Another day another Country

More miles to make so we left Antigua after putting it on the list of places to return to someday. We planned to go to Monterrico to see the turtle sanctuary, but upon reaching the end of the road, literally it turned into mangrove, it became evident that we could not get our bikes onto the small boats to ferry us the last 10km to the city. This was not in any guidebooks we have with us. Plus, there did not seem to be any secure parking for the bikes, this meant that we could not get over to the actual town for the night and had to once again press on a bit further down the coast towards the El Salvador border for the night. We found a very nice little hotel, Hotel Bakur, and bedded down for the night after a delicious dinner in the adjacent restaurant and a couple of donuts from the roadside cocina down the road. We got alot of honks and looks as we walked to the cocina, I assume the locals don’t usually see white people walking along the highway. Sometimes the tourist, sometimes the attraction.
Guatemala exit was very easy. They did however take the bike permit and visitor visa as both are only good for one entry. This just means that we pay full lick again on the way back. El Salvador border pretty straight forward, just very slow, like 2 hours to get the bike paperwork. I met some colourful fellas waiting though, one older gentleman was bringing in a couple of big trucks and had been waiting since 5pm the previous day (he was still waiting when we left). The other guys were driving a vehicle down into Honduras and then travelling by bus to their home in Costa Rica. He gave us his number and invited us to his house when we are in the area (they were also still waiting after we left) all spoke English, all were there before we were. Nice system, I guess it pays to keep your mouth shut and keep smiling. It probably also helps to keep wearing the bike gear you have been wearing for a month in the 35 degree weather, I am sure it smells like very sweaty hockey gear by now. LOL. Sorry to report we did not spend much time in El Salvador, just one night in La Libertad which is straight south of San Salvador at the coast. We read that this was one of the best beach resorts in all of El Salvador. Once again, this is a subjective evaluation. We found the town to be very run down and dirty feeling, not that it was visibly dirty or cluttered with garbage, just dirty feeling. We found a place just off the beach, got settled and went for a walk along the sea wall. The sand here is very dark due to the volcanic rock that forms most of the sand, plus there were lots of rocks on the beach. Some of the more local boys were not deterred by the rocks and had a rigorous game of beach soccer going. There were of course vendors, bars, restaurants and shops along the waterfront, and a fish market down the full length of the pier. The pier also served as boat storage via a small crane and a great diving platform for the adventurous swimmers. But aside from being on the coast we could not see how this made it to the top of the list of resorts, and if the evaluation is accurate we do not want to see the others. This is also a new first, the first use of the mosquito net over the bed, enough said. The people were very friendly, the food great, and the prices even better. Tomorrow, another border crossing.