourdes. About half a mile down as it was getting really twisty, the brakes on the truck seem to fail. They were locking up and the truck was sliding. Then we turned a corner and saw two people beside a dropped motorcycle waving at us. We pulled over and realized that the entire two lanes were covered in some kind of oil - we suspected used cooking oil being transported for recycling. We were on a bad spot on the road so we moved the bike and the people down the hill a ways. The truck was almost rammed by an oil tanker but he was able to slow down and get his truck under control. We ended up loading the bike into the truck bed and driving the couple back up to Santa Tecla to an ISS hospital. The driver seemed okay but his wife had taken some bad scrapes and started crying in the car, probably from the shock and the pain. On the way there, we first had to go down the hill (to the U-turn area) and two SUVs were approaching us, driving too fast. One slowed down and locked his wheels and the other almost rammed into him. We called the cops to report it but by the time we dropped the couple off and made it back to the spot, there were no cops and, luckily, no other accidents. Then we saw some cop cars with sirens on heading to the spot.

This brings up another point. Should you stop to assist accident victims? It depends on where and when. If it is at night, you should be careful because someone may rob you and steal your car. My friend is an armed ex-cop so he always stops. People will also fake accidents to get people to stop although I don’t think this is that common anymore.

I have received two tickets in my four years of driving. The first time, I was heading to the airport doing about 110 kms/hr. I was following a fast motorcycle and watching for radar traps. I slowed down after cresting a hill but he blew past the box factory and a cop jumped out and flagged me down. He said that I was driving way too fast (that spot had a 60 km limit) and my infraction was very serious. He asked me if it was okay for him to give me a $50 ticket. I didn’t realize he was asking if I wanted to make a discounted payment on the spot so I said I guess it was okay for him to give me the ticket. Still, in hindsight, I’d rather pay the ticket than to bribe a cop.

The second ticket I got was for crossing a double yellow line. Escalon has a double yellow line running up it and hundreds of cars cross that every hour. In my case, I was with my parents and we were lost and I crossed a three lane road and a cop was right there and chased me down. I said that I didn’t see any signs saying no left turns and he said that you can never cross a double yellow line. I think that I deserved that ticket and I realized that you can get away with a shit-load of bad, stupid, inconsiderate driving but not when what you do is dangerous - and crossing three lanes of heavy traffic was pretty stupid.

If this is freaking you out, try to restrict your driving to Saturday afternoons or all day Sunday. Very little traffic and a nice way to see the city!

More of what’s been going on.

Casa Garufina at Playa Azul

I watched a CBS Sunday Morning feature on the Blogisphere and they mentioned that the vast majority of blogs get dropped after a short period … and felt rather guilty about neglecting my little site. So here I am!

El Salvador has been pretty calm lately. The rainy season has started but it hasn’t been too bad. Enough rain to get the fields green but not so much that there is ground saturation and potential flooding. The Veraneras golf course is still in great shape and we may have good conditions through July (before it gets too wet and muddy to get a cart through).

I had 16 people come and visit (in 4 groups) and it was great to see my friends but a bit tiring – especially with some GI issues and the fact that 3 groups overlapped over the course of about a month. Will have to plan breaks next time.

Some of my friends have really fallen in love with El Salvador and we are looking at a way for them to work remotely from here for a month or two each winter. With great internet connections, very cheap calls to Canada, Skype and instant messaging, and decent (albeit expensive) courier service, it would be very easy to work from here if your type of job allows for it.

It was great to host people in our condo and do day trips to the beach for surfing, or golfing, or excursions like zip-lining or up to the coffee plantations. Also eating out can be very reasonable as well as hitting some nice bars and lounges.

And since most people flew down on Taca (which allows 2 x 50 lb bags), I was able to put in orders for lots of stuff to be brought down. Oh, I also packed 3 suitcases full of stuff from Ikea and donations of clothing which I left with friends to bring down.

Our first look at the beach house.

Another group came down and rented a fantastic beach house. Probably one of the nicest ones in the entire country. 6 bedrooms all with en suite washrooms, incredible outdoor deck, lovely staff, all the coconuts you could drink, and an amazing beach. The place is called Casa Garifuna and it is on Playa Azul just west of Acajutla on the coastal road heading to Guatemala.

They have a great beach that is close to the one used by the Decameron Resort so there are quite a few Canadians around during the winter as well as cops on ATVs going up and down watching out for tourists. There is a fishing camp nearby and lots of boats going in and out right in front of the beach house. We helped them carry their boat in one time – there were ten of them and my friend and I lended a hand and I almost put my back out with the incredible weight of the boat! But we were able to buy very fresh red snappers from them which we grilled on our charcoal bbq and it was delicious.

Fresh red snapper, grilled on charcoal

Their trip was great … except 7 out of 9 of them came down with severe stomach issues. I am not sure if it was something they brought down with them or if it was food poisoning but it was spreading from person to person. I tried to be very careful about the washing of fruits and vegetables but they still got very sick. I felt terrible about this especially since they were unable to do many of the things they had planned.

We also had an adventure … that bordered on the incredible/terrifying. We left the beach house in two vehicles (my Honda Pilot and a rented Jeep) with two GPS devices. We programmed in Tacuba where we were going to meet up with Manolo of Impossible Tours for a hike through Parque Impossible to the waterfalls. BTW, if you have Paige’s guide book “El Salvador, A Great Destination”, the telephone number for Manolo (and his parent’s cool hostel) is incorrect. The number in the book is of a competitor that may inform you that Manolo’s business is closed – the correct number is 2417-4268.

We speak to Manolo and agree that it will take us about 80 minutes to get there … and then we follow the GPS. We made two major mistakes on this trip. First, we had the GPS set to shortest route rather than fastest, and we embarked on our trip without cross checking the GPS route with a map. So as we hit the main road, we turned left instead of right. On the right was a perfectly paved road that would allow us to blast up to Jujutla, Ataco, Ahuachapan and then Tacuba. On the left was a road that was paved … and then went to dirt … and then back to pave. It looked like a plausible road to us until it went to dirt and cobblestones and then we hit the hills. Very steep with switchbacks and giant boulders and climbing over stones and under fallen trees. All other cars and buses disappeared and we were out there with some farmers, passed horses, passed a pig washing station (a guy with a hose spraying down two big hos), and passed a lot of people with surprised expressions on their faces.

Nearing the end of our drive through the mountain jungle.

For the longest time, we thought that we would hit the main road again and be on our way. Monolo kept calling us asking where we were and how far away. Finally he had to let the tour go (there were two impatient Germans waiting for us to arrive) and we agreed to do something else once we got to his place.

Manolo guiding us down to the hot springs - all the therapuetic mud you want!

So up and down mountains, squeezing between rocks, driving past precipices, hoping that we would hit civilization before we came to a dead end. We should have turned back but we didn’t and kept driving for about an hour until finally we hit a road, saw some other cars, then houses and then a town! We broke through the countryside at Ataco and finally made it to Tacuba. Manolo was very cool about us being late and asked why we were so late. We showed him the route and he was incredulous. He said that they sometimes take dirt bikes through there but never trucks. I would have taken some pictures if I wasn't so busy trying to keep us alive. So instead of hiking through Parque Impossible, we drove through it.

Manolo showing us coffee plants.

We decompressed with some beers and then Manolo organized a trip to the nearby hotsprings and coffee plantation. The hotsprings feed some giant pools and they also use the steam and geothermic energy to process the coffee. It was off season so we just walked through seeing some early buds and some people doing some weeding. We drove to Ahuachapan to see where the coffee was being roasted and processed. Very high quality organic beans with three sorting systems (mechanical, computer and then by hand). We bought several pounds of it to take home.

Green coffee beans being sorted for the European market.

Okay, that’s enough for now … will try to post again soon.

Explorer's Guides - El Salvador: A Great Destination

My friend Paige has published her new book "El Salvador: A Great Destination", available at Chapters.ca or Amazon. Ideal for anyone who wants to visit El Salvador.

Now who would want to visit El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America? Aren't there more interesting countries like Argentina, Chile, and Brazil? How about Columbia which is ascending, or Cuba, Guatemala or Costa Rica?

El Salvador has bits of those places but is very unique as well. It is not an established tourism destination so the people are still very friendly and interested in meeting foreigners. And that is a refreshing difference from being given a fake smile as they calculate how much they are going to rip you off for. The food is unique and interesting - lots of seafood, lots of fresh vegetables, and lots of strange but tasty fruit.

The beaches are gorgeous and often empty. Waves are great for trying out surfing. The roads are the best in the region and you can zip from one place to another at full speed.

The city is big and modern and has hundreds of options for going out, eating, clubbing, shopping, art & culture. With some common sense precautions, it is also as safe as Toronto. It is also a very inexpensive place to stay and for recreation. A bottle of Absolut vodka and mixes in a vip lounge will be about $50. Good hospitals and medical care. Get your teeth cleaned by a real dentist for $25. Want a keratin hair straightener? $500 in Toronto, $120 in San Salvador.

The weather from November to April is fantastic (and much better than Cuba in December and January) with lots of sunshine and little to no rain.

Paige's book includes some great details about the history of this small country and the successes they have had in building a peaceful and more egalitarian society. She also includes lots of details on culture and interesting places to visit.

Lastly, she includes solid information on how to stay safe and where to watch out.

Paige is a very experienced traveller. She is also smart, observant and an excellent writer. Her personal observations fill the book and you woud do well to follow her opinions.

I have been fortunate to have had a bunch of friends visit from Canada. Every one of them wants to come back and I hope to build beach houses for them all.

Direct flights from Toronto, Montreal, L.A., Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and D.C. Connecting flights through hubs in those cities.

Come and visit!

What's been going on

Me and the Brahva beer girl at the market

Wow, this is the first entry in about 5 months. I wonder if people are still reading this. I know that I get ticked when I am following a blogger who never blogs.

So I haven’t posted much on El Salvador ... because I have been mostly stuck in Toronto for that time period.

I was in San Salvador for a few weeks but am now in Toronto for a few more months.

We entered the dry season but we were still getting the occasional rain. No surprise since this has been a very, very wet rainy season.

It has been a bit of a crazy summer with the gangs escalating the bus ransom violence. That was in reaction to new legislation going after the gangs and it seems that they have backed down a bit. Mauricio Funes, once thought to be a communist stooge to his party and the scourge of good capitalists everywhere, has been doing a good job, especially considering the poor global economy. His popularity ratings are extremely high and everyone seems to like him, even grumpy Americans. It is actually quite amazing, really, that he has done such a good job considering he has little money to work with. How did he do that? Mammoth IMF loans? His party is stealing less than the last one which means more money for actual programs? Better management? Who knows but I am hoping for the latter two.

Other news? My buddy left his job as manager of Nvy (night club) so I guess I won’t be going there very much anymore. I was introduced to the new guy (who probably won’t remember me) and the doorman likes saying no to me (even though I have given him a bunch of good Cuban cigars). The Cuban restaurant Tumbao has closed and a new lounge/tapas bar called Likwid has opened at Multiplaza. As I am not young, beautiful or rich, I wasn’t invited to the opening so I cannot give you a report.

Dan set a nice table for Thanksgiving dinner

We went out to Playa Dorado to celebrate American Thanksgiving. This made it three turkeys for me this year. Went well except a had a gas oven minor explosion at home when I was toasting the croutons and another one at the beach house when the gas went out unexpectedly and then relit as I was checking on the baking stuff.

A beer canned toikey

We cooked a beer can turkey on the gas bbq, mushroom and sausage stuffing, beer and cheddar corn pie, candied carrots, roast brussels sprouts, and a lovely can of cranberry jelly.

We had 3 Salvadorans, 2 Cubans, 1 Canadian, and an American!

Waiting patiently for drinks at Remala.

My friend Minh moved his great Vietnamese/Thai restaurant from way above Escalon down to the Zona Rosa. He is just down from Alo Nuestro and Republic in a great new property. He is also across the street from Remala which is this great lounge housed in a gorgeous huge mansion on a large property. Hmmm, how the wealthy live behind big stone walls. Remala is owned by a French dude who inherited the property from his mere. Nice bar, great couches and some very groovy house/chill music (although better on the nights with a DJ). The cocktail list is pretty good and the drinks may actually taste good when the bartenders learn how to make all of them properly. I had a good apple martini and then a complete joke of a Manhattan (whiskey and vermouth poured over crushed ice in a martini glass) but they came back strong with the chocolate martin. A buddy asked for a Daiquiri and was expecting a lime based drink but they gave him a strawberry one as a surprise. We also went with our friend Claudia who was visiting town to check on her NGO http://www.treeswaterpeople.org/.

Beer and free (loud) accordian music

Took Claudia to my favourite lunch spot at the Mercado Merliot where we got trapped by a 5 piece band. I ordered the sopa de patas but Claudia is so gringa'ized that she couldn't stomach the thought of eating tripe.

The girls bumpin' at 4

The economy in general seems to be improving. Remittances are up from last year. The empty businesses in the Zona Rosa are starting to fill in. Mario's is back at the Code nightclub building - they specialize in 80's music and it is a lot of fun. The King Crab restaurant closed (who on earth thought they could serve small portions of freezer burned crab and charge $20 ... ate their once and that was enough) and they opened up a club (called "4") and a British Pub called the Red Lion.

Smoking a stogie at the Red Lion ... great music - Thompson Twins,

Culture Club, Human League, Simple Minds

The Pub ... is decorated nicely and I did have a bottle of Bass Ale but nothing on tap. They play only British music which is a nice change from frickin' reggaeton.

Frank with a bottle of the good stuff.

Frank the bartender is recently here from LA and speaks perfect English. Then we went next door to "4" which has the same owner. There was a private party downstairs so we went to the upstairs karaoke lounge. Pretty cool place, especially since no one was singing, with a nice decor and a drum set and guitars on the karaoke stage - I guess if you want to do more than sing. The V-Jay was taking requests and the girls got up to bump to Beyonce. I was smoking a big cigar which prompted the bartenders to turn on a giant fan built into the wall beside the bar ... I got the signal and left soon after. I think I saw them serve a beer to a kid who looked to be about 14.

Dan blasting out of the rough on the par 5 7th hole at the empty Veraneras course

The Veraneras golf course seemed to have survived the rainy season quite well. They added some drainage channels that helped with the heavy rains. One thing they don’t have is ... golfers! They seem to have reacted to this by raising their prices but I am doubtful that this strategy is going to work. On the helpful side, they have reduced the prices of their drinks and they let me suspend my membership while I was stuck in Canada. I was out golfing with my buddy Dan last Sunday and there were only two golfers in front of us and two behind us ... that is a total of 6 golfers for the entire day. The Canadian tourists coming down on Nolitours and staying at the Royal Decameron aren’t coming soon enough! We like having the course to our selves but don’t want the place going bankrupt.

I heard that a new new course is being built in the Libertad area by the guys who built the nice course in neighbouring Antigua, Guatemala (La Reunion Course?). They are going to charge $25,000 to join but that will be waived if you buy property in the club. I hear they are going after the wealthy Arab/Salvadoran market that is currently being shut out of the Campestre course (which is only 9 holes and costs $50,000 to join). This is a shock to me since there are already 4 courses in San Salvador and apparently only about 400 golfers. Plus another course or two are being planned. So either people really like owning golf courses (even if they are losing a ton of money) or they think they can grow the number of golfers (like has happened in North America) ... but good luck doing that since there are so few pros in the country and the courses don’t seem to like having middle class people showing up.

So far, I have a group of 9 coming down to visit me and a lot of people who came last year want to come again. I have been looking on the Internet for some rental properties and there are quite a few in the popular Costa del Sol area. They run from about $100 to $200 per night - the higher range includes places with 4-5 bedrooms, usually sleep over a dozen, a/c, a pool, and on the ocean.

Ooh, I can see the ocean from here

We did find one beautiful place out at Costa Azul (which is in the far west of the country, between Acajutla and Barra de Santiago, accessed along the coastal road that goes to the Guatemalan border). Very unique in that all the walls, floors, siding and terrace are all wood. The living room and dining room are completely open with just a big roof covering the whole area. It has been decorated very well by someone who had both taste and money (a happy convergence). All wood paneling and floors and a kick ass wooden deck. More than twice the price of anything else I have seen but may be worth it.

I think I am going to base my first beach house on this design. I want to have the property abutting the beach end of the property with a big deck and an infinity pool on the end. I think I’ll want to enclose the living area but maybe two garage doors (3 cars wide) can be put on the end so you can just open up the wall facing the ocean.

I have not had any luck finding a reliable contractor and I’ll think I’ll stop looking. I’ll hire an architect/engineer to do the plans, then my friend Dan (who has been a GC before) can do the construction planning, and I’ll get my brother-in-law (who is a civil engineer) to be the site manager. I’ve got the land picked out already ... just need to get some money!

The Emerald is ready for guests

A woman from Canada has just finished her property and is ready to rent it out. On Playa Dorado in front of a decent surf beach break, it has 5 bedrooms and the biggest pool I’ve seen on the coast.

Another interesting bit of law and order in San Salvador. The city centre (El Centro), where the National Theatre and some of the big cathedrals are located, has become more and more dangerous over the years. The streets have also become choked with sidewalk vendors who have built wooden kiosks on most of the major streets. They sell everything from fruits and vegetables to shoes and clothes to kitchen goods, cell phones, bootleg DVDs (including porn), and also drugs.

The nuisance is that you’ll have a three lane road that is effectively shrunk down to 1 ½ because of businesses on either side. This is despite the fact that there are numerous large (and often half vacant) purpose built indoor markets where people can set up their kiosks and be protected from the elements and be able to secure the goods overnight. Also, the street markets harbour a greater criminal element and contributes to a general lack of police supervision and control.

I have heard that the license fee on the street is about 50 cents a day while it is about $1.50 inside. So why don’t they all move into these nicer buildings? I have heard that there is more traffic outside so the vendors prefer to be there. I have also heard that the maras (gangs) control and extort from the people outside and have made sure that the vendors challenge the government when they talk about cleaning up the streets.

But the mayor of San Salvador, Quijano, decided to go in with a huge force of riot cops who started cleaning up the area street by street. They encountered some resistance in the form of rocks and fire barricades but they were able to reclaim the area. I just hope it lasts. I have been in the market a few times but generally with a Salvadoran friend. We park the car (in a very modern and guarded parking lot with a ticket machine and cashier), then walk very fast through the streets to one of the markets, we buy what we came for (usually polo shirts), and then walk out fast. No loitering, no eye contact, and nothing valuable on us. I have also been to the National Theatre to see Fatima dance but there was no security problem with that so it isn’t all bad. It will be nice to go there more often - I hear that there is a good market that sells artisanal souvenirs.

Okay, I am going to post this before I delay any longer. Cheers all.

Back to Antigua

Fatima and MJ walking in Parque Central

Wow, it has been months since I wrote on this blog. Sorry for the delay but after our visitors came, I was in Havana and then my laptop died on me. More on that later.

First, let me finish off the narrative on Guatemala. Deb came over to visit after spending a week in Quito where her son, Noel, is doing a Masters on renewable energy. This was Deb’s second visit to El Salvador and she wanted to check out Antigua. I had mentioned it to Dan and he said he’d like to come as well.

Road munchies

Since there were long road delays due to construction on the Santa Ana route, we decided to do the coastal route there and back. This is a faster and nicer drive although it is longer and you don’t get to drive through Guatemala City (although you miss that traffic as well). Immigration this time made all of us get out leaving El Salvador and entering Guatemala (and the same again on the route home). That border crossing is at sea level and it was very hot and humid so it was nice to get back into the air conditioned SUV.

Dan, Deb and I in the Hotel Antigua courtyard

I was able to make reservations at the Hotel Aurora http://www.hotelauroraantigua.com/ and realized that my recall of the place was correct and it is much nicer than most other places in Antigua. Even more remarkably, it is one of the cheapest places as well. It has a great location and one of the best courtyard flower gardens ... and parking as well. The girls got a room with three beds (one being a Queen) and Dan got the adjacent room with a nice King.

Breakfast is tasty and included

We let the girls roam around the city and Dan and I took off with Michael to the golf course on the nearby volcano. Michael wrote about it at http://www.examiner.com/x-22480-Central-American-Travel-Examiner~y2009m9d11-Nine-holes-of-bliss

Clouds rolling in

We park the car beside the only car there and a caddy comes up to us with some kids. They have to call around for a third caddy for our group. I look around and there is no proshop, no change room, no desk, and no cashier. Hmm, pretty basic. We trudge over to the first hole and the three of us promptly lose about 7 balls off the tee box. The course is very hilly (no kidding, being on the side of a volcano) and narrow with blind shots. A lot like Campestre in San Salvador (the club that costs $50K to join and may or may not admit Koreans as members). We play skins and pretty soon I have won most of the holes but then a cloud rolls in and it starts to rain. One of the drawbacks of playing at altitude. We knock off after 9 holes because of the cold rain and because it is hard to see through a cloud. Not a great course but for $10 for the round and $5 for the caddy, it wasn’t a bad place to hack at balls.

What the ladies did while we were golfing

The course has no bar or shop so good thing I brought some beer to go with the cigars. We head back into town, over a long dirt road, and by the time we hit the bottom of the volcano, it is sunny and warm again. We park the car, find the girls and make plans for the evening.

Michael and I at Hector's

We wanted to eat at Hectors so Michael called and went by to make sure they would hold a table for us. Hectors is a tiny little bistro-ish place right across the street from the big yellow Merced Cathedral. No sign but I think it is number 9 and the do put out a chalk board. I had been by there and met Hector and the girls, including an Aussie waitress who was Hector’s girlfriend. They all seemed very friendly and I was looking forward to going back for a nice cozy dinner with lots of wine. We are all heading over in 3 different groups and we ended up getting there half an hour before our reservation. I see the Aussie girl and say that we have a reservation and she says "We don’t take reservations" and I try to explain that we are with Michael but she interrupts me to say "We don’t take reservations" and I try to say that Michael is Hector’s friend and had come by half an hour earlier and she interrupts me to say "We don’t take reservations." Wow, what a shitty waitress. It didn’t matter since the restaurant has 6 tables and only one was taken! We get that table for six of us and order some drinks and wait for everyone else.

This kind of service is typical in Latin America and I was surprised to see it from a foreigner. Her job was too provide service and to enhance our dining experience, not to enforce the little rules established by the business. In many cases, all you get are people who think their job is follow rules and not to help people. Recently, I wired some money to my Citibank account here. They called us saying the funds had arrived and Fatima had to go fill out a form stating what the origin of the funds were. They said the funds would be available the next day ... then they said the next day ... then the next day. I finally went in with her and didn’t like what I saw. There were about 6 customer service desks and I counted 9 people in the area and they were helping two people. We had to wait 10 minutes until someone finally finished their paperwork and was ready to serve a customer. We spoke to the woman that Fatima had spoken to the day before and she said they lost the form and Fatima would have to fill out another one and wait another day. I got upset and asked to speak to the manager who ended up being a nice, older woman. We explained the problem and she asked where Fatima had filled out the first form and she told her at the main branch and she started to say it was their fault the form was lost and I told her that I didn’t care who screwed up, she represented her bank and she had to solve the problem. They had my money for 4 days and I wanted it in my account and I wanted her to waive the service fee. She told us there was no way she could waive the service fee and I asked her how the manager of a bank couldn’t waive a fee and she said that was the way it was. She called in the customer service agent (who had told us the funds would be available the next day without checking to see what the problem was i.e. missing form) but she insisted it wasn’t her that had spoken to Fatima the day before. Anyways, we filled out the form again, she made some calls and promised the funds would be in our account in 45 minutes. It turned out to be only 15 minutes so we were happy about that. What was the problem? Who knows. Maybe these people aren’t paid enough for them to care, maybe their training isn’t very good, maybe people have such low expectations of the level of service.

Turns out that the restaurant is just okay. It got too crowded, the food was pretty average, it got really hot, and unfortunately that Aussie girl stayed on as our waitress. Fatima had the beef and it was tough and of mid-level quality. I had the duck and it was tough as well and no where near as good as the food at Nicolas (but to be fair, it was a lot cheaper). The only thing that I like were the sweat potato fries ... and they were fantastic! I would go back for those. Dan picked up the tab which was lucky for that girl because I probably would have left a shitty tip for the shitty attitude ... reminds me of that saying about who most dislikes Aussie women ... and the answer is Aussie men.

Afterwards, we went to the street with the arch (sorry for the bad directions but if you go there, you will know what I am talking about) and the place was hopping. Clubs and bars were open and lots of people on the street. We ended up at a new place that had just opened up across from the Casbah. We got a nice outside table and were able to smoke cigars (which you can’t inside bars or restaurants). The girls went dancing across the street and we hung out and drank rum. I met an American guy who owns 3-4 hotels and his Canadian buddy as well as the Welsh owner of the bar. All very nice people whom we got to meet because we knew Michael and he was a local now.

Next morning, Dan wanted to take a horse and carriage tour of the city and we did so with MJ translating the very brief descriptions from the driver. He seemed to know names but no dates and no history of anything. Still, it was a nice hour drive in and around the town and I saw a lot of incredible ruins that I didn’t know existed. We made it back to the hotel and drove over to a Korean restaurant for lunch before hitting the road (food was okay but not great).

New (for me) ruins

We shopped around a bit for some artwork and found the prices to be about 10 times the price of Cuba ... with comparable quality. One guy did nice paintings of Antigua landmarks with peasants in their brightly coloured garb but he couldn’t do faces so all the paintings (maybe 5 of them) only showed them from the back ... and they wanted $600 for one of these! Hah, that is a lot of money for a guy who can’t paint faces.

Nice ride!

Drive back was uneventful and quick and Deb’s week went by very quickly and before we knew it, she was gone and that was the end of our winter visitors for the year.

So thank you for all the visits, for bringing down stuff, for bringing clothing donations, and I hope to see you next year.

A quick update of other happenings ... rainy season has started with a vengeance. Tropical Storm Agatha dropped some heavy rains on us. El Salvador saw 10 to 20 inches of rain over three days and some areas got hit by 30 inches! It rained and rained and rained and rained. Luckily, this was at the very beginning of the rainy and hurricane season so the ground was plenty dry and was able to soak up a lot of this rain without causing too much trouble. We just want to avoid another heavy soaking right away. We did have three days of sun and it was great to see some blue sky again. Roads have gotten bad as it does every rainy season as the rains erode the roads and create big pot holes. My friend has had three flat tires this week and I had one driving over a giant 6" bent piece of metal that drove itself into my tire.

Guatemala did not fare as well and lost a lot of bridges and houses. Must have been like the apocalypse with the 5 inches of volcanic ash covering everything before the rains came. And that crazy ass sink hole? Wow. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100601-sinkhole-in-guatemala-2010-world-science/

The new government continues to do a good job and is investigating and prosecuting politicians for corruption. Now everyone expects politicians to steal but just don’t get too greedy or stupid about it! There is a great highway that links the road to Lourdes (and then off to Santa Ana and Sonsonate) past Santa Tecla and right into San Salvador by Multi Plaza and Calle Jerusalem but they never finished the last little bit so it is virtually unusable. I think someone stole funds so companies didn’t pay workers so it came to a grinding stop a few years ago. Now they are going to start it up again so it should alleviate a lot of Santa Tecla traffic and should shave 10 to 15 minutes off a trip to the western beaches.

Apologies about my griping on local service and I think I am getting worse. I have had arguments at several business in the last week and I think I am showing signs of what fellow Canadian Jason Ryan of http://kimchiicecream.wordpress.com/ refers to as "Culture Fatigue". This is where you start getting upset at local cultural norms ... or I am turning into an angry old man! Regardless, time to go up to Canada for my summer trip!

Juayua Food Fair and the Apenca Zipline Canopy Tour

El Salvador is a beautiful country, populated by friendly and honest people (mostly), and is a burgeoning tourist destination. Museums and galleries, great restaurants and street food, clubs and bars, shopping be it in the cheap and dodgy el centro or the high end malls, golf courses, surfing beaches, national parks with their waterfalls, and picturesque towns such as Juayua and Suchitoto. There is one excursion or day trip that I can really recommend.

Some girls bugging me at the food fair

We drove an hour west of San Salvador through Sonsonate and up the Ruta de los Flores to the small town of Apaneca. They have a food fair every weekend with dozens of food stands serving everything from seviche and black clams to all sorts of grilled meats to frozen desserts. There is usually some good live music (I have seen/heard the most amazing Bee Gees cover band there) and a market selling touristy stuff and cheap clothes.

Jake eating his paella

We got a tasty assortment of foods including smoked ribs, seafood paella, grilled shrimps, and fresh tortillas washed down with cold beers. Then some frozen strawberries, bananas and watermelon dipped in chocolate.

Jenna enoying her dessert

We had some time to kill so we walked around the markets and bought some souvenirs. There were a couple of places selling woven goods from Guatemala and one guy insisted that his prices were cheaper than in Antigua. It could only be true if the stuff was from China .... which maybe it was. We did find one guy with some big hoppers full of T-shirts. I found a great old school Run DMC shirt and Jeff got a great vintage look Iron Man and Jake got a Spiderman T-shirt. And they were a buck each. I shit you not.

Kath souvenir hunting in Juayua

Then back into the car for the short drive to Apaneca ... a small town with not much going for it but beside a mountain with lots of coffee growing on it. We were the first there - they go out 3-4 times a day so you should call ahead to make reservations - so just hung out for a bit before piling into the back of a truck transporter with a bunch of the guys. It seemed like there were 12 clients and about an equal number of workers.

.Jeff hoping we don't drive off a cliff before getting to the zip-line

The drive up the hill was pretty bumpy and steep and we went through some locked gates into a coffee finca. Then to a staging area with a great view where we got geared up with harnesses, leather palmed work gloves, and hard hats.

Gearing up

Now The Apaneca Canopy Tours charges $30 per person - a price I found somewhat high in a country where a common wage is $10 a day. I wondered if the owner was gouging the tourists but after going through it, I think the price is fine. The infrastructure of hooking up a dozen steel cables along with platforms built onto trees often 40' in the air and then having the trucks and the workers all adds up.

On the practise lines ... Kath landing and MJ taking off

We climbed up to the first zip-line which was only about 10' off the ground and maybe 25' long. There were several of these little runs to get you used to the harness and braking, Then you get to the top of the main hill ... and holy crap! Over 400' above the ground and about 900' long. A Mexican girl in front of me asked the guide "if I fall, will I die?" and he, of course, said "No" and she was off into space.

When I got there, I pushed out and managed to manouevre with one hand while I filmed the run with the other. It was an amazing experience but ended too quickly

The reason why there were so many workers is that they have to man each of the platforms and they descend with the group. They would hook on and then throw themselves out into space, usually kicking off from a post or a bannister to give them more speed. Half way down, I told one of the guys that he had a great job and I wanted to join up. He gave me a "meh" look and I asked him if the pay was bad and he said it was really bad.

Yes, that is MJ screaming

Everyone had a great time and the scared Mexican girl got over her fears pretty quickly and was soon jumping off the platform.

Jenna hanging in space!

They give you some instructions on how to slide down with your hand breaking behind you. They have a series of signals to speed up, slow down, or to brake hard but they have a braking system at the end of the long lines in case you can’t stop yourself. I realized that I could come in at pretty much full speed and they would stop you without any problems.

Me filming the first run

As for safety, they were really excellent. Whenever you were on a platform, be it 3' or 50' in the air, you were always always hooked up to something. As you lined up to get launched, you would be on a safety line and then only when you were hooked up to the main zip line would they take off the secondary safety line.

Through the coffee plants near the bottom

They leave from Apaneca at 9:30, 11:30, 2 and 4 but call them at 2433-0554 to confirm the day and time since they can move around with the seasons. They provide water during the zipping and they photograph everyone going across the highest line ... although they charge an egregious amount for the hardcopy photo and an even more ridiculous price for a disc with the photos. It seemed overly greedy especially when they were only charging a dollar for a beer. We treated all the workers to a beer since it was the last run of the day for them.

Antigua Guatemala Part II

Wedding photos on the streets of Antigua Guatemala

Phew! Relaxing after a busy few weeks with the Combees visiting from Owen Sound, Ontario and the Semana Santa (Easter) weekend. Highlights of the week included another trip to Antigua, lunch at the Juayua food fair followed by zip-lining with Canopy Tours in Apaneca, and a few days at a beach house in Tunco.

The church at the parque central from the balcony of a public building

We piled into the Honda Pilot and headed to the Guatemala border. They seemed to have changed the rules because now we all have to get out of the car on both sides of the border. A few weeks earlier, only I had to get out with the passports. I complained to the desk guy and then spoke with the supervisor who said it was an interim program and they were going to streamline it soon. I was a bit pissed off that we all had to get out of the car and go inside while we saw several cars just drive through.

Crossing the border into Guatemala

There was more construction this time but we weren’t delayed very long. Going through Guatemala City, we stopped at the Pricesmart to look for stuff not available in El Salvador and then a Toyota dealership to look for car parts for a friend. Then down the mountain into Antigua. I had booked my friends into a nice little hotel http://www.hotelentrevolcanes.com/index.php which was right in front of the market. Nice place (although you may want to avoid the rooms overlooking the streets since it can get noisy in the morning) and great staff. Whenever we had to ask for something, the answer was always "yes". From staying out late to smoking cigars in the garden to checking out really late to leaving my car in their lot to having extra people for breakfast, they were always completely accommodating.

First floor of the Hotel Entre Volcanes

We met up with our friend Sandy who had been studying at the Christian Spanish Academy (not particularly religious but very professional) and doing a homestay. Hotels in Antigua are quite pricey at about $70 + per night but the homestays are really cheap - around $120 per week which includes all meals.

Lunchtime!

We did the usual ... shopping in the market for clothes for the kids, white belts, woven goods. Ate at the restaurant in front of the market (Restarante de los Antiguenos?) which has really good and inexpensive local favourites. I had the white bean stew with tortillas ... and a giant Gallo beer.

I stashed my stuff at Michael’s place and we went for a walk. He has been there for about a year now and knows a lot of interesting people and places. We stopped at a tiny but very cool looking restaurant called Hector’s in front of the Merced church which was preparing for a private party ... will have to eat there next time but it may be hard to find since they don’t have a sign. Then we dropped into the Jungle Party Hostal to chat with Monica, the Salvadoran owner of the place. She set up the first hostal in Guatmala ten years ago and now has a very successful and popular place. She was planning on heading back to El Salvador the next day so we decided that she would come with us. We left El Salvador with 5 people and were returning with 7. Check out her place at http://www.junglepartyhostal.com/

Michael recommended we go to La Pena de Sol Latina for dinner. The place is around the corner from the hotel and he is friends with Bill and Mary, a semi-retired American couple who have built a charming and cozy restaurant with a tasty and very inexpensive menu. Their signature drink is a delicious coconut lemonade. Bill is a former session musician who played for years in Memphis (with the likes of Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins) and even raced in Nascar for a while. Now he plays with a local band that fronts Peruvian pan flutes. They also sell these amazing hand made candle screens with colourful and whimsical inserts (Kath bought one with pieces of a coke bottle built in) with the monies going to charity. Check them out at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43415256326

The Combee/McKerihens and Sandy at the arch

So after the show and many drinks, I went back to the Hotel to smoke a cigar with Jeff. It was pretty chilly by then but we had hot coffee with rum to keep us warm. Then headed back to crash again on Michael’s couch.

A new market popped up on the site of some church ruins

The next morning, we had planned on getting an early start but between shopping and meeting up with Sandy and Monica and having lunch, we didn’t get away until about 3:00 pm. Boy, just in time for very heavy rush hour traffic and major construction delays. We should have taken the coastal route but, instead, took the north route and there was one stretch which was down to one lane and where we were basically parked for 30 minutes. Then I took the wrong road and then we dropped Monica at her Dad’s place in Santa Ana ... and finally got home about 6 hours later! Oh, we all had to get out of the car, again, on both sides of the border. Then we were stopped by cops twice to look through the car. I asked if they were targeting Canadian tourists and one cop said it was just a routine and random search.

I think I’ll be heading back in a few weeks. Deb is coming for a visit from Owen Sound and she wants to check out Antigua. There are so many interesting places to see and restaurants to eat at that the place never gets boring. I want to check out Hector’s with Michael.