El Salvador and Honduras
March 30 Jueves
Guatemala City Santa Ana
T: King Quality bus 10:00 GTQ 120
H: Casa Blanca tu Casa EUR 10
S: Santa Ana
H: Casa Blanca tu Casa EUR 10
S: Santa Ana
March 31 Viernes
Santa Ana Volcano
T: La Vencedora 7:30 $1
S: Volcano tour 11:00 10$
T: Santa Ana $1
H: Casa Blanca tu Casa
T: Santa Ana $1
April 1 Sabado Santa Ana Guasaule
T: Santa Ana San Salvador $2
S: San Salvador
T: San Salvador El Amatillo $7
T: El Amatillo (Honduras) Guasaule 300 HNL
F: Nicaragua Border fee $13
H: Guasaule
S: San Salvador
F: Nicaragua Border fee $13
Santa Ana
Guatemala city is huge and the bus took a long time exiting. I planned to stay at Santa Ana and visit the volcano partly because of advice San Salvador is not very safe. Indeed there has been a civil war there for quite some time, but I saw nothing unusual. Border crossing into El Salvador was very easy and (surprise!) no fees. I was renting a room at the other end of town with Señora Aminta, a teacher in English, she was making me some very tasty breakfasts and I really felt at home there. I first learned a platano is not a rotten banana, although it looks like it, and can be fried.
In the afternoon I did some washing and went to Santa Ana central square, which has a nice Cathedral and Theatre.
There were long lines at the cash machines. The local currency is the US dollar.
Funny enough, when leaving Guatemala my horoscope in a local newspaper was saying I'll find a new love, and when I went to eat some popusas at a small local restaurant, the hostess insisted on taking a photo with me to tease her friends. Well, I let her.
Next morning Aminta drove me to the bus station to catch a bus to Santa Ana volcano. The place was full of school pupils and only a dozen foreigners, we had to wait for an hour as you are not allowed to climb on your own, but in a group with an armed guard. The forest around was full of teenagers kissing, some girls were very pretty, but no new love that way.
The climb begins with a descent of 150m then you climb 435 m to the top, total distance there and back is 12 km. Once on top, there is a view of the greenish lake inside the crater with some sulfuric fumes over it.
The climb up and down was worth it. A Swiss guy gave me a tip which cash machine is likely to connect to foreign bank, so I went to Santa Ana mall and could draw at a Scotia Bank terminal, look for the lion's head logo.
Next morning Aminta gave me a lift again to the bus terminal, her niece was also leaving for the capital San Salvador.
San Salvador
San Salvador has two bus terminals quite a distance apart. There is a shuttle bus between them but I decided to do some sightseeing - there is the monument to the Divino Salvador del Mundo and also the Rosario Church with fine stained glass windows.
But so I could only take a bus to the Honduras border at El Amatillo at about 11 am. I had to change buses at Santa Rosa and crossed the border already about 3 PM.
Honduras
I had read earlier there is a bus directly to Guasaule at the Nicaraguan border which is only 140 km away but the only bus left was one to Choluteca. The landscape in Honduras was rather barren. When we arrived at Choluteca it was already dusk. There were no buses to the border, but there was a pickup about to leave which took me. There were 50 km left to the border but what a journey. The pickup was crammed with about a dozen daredevils, an old lady with a pumpkin, a drunk with a toilet basin ( did he have it in case he felt like throwing up ?). There was also a lovely señorita - Marina, whose bodice was saying "OK, BUT" and who was also clinging to my back for safety so I was feeling her hot breath time and again.We jumped around with every hole on the road and there were plenty.
When we finally reached the border the truck was empty but for me and a Nicaraguan guy who had been to his aunt's funeral in Honduras. We started towards the border bridge across Rio Guasaule, there was a couple sitting by the road and all of a sudden their dog jumped and bit me in the calf through the trousers. It was a deep wound as part of the skin was gone with a lot of blood spurting out. The Honduran couple assured me the dog is not sick, I dressed up the wound in a hurry and on we went. There was no emergency pharmacy, just a nurse with a thermometer. There was also no bus and most trucks stayed overnight. So I had to skip Leon, which was my supposed destination and went to have a beer. Fortunately, the grandfather of a truck driver I talked to had been working with some Bulgarian agronomists in the 80s and his friend knew Stoichkov, the FC Barcelona "Daga" - Dagger, so they gave me a hammock to sleep in. It was not much of a sleep because of the wound but I rested, it was my third country in a day. Next morning took an early bus straight to Managua. I had been on the road already for a week.
In the afternoon I did some washing and went to Santa Ana central square, which has a nice Cathedral and Theatre.
There were long lines at the cash machines. The local currency is the US dollar.
Funny enough, when leaving Guatemala my horoscope in a local newspaper was saying I'll find a new love, and when I went to eat some popusas at a small local restaurant, the hostess insisted on taking a photo with me to tease her friends. Well, I let her.
The climb begins with a descent of 150m then you climb 435 m to the top, total distance there and back is 12 km. Once on top, there is a view of the greenish lake inside the crater with some sulfuric fumes over it.
 |
| Lake at the bottom of Santa Ana volcano |
Next morning Aminta gave me a lift again to the bus terminal, her niece was also leaving for the capital San Salvador.
San Salvador
San Salvador has two bus terminals quite a distance apart. There is a shuttle bus between them but I decided to do some sightseeing - there is the monument to the Divino Salvador del Mundo and also the Rosario Church with fine stained glass windows.
Honduras
I had read earlier there is a bus directly to Guasaule at the Nicaraguan border which is only 140 km away but the only bus left was one to Choluteca. The landscape in Honduras was rather barren. When we arrived at Choluteca it was already dusk. There were no buses to the border, but there was a pickup about to leave which took me. There were 50 km left to the border but what a journey. The pickup was crammed with about a dozen daredevils, an old lady with a pumpkin, a drunk with a toilet basin ( did he have it in case he felt like throwing up ?). There was also a lovely señorita - Marina, whose bodice was saying "OK, BUT" and who was also clinging to my back for safety so I was feeling her hot breath time and again.We jumped around with every hole on the road and there were plenty.
When we finally reached the border the truck was empty but for me and a Nicaraguan guy who had been to his aunt's funeral in Honduras. We started towards the border bridge across Rio Guasaule, there was a couple sitting by the road and all of a sudden their dog jumped and bit me in the calf through the trousers. It was a deep wound as part of the skin was gone with a lot of blood spurting out. The Honduran couple assured me the dog is not sick, I dressed up the wound in a hurry and on we went. There was no emergency pharmacy, just a nurse with a thermometer. There was also no bus and most trucks stayed overnight. So I had to skip Leon, which was my supposed destination and went to have a beer. Fortunately, the grandfather of a truck driver I talked to had been working with some Bulgarian agronomists in the 80s and his friend knew Stoichkov, the FC Barcelona "Daga" - Dagger, so they gave me a hammock to sleep in. It was not much of a sleep because of the wound but I rested, it was my third country in a day. Next morning took an early bus straight to Managua. I had been on the road already for a week.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario