So, we started out our plan by driving most of Friday afternoon across El Salvador to El Salvador's 2nd largest city, San Miguel. In San Miguel, there are 2 things a visitor can do 1) sleep, 2) leave. So, on Friday night we did the first, followed by the latter on Saturday morning (we did have an oh-so-awesome interlude at Pollo Campero Friday night, though). Next stop, La Union.
San Miguel
La Union is how I would characterize a lot of port cities: hot, chaotic, dirty, and about as welcoming as a punch in the face. All morning on the way to La Union, we tried to call the hotel on the island but no one answered. Normally we don't bother calling ahead this case is different: the boat to the island leaves at 10AM and the boat back to the mainland returns at 5AM the next day.
So, with our housing situation up in the air, we decided to do the next best thing: take a booze cruise around the islands. It was supposed to leave every Saturday at 9:30 AM and return at 3 PM, and have karaoke with booze. All of that for $10! How could we beat that?
When we arrived in La Union, we immediately started to look for a place to buy tickets for this awesome event (again, they wouldn't answer their phone). We went to one dock, but it only had what I would consider fishing boats with better motors. We went to another dock and the guards there told us "No, there's no ferry". Asking around town, we finally figured out that we could buy tickets at the Channel 6 office, a local TV station. So, yes, to by ferry tickets, one needs to go to a tv station that just happens to be in a non-descript grey building with no sign. Great. Of course when we wanted to buy the tickets, we find out that we could go if we only had 30 more people with us. Seeing as we probably weren't going to make 30 friends in the next, oh 20 minutes, we headed out of town towards a beach called El Espino.
Goodbye, La Union, and your unhelpful "Information Center" signs...
El Espino was hailed in our guidebook as one of the best beaches in El Salvador and an up and coming "hot spot". The beach itself was pretty decent, with soft sand and warm waters, assuming you didn't run into the barbed wire that separated the establishments on it and you could ignore all of the sand flies biting you.
Nothing says "Come on in" like barbed wire.
The town was more like a series of half run down (or poorly constructed) one story buildings filled with plastic tables and chairs, mostly catering to rum-bottle toating weekenders and families. They at least try, though. Check out the ambiance that awaited us at our "hotel":
After a fairly uneventful and mildy disappointing beach experience we, headed back to San Salvador. Not having been let down enough, we decided to take a little detour to a little mountain town for breakfast, called Alegría (Spanish for "Happiness").
After reaching Alegria, we understood why it has that name. The weather was nice and cool, there was a charming central park area where people were selling their goods. It wasn't exciting by any means, but it was like a nice cup of hot chocolate: soothing and refreshing. We then found a restaurant for breakfast which may boast the best view in El Salvador. Besides the view, the food was excellent and filling.
Some nice breakfast views
We spent about an hour walking around town, taking in the small town ambience. Everybody was super nice to us; one road worker there gave us directions, then watched us and signaled where we should turn as we drove as to make sure we didn't miss our street. In all it was a great way to start a Sunday morning and an even better way to end a weekend that, up until then, had not lived up to our expectations.
Some Views of Alegría
So, what's the moral of this story? Well, I guess sometimes things don't turn out as expected, but if you keep searching, you can find happines. (or Alergía, San Salvador)
We're silly and adventurous, computer geeks and yoga peeps.
June 20, 2008
Rachel Z
June 20, 2008
Kyle
FYI, if we made you happy, you would say "me alegran". Those romantic languages are nice and tidy like that.
June 21, 2008
Bessie
June 20, 2008
Kristine
This is one of my favorite quotes... happens to be by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I believe. I think you two are one of the few people I know that live by this philosophy. Life gives you some lemons and you always make the best lemonade! What a great weekend.... I'm jealous! :)
June 21, 2008
Bessie
It's an interesting thing about setting your life to something; for us traveling. We're at it's whims, and we have a lot of freedom to follow it in whatever direction we allow ourselves. It's a beautiful gift of life.
June 23, 2008
Kyle
June 22, 2008
kyle
June 23, 2008
Kyle
June 24, 2008
Luis
June 24, 2008
Bessie
El Salvadorans have been very welcoming and friendly. It really does feel like a close knit society where you know everyone. We seem to run into people we know at the mall, restaurants, wherever, and we've been here less than 2 months!
June 24, 2008
mumsie
June 30, 2008
Bessie
June 26, 2008
Henry
June 30, 2008
Bessie
June 28, 2008
orlando
June 29, 2008
Kyle
June 30, 2008
Bessie
Nothing personal against La Union, we just had a hard time knowing where to find information. The police were really friendly, but didn't totally know where to go either. We did have a yummy lunch down by the dock though - they made a tasty beef stew. :)
June 28, 2008
orlando
June 29, 2008
Kyle
June 30, 2008
Bessie
June 28, 2008
selena
June 30, 2008
Bessie
Just kidding. He likes to think he cooks better than I do, sometimes he's right...
June 28, 2008
orlando
June 30, 2008
Bessie
Just kidding. He can't deny that I AM!!!! haa haaaa
July 07, 2008
Wendy
July 07, 2008
Kyle
July 08, 2008
Bessie
May 27, 2010
tony
June 09, 2011
Beth Lopez
June 09, 2011
Kyle
Have fun in El Salvador, Chele! :)
June 12, 2011
Beth Lopez