El Salvador, where to begin?

Currently we're in El Salvador. Truth be told we almost didn't come.People told us that it was violent and dangerous. Couple that with a distinct lack of things to see and a fame for earthquakes and civil war and it wasn t on the top list of places we wanted to stay in. But how wrong we were.

I can't really play the guitar, but the ladies love it!

Since we hit the border from Guatemala the people were friendlier and the women hotter, which is not a neglectable point for 4 single guys, we stayed in a room just past the border in an unpronounceable town, where we ate, discussed football and started to retreat to our room around 9.30 pm when we were kidnapped by the landlady of the hostel and her 4 children.

To make a long story short we were chatting to them until 1 am. For quite some time she stressed how hygene-conscious she was and how she forced her staff to always wash their hands before they start cooking for the customers, she then proceeded to invite us to taste her excellent cousine by insisting that we dip our fingers (unwashed) into the roast that would be served the next day :S !

Off to bed then with sweet dreams of two of her daughters, but it was other female company that got us in the room. When we turned on the light, sinister shadows scurried on the walls, as they did from under the cuscion upon inspecting the bed. This was somewhat of a traumatic experience as we are all hardened westerners with little acclimatisation to sleeping with cockroaches, no matter how much we like to travel. Finally we wrapped up as tighly as possible, left the light on, sparked up a few insect repellers and fell asleep.

Not all creatures in the house looking like cockroaches ;) What's the legal age in El Salvador?

We were apparently not bothered by the nasties any more but we still suspect that some may have taken residence in the equatorial growth which resides on top of Natxo's scull but which is so dense it is impenetrable to man or machine.

So off we went the next day, having haistily packed and headed to Santa Anna. We got there around noon on a sunny day but were unimpressed by the town and the hostel we searched for was full. So, being the day just started and since murders don't come out for another 5 hours, we decided to continue to Sucitoto, which the guide describes as "similar to Antigua but without the tourists" and boy are they right.

Looks like an add for tanning creams...

Sucitoto is as close to a painting as you will ever get, the cobble streets, the silence, the colours of the flowers and the almost complete lack of cars and tourists make it seem frozen in time.

We hit the town!

The people are friendly and more honest than Guatemala.Personally I love it because barganing is considered rude so prices are fixed and you're not left with an after feeling that no matter how little you paid for it you've been screwed.

This morning we went to play a game of football at 9 am with some of the local guys, tomorrow we may replicate. We won 2 games and drew another 4 thanks to the skill of or two spanish forwards, our strong spanish female defence-centerfield-left winger and then a nebula of 3 more useless el salvadoreans and a tall pale goalpost which moved around the field puffing and panting.

The stress is killing...

Sucitoto is the most relaxing place I have been to in a long time, we came for an evening and we are now on our third day here.

Allegedly we will be leaving tomorrow, if it is true, it will be hard and I anticipate a few minutes of sad silence when we finally drive out of this lovely town.