Just to backtrack a little.....
We really enjoyed our short stay in El Salvador. Incredible people and incredible beaches. We didn't see a lot of this tiny country but what we did see was amazing.
The drive along the ocean was beautiful and the roads were so much better than we ever expected. We were told about another beach to go to, Las Flores in south eastern El Salvador. We had some trouble finding a hotel here and at one point we took a wrong turn and ended up right on the beach. Whoops! Eventually we found a hotel and it made all the headaches of finding a hotel worth it.
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| I guess this isn't the right way |
This was a sweet little area. The surfing is good, the views spectacular but the weather didn't want to cooperate. We spent a couple days here getting over yet another cold, eating good food and hanging around some really nice people.
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| you know Justins bored when he has a book in his hand |
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| brand new shoes and one puddle equals this |
So we left with intentions of hitting the Honduras border when we saw a sign for an international hotel, the Comfort Inn. We swear there were rays of sunlight beaming from the sign. "The border can wait," we said in unison. We haven't stayed in a hotel like this since Canada. Crisp, clean white sheets, a comfortable bed, hot water and internet in the room makes a one night stay turn into three. This really was just your standard hotel room but the fact that it was bug free (except for a few ants we brought along with us) made this the ultimate in comfort. We basically just did laundry, watched television, read books and stayed out of the rain while we were here. Cultural experiences zero, a happy Justin and Nadine, priceless.
After begrudgingly packing the truck, we headed for the border. After this you would think we would of been cool, calm and collected. But.....check out the Honduran incident.
There is one part of our Honduras story that we didn't write about. Mainly because it was so embarrassing. It goes like this, Justin went to go exit Honduras and I waited with the truck. One of the coyotes that was hanging around Justin when he left, came running back to the truck and frantically said in spanish that Justin needed twenty dollars. I can't remember exactly the reason he told me. At this point huge alarm bells were ringing in my head but for some reason, I pushed my doubts aside and handed him the money. WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!! We have been travelling for this long and have come across all sorts of scams and I fall for THIS!!!!! When Justin came back and needed more money, I asked him, what about the twenty. When he looked at me confused, I knew instantly I had been scammed. I hung my head in shame and told Justin what I did. He just grinned and said that this will be a funny story in the future. This is by far the thickest moment I've ever had and I'll never fully comprehend why I did that. I think I'll just blame it on the heat.
Our first big stop in Nicaragua was in the city of Leon. The driving in the city was confusing, none of the one ways made any sense and before we knew it, we were lost. Justin ended up hailing a cab and we followed him to a hotel. They saw Anna and wouldn't allow us in, so we headed for a budget breaking hotel and snuck Anna in.
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| the out of budget hotel - what were we doing here? |
We spent our time wandering the streets, going to museums and visiting the largest cathedral in Central America.
Leon was a nice pit stop but what we really wanted to do was lay on the beach, so we headed for Las Penitas. At first, we thought we had found paradise. Few people around, huge black sand beaches and quiet. But after eating at the only open restaurant we could find and it making Justin sick combined with having to put up our mosquito net on the bed for the first time and still getting eaten alive, we realized that this was not paradise. The real kicker was when it started to rain on us through the roof of our cabin while we were trying to sleep.
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| Anna chill'n at the table while we drank our first Tonas |
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| it really only rained on Justins quarter of the bed |
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| empty beaches with nice waves |
So we left the beach and headed for the colonial city of Granada.....
On a side note, we are a lot further down the road now and we still haven't been able to pull out the sunscreen!
