By the end of today we would of been in 3 countries, which is a new 1st for us!
We have woken up in Honduras, but we will leave this country today after less than 48 hours.
To do this safely & go into El Salvador, we need to go back through the same border & re-enter Guatemala, then enter into El Salvador.
Both the borders are very easy! Veronica gets out at the Honduras - Guatemala border & shows them the voucher we got on our entry. She doesn't even need our passports. This is good cause we were sleeping & there was no exit fee. It's not so good because our passports never got stamped for Honduras. The stamps in our passports have become a sentiment of pride.
At the Guatemala - El Salvador border, we filled out an exit form, got stamped out of Guatemala & an immigration officer boarded the mini van to check our passports & make sure no one was illegally entering the country. We get our El Salvador stamp when we exit in 6 days.
El Salvador is the smallest of the central American countries, but the most densely populated. Our guide Veronica is from El Salvador & she is very excited to show off her home country.
Our first stop in El Salvador is a town called Suchitoto which is famous for the guerilla campaigns during the El Salvador civil war which started in the late 70's - 1992. Apart from the civil war heritage it has amazing national parks. The landscape should be fairly similar with what we've seen already, jungles, forests, lakes & volcanos.
El Salvador is in the hurricane season & there is a storm called Michael that has been upgraded to a category 2. There is a lot of flooding in the southern regions, which shouldn't affect us, but we have been warned it may & to be alert & patient.
By 10.40am we are in El Salvador & by 11am we have stopped in a border town to buy lunch. Tom & I are ecstatic to see a subway & share a foot long.
We finally arrive in Suchitoto just after 1pm & are given a few options for afternoon activities.
We're given our own room & private bathroom, which is nice. The room has 2 double beds & Disney princess sheets. We had plans to go for a walk through town & to the lake, but instead we nap in the air conditioning & make no real attempts to leave our state's of comfortability. We do go up to the roof top & admire the view over the roof tops.
At 6.30pm, we finally extract ourselves from our room & head down stairs to meet the rest of the group for dinner & to discuss activities for tomorrow. After listening to the options Tom has signed up for a hike through the jungle that includes an education on how the guerrillas survived during the civil war & a chance to meet & talk with a man who was a guerrilla.
We then walk 3 blocks away to a local restaurant where we are taught how to make the traditional dish of El Salvador; pupusa's. It's a dough made from corn flour which is hand rolled & stuffed with beans, cheese, chilli etc & then flattened out & fried. The pupusa is eaten warm with a fermented cabbage coleslaw, salsa & chilli. It's very good & only costs $1!
I've already looked the recipe up & I'm determined to make them at home for friends & family.
Slowly throughout the evening I've noticed an irritation in my throat that is gradually increasing & becoming sore. I hope I'm not getting sick. After resting yesterday afternoon I felt better when I woke this morning & was hopeful my body had fought it off.
We retreat back to our hotel after dinner & have an early night.
- Alli
We have woken up in Honduras, but we will leave this country today after less than 48 hours.
To do this safely & go into El Salvador, we need to go back through the same border & re-enter Guatemala, then enter into El Salvador.
Both the borders are very easy! Veronica gets out at the Honduras - Guatemala border & shows them the voucher we got on our entry. She doesn't even need our passports. This is good cause we were sleeping & there was no exit fee. It's not so good because our passports never got stamped for Honduras. The stamps in our passports have become a sentiment of pride.
At the Guatemala - El Salvador border, we filled out an exit form, got stamped out of Guatemala & an immigration officer boarded the mini van to check our passports & make sure no one was illegally entering the country. We get our El Salvador stamp when we exit in 6 days.
El Salvador is the smallest of the central American countries, but the most densely populated. Our guide Veronica is from El Salvador & she is very excited to show off her home country.
Our first stop in El Salvador is a town called Suchitoto which is famous for the guerilla campaigns during the El Salvador civil war which started in the late 70's - 1992. Apart from the civil war heritage it has amazing national parks. The landscape should be fairly similar with what we've seen already, jungles, forests, lakes & volcanos.
El Salvador is in the hurricane season & there is a storm called Michael that has been upgraded to a category 2. There is a lot of flooding in the southern regions, which shouldn't affect us, but we have been warned it may & to be alert & patient.
By 10.40am we are in El Salvador & by 11am we have stopped in a border town to buy lunch. Tom & I are ecstatic to see a subway & share a foot long.
We finally arrive in Suchitoto just after 1pm & are given a few options for afternoon activities.
We're given our own room & private bathroom, which is nice. The room has 2 double beds & Disney princess sheets. We had plans to go for a walk through town & to the lake, but instead we nap in the air conditioning & make no real attempts to leave our state's of comfortability. We do go up to the roof top & admire the view over the roof tops.
At 6.30pm, we finally extract ourselves from our room & head down stairs to meet the rest of the group for dinner & to discuss activities for tomorrow. After listening to the options Tom has signed up for a hike through the jungle that includes an education on how the guerrillas survived during the civil war & a chance to meet & talk with a man who was a guerrilla.
We then walk 3 blocks away to a local restaurant where we are taught how to make the traditional dish of El Salvador; pupusa's. It's a dough made from corn flour which is hand rolled & stuffed with beans, cheese, chilli etc & then flattened out & fried. The pupusa is eaten warm with a fermented cabbage coleslaw, salsa & chilli. It's very good & only costs $1!
I've already looked the recipe up & I'm determined to make them at home for friends & family.
Slowly throughout the evening I've noticed an irritation in my throat that is gradually increasing & becoming sore. I hope I'm not getting sick. After resting yesterday afternoon I felt better when I woke this morning & was hopeful my body had fought it off.
We retreat back to our hotel after dinner & have an early night.
- Alli
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