El Salvador - El Tunco

Day 406.

After 2 incredible months in Mexico it was time to head South and see a little more of what central America has to offer. First stop being the much overlooked El Salvador. But first we had a night in the airport ahead of us, suffering a long and cold night attempting to sleep on the airport floor. This might not sound worth the combined £8 we saved on 2 hostel beds but it felt oh so good when we proceeded to spend said saving in its entirety on two huge cinnabons come 5am. Food > sleep, always.

Still only half awake, but fully satisfied from our airport breaky we clambered onto the plane and met Ben - a bit of a nomad on the go for 28 years. He was kind to quickly offer us a place in his already paid for shuttle. This was a great start to El Salvador and although limbster had to put up with some unbelievable PDA in the backseat between him and his new lover it was worth it for the speedy ride to the beach in the sweltering midday heat.

From our driver to the coconut street sellers and our first host of El Salvador - everybody here could not have be freindlier so far and our impression is nothing like the reputation El Salvador has gained around the world. I think it helps they live on the doorstep of kilometers of palm tree lined beach, and after checking in that's straight where we headed too.

Note to self always check a door limbster says is ''locked'' it'll save some sweat and tears.

El Tunco wasn't your normal beach either, a surfers paradise and full of only black volcanic sand it certainly was a first for us. It wasn't long before tragedy struck however, within minutes of jumping in limbster was struck by a big wave and out of part clumbsyneess and part trauma from the last wave that got her she managed to loose her brand new sunglasses. It was deja vu, and not the best start..

But it was nothing a few Puspusas (the local delicacy) and a couple of cervazas couldn't fix and we where quick to put this horrible nightmare behind us. Deciding to try a little harder with the budget than we bothered to do in Mexico we hit the local grocery store and decided to cook in our first night, thanks to a generous helping of premium olive oil (gracious spanish girl) we whipped up the first of limbsters new recipes. Our new herb and spice collection coming in particularly useful. Note now we're on the bandwagon of carrying all our own herbs and spices we stooped as low as stealing the pepper from the shaker of a local resturant today, you would think times are hard but finding good Pepper is no easy feat.

Up and out the next day first thing, much to limbsters dismay. First surf lesson for me with Wayo, a salvadorian tank of a man. Putting me to shame on all fronts, hair, body, surfing ability - but you have to start somewhere I guess. El Tunco is a surf hot-spot and the waves are perfect, after admiring some actual surfers in the big waves I set out to find some much more manageable ones with Wayo. After some valaube teaching we hit the water, as expected I came crashing down hard early on. But it didn't take long to catch a few waves and it was an awesome morning (although if you ask limbster she can't confirm this was the case).

Post surfing we went to get the beers in, feeling the country was imminently about to make a horrific decision we decided we would need them to drown our sorrows, or on the remote chance of a labour victory we could get the nights celebrations going early. Fortunately the Internet here is limited and we were spared the misery of watching first hand the election results roll in. Truly devsasted, and confused as to how so much of the country could be fooled into voting against their own interests we sunk our beers and headed out to watch the sunset - pondering the idea of staying here for 5 more years until it just all blows over...

But we were quick to forget, and rolling around in the sea as the sun came down on the horizon was a perfect way to end our time here. Limbster had clearly forgotten about the election and found some energy and I could hardly stop her bouncing around in the waves and sending a little too much black sand in my direction. It was a short stay in this paradise and after only 3 days it was time to head back into Volcano territory in search of treks and gastronomic delights...En savoir plus