El Salvador & Nicaragua

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After our near miss of capsizing on the way into Bahia Del Sol, El Salvador we decided to spend 4 days relaxing at the pool and resting the crew. We signed up for the Rally to El Salvador which got us nice discounts at the marina and resort. The grounds were beautiful as you can see in the first picture and Bill & Gene (organizers of the rally) were super helpful and friendly. One night Greg and I ventured down the road to see what kind of shennanigins we could find. We found a nice quaint little restaurant where we drank cold beers and carne, rice and beans. A little boy sat across from us and Greg and he quickly became friends playing telephone and giggling (we almost adopted him). On our way back to the marina, Greg and I heard some really loud music coming from a tent so we bought 2 $1 tickets and entered. What we didn't realize was that it was a circus and we were the only spectators, oh maybe that's because we were an hour early. My Spanish isn't that great but I can understand it better than I can speak it so when a young girl came up to us and told us to beat it, we understood. After all we were watching all the circus secrets go down.

One day we headed into San Salvador to do a little grocery provisioning, we walked around the central mercado and found outstanding looking produce. We also ventured around the main square and found $3 fake ray-bans for all of us. They look so good we wished we would of bought 10 pairs a piece! Anyway, the bus ride was fun, it only cost about $1.20 and we got to see some beautiful countryside and listened to "Lady in Red" blaring through the speakers. I still can't get that darn song out of my head.

We left El Salvador on Sunday and headed to Nicaragua. The trip was rocky to say the least. It started with trying to maneuver around fishing lines and pangas, then we hit strong currents and mushy waves. For a 24 hour trip it seemed like 4 days, but we were happy to arrive at Marina Puesta del Sol, again another beautiful place. It is a really beautiful country and the people are always smiling and very friendly. My new favorite dish is plantains and hot sauce with an ice cold Victoria. The beach is in walking distance and the doggies love checking out the loose chickens, cows, horses and dogs. Lots of loose dogs. I wish I could take all of them with us, one was very skinny and sweet, he needed a home desperately but I came to my senses.

We took the van into Chinandega yesterday to do some heavy provisioning and shared the ride with a very nice Dutch couple named Antoon & Rita and a very nice couple from England named Paul & Lynn whom we met at the marina. They are all heading south as well so we hope to keep in touch with them. Today we were inspected by the navy in order to clear the country. All went well and and we are leaving Nicaragua around 5pm today and headed to Costa Rica which will take about 22 hours at 6 knots.

Sam