Day 10 - Saturday August 3, 2013
We headed for the El Salvadoran border with a bit of trepidation this morning - early - expecting the same sort of hurry up and wait that we had when entering Guatemala. Of course, we'd had a rough night of it....so that didn't start things off too well.
We've been staying at these Auto Hotels - they've all been nice - maybe a little strange, but the people have been great, and it's a great place to keep you car secure. So we pulled into one last night - it was more expensive that we'd paid before, but that was fine....it would probably be nice. NOT exactly. Total of 2 towels in the room - no hand towels, no washcloths - nada. Mirror on the ceiling - which Bandido didn't like one little bit (neither did we). No shower curtain with the tub - and an electrical outlet just a few inches above the tub(!?!?!?) There was a drain by the toilet, so figured they just expected the water to go out there. I took a shower (remember, cold water only, the day before - so I needed one) and it flooded the bathroom. It was contained, but still...made it hard to walk out of there on slick floors, for sure. All of that was fine - the kicker came when Bob was going to leave and go get us some dinner and we were locked in! We could NOT open the garage door - and they told us we were not allowed to leave until morning. I told them that was very dangerous - what if there was a fire? They didn't seem to care. UGH!
However, this morning - we got out of there - found a restaurant along the way that wasn't open, but opened just for us to serve us breakfast and coffee. It was a great little palapa and the people went above and beyond to make us happy - so precious!
When we hit the border, we found the same thing - everyone was very helpful - very friendly and told Bob just where to go next to get his paperwork done. Fortunately, we speak enough Spanish to make it a lot easier, but all in all, it was a breeze. Bob said that if we'd had the original title on the car (New Mexico has the lein-holders hold them), we would have been out of there sooner. 2 1/2 hours later, we were outta there - and it had cost NOTHING!
While we were waiting, I had to go to the bathroom (news flash), and they had 55 gal drums of water with a bucket in them in front of each stall to flush them yourself. When I exited, there was a concrete basin with 3 parts to it. The center one had water - each side was empty, with a drain and a small bowl. I asked the little lady to help me - just dipped a bowlful of water out of the center, gave me some powdered soap, and I washed then dumped the bowl down the drain.
Also - while waiting - I noticed that they were playing Christian music ???? When I went to the bathroom, I realized that it was coming from a booth just a little ways down, so went and thanked the guy and then bought the CD. It was awesome.
Now, for El Salvador. We were just totally surprised by the quality of the roadways - but we didn't miss the culture. Roadside stands all along the roadside were selling: watermelons in one area, corn in another, then we came to the banana selling stands, the tomato and cucumber stands, melons, pineapples and the really cool one was beans. They had bags of dried red beans and bags of rice -all grown right here. The shoulders of the road were covered with what looked like dried grass, but was actually the vines that the beans grow on, and they were drying them. Very, very cool. Took lots of photos, but am going to have to wait until I have more time on internet to post them - as Bob is patiently waiting in the car while I post this.
BTW - Gas stations were impeccable, as well - Spotless, well stocked, and nicer bathrooms than Mexico - that's for sure! I might add - the roadsides in both El Salvador and Guatemala have been surprisingly clean. What a treat!
We are in San Miguel, El Salvador for the night - and will leave early to hit the Honduran border in the morning and perhaps even get to Nicaragua as well. We'll see how the day goes.
As for El Salvador - I wouldn't mind coming back. Nice place, nice people. LIKE. Can't wait to post some pictures!
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