It was a great summer in Vancouver, but it is time to head south again! We have a very long trip to Buenos Aires and so we decided to break it up again with a visit to El Salvador and a visit to our good friends there. Mario and Fernanda greeted us at the airport. We had so much luggage, since we had the front forks for both bikes, new helmets, and one suitcase full of parts for servicing both bikes.
The plan for the day was a road trip to the Golfo de Fonseca. From here in El Salvador you can see both Honduras and Nicaragua.
After a bit of a late start we headed south on the CA2 to cuco beach.
As usual Fernandita was sleeping.
We had the entire beach to ourselves! It was time to try out the new selfie stick in the serf.
The water is warm here and very salty.
Later we stopped closer to town at a seafood shack with an awesome view for the sunset.
The hotel had a nice view of the Golfo de Fonseca. From here you can see El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
The guys headed off for the day on and off road to Suchitoto. It was too rough on the lake and the “ferries” were not running.
No visit to Salvador is complete without a night out at the Barracuda! The ADV rider’s Daniel, Mario, Tom, and Nelson.
We braved a visit to the “dangerous” Centro. Here we visited the architecturally interesting Iglesia El Rosario, which is on the Plaza Libertad. This is the most unusual Catholic Church we have seen in Latin America. It was was created in 1971 by artist and architect Rubén Martinez. The exterior looks like a derelict airplane hangar from the old Soviet Union. Inside there are no pillars or columns and only 3-4 electric bulbs. The walls are slatted concrete which both allow light and air flow inside. Stained glass windows have been created by randomly imbedding hunks of colored glass into the curved concrete walls and ceiling. On one wall it creates a large “eye”looking down on the congregation. The Stations of the Cross are depicted in abstract sculptures created by Martinez in carved stone, wrought iron and re-bar. During the war it was the sight of a huge murder of student protestors and you can still see the bullet holes peppering the facade.
We also visited the Cathedral, National Palace, and Teatro.
We did have a “guard” to visit some of the “real San Salvador”.
Our next real Latin American experience was to go to a soccer match. The crowd was standing and screaming and beating drums for 90 minutes. The interesting thing was how the riot police escorted the officials on and off the field.
We headed to the beach at El Tunco for some seafood.
Today we drove back to Sucitoto to see a Canadian NGO which is using theater to combat violence in youth. We stopped for lunch overlooking the lake in the crater of Ilopango. Here we ate the meat from a sheep that has hair and not fleece. YUM.
Today we rode north to the Honduras border to Miramundo, where on a clear day you can see all on El Salvador.
