Adios Honduras, Hola El Salvador

After leaving Utila island we headed by bus to Santa Rosa de Copan, a colonial town and the headquarters of the Royal Tobacco Company. We had a tour (in Spanish) of the Flor de Copan Cigar company factory which was really interesting and pleasing to see that the working conditions were good. During the tour our eyes were watering from the strengh of the tobacco. I came out with a new found appreciation of the skill involved with hand rolling cigars. Marc was also pretty happy as he got given a cigar to smoke at his leisure.

I fell in love on the spot

After a couple of nights in Santa Rosa we headed for El Salvador,  appreciating the small distances we had to travel to get around. We headed for the capital, San Salvador which was full of American fast food joints and was possibly the most polluted place we've been on our trip (the vehicle exhaust fumes filled the streets). We spent a day in the city, visiting an interesting Anthropology Museum where we learnt about El Salvadors tough history; civil war, war with its neighbours, and the abundance of natural disasters it is prone to. We found the people friendly and helpful, although since have met a number of fellow travellers who haven't had such great experiences. The day after we left San Salvador there was trouble in the city when some locals gangs targeted city buses, setting them on fire and killing a number of people.


Volcan San Salvador looms over the city

Leaving San Salvador we headed to the coast for a spot of surfing. Marc was desparate to get back into it after a break of almost a month after leaving Mexico. So, we arrived in Playa El Tunco, a surfers town with decent accomodation and a fairly bustling scene. Our first evening we headed for a local bar that was hosting a special night with live Cuban music and salsa. The place had a really lively atmosphere because it was a Saturday night and the San Salvadorians were in town and ready to party. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be as there was an almightly storm and the band and bar were flooded. Little did we know until the following morning that just 50 metres away on the main street, the river leading into the sea had completly overflowed and caused a number of the bars to collapse into the river/sea. The beach was unrecognisable, covered in driftwood and whole trees, as well as a car that had apparently been swept off a bridge. It was a humbling scene.


The carnage of the storm

The locals then spent the next week tirelessly repairing their businesses; it was amazing to see how they all pulled together and worked into the night before the next big storm hits.

We ended up staying at El Tunco for over a week meeting up with Al, a guy we'd met in Honduras, and an Israeli girl called Stav who was an English football fanatic and was living in Tunco. We hired a car one day and drove around the countryside, stopping at pretty towns and checking out the live volcanoes and crater lakes.

Watching the fateful England match with Stav

The local surfers were awesome

Marc managed to get a bit of surfing in but the conditions were risky with so much storm debris floating in the water. The food and local rum were really good at Tunco so a lot of seafood and Flor de Cana rum were consumed.

We said goodbye to El Salvador leaving on an overnight bus via Honduras (and two border crossings) to Leon,  Nicaragua.