LOOK, ITS A CHOCOLATE MILK WAVE

After our month long hiatus in Antigua, we were chomping at the bit to get going.  We were a tad nervous about driving again, we felt rusty.  We had no idea where we were going to spend our last days in Guatemala.  Then all of a sudden we were at the El Salvador border - unprepared.

Usually on border crossing days we have all of our paperwork at the ready and have read up on the procedures of that border but not this time.  While we worked on trying to get our documents out of there secret hiding places, we were mobbed by the coyotes (aka border crossing helpers).  Once we were ready and started going through Guatemala customs I had to draw a number for my placement.  I drew number twenty-four, they were serving number six and there was a five inch stack of paperwork in front of the female border official.  Oh good, it's going to be a long day.

you don't have to zoom, he's not giving us the finger!

So I turned to the most persistent coyote and gave him a look.  He caught my drift and proceeded to sweet talk the girl at the counter and suddenly I was next in line.  Best five bucks I ever spent.  The persistent coyote stuck with us and helped us with the crossing into El Salvador.  For the first time we had to declare Anna and she got a stamp in her paperwork.  She is not an illegal for once.

El Salvadors beautiful countryside

El Salvadors roads are great.  They are smooth, have shoulders and they seem to be properly engineered. They have enough room for vehicles, bikes, horses, chickens, cows, vendors and ox carts.  We have found that people are following the rules of driving, such a switch from other countries.

whoo-hoo! the Pacific Ocean

After three months and 5626 km, crisscrossing through countries, we were finally back at the Pacific Ocean. We were both excited, we really missed it.  The last time we saw it we were in Manzanillo, Mexico.

El Tunco

Our first stop was El Tunco.  This is a 'surfers only' kind of place.  The waves are big, the people are nice but the ants and mosquitoes are unrelenting.

gecko decorated light fixture

This is the first time we have experienced a real tropical storm, in Central America.  In the evening you could see the lightning in the distance and we would know we were going to be in for it.  It would turn the parking lot into a lake, the road into a river and the pool would overflow, all in about ten minutes.  Tree limbs blow down, leaves everywhere, power outages, water outages and thunder that shook the building. This would force the ants and the ants with wings into our tree-house.  They were everywhere, it was so bad even Anna wouldn't get off the safety of the bed.

the chocolate milk wave - the ocean turns brown from run-off after a storm

And we just had to show you......

this is what seven months of travel can do to you!  I use to wear size 34"  now who knows