GUATEMALA TO EL SALVADOR

18th June saw an early morning departure from Guatemala – having received our paperwork later than expected, we decided to spend another night – expecting to get away early, and therefore without paying for it – WRONG. One thing you can’t fault at the marina Pez Vela in Guatemala is the tenacity of the security guards!!! So 0700 saw us head out to sea for our 48 hour passage to El Salvador. An uneventful passage with a little sailing and a lot of engining, arriving with Liberty Call off the Bahia Jiquilisco (Hi-ki-lis-co), awaiting the arrival of the Pilot panga that will guide us in and over the bar, past the shoals where the breakers are scary and nine miles up the river into paradise – baring the mosquito’s. Barillas marina is in fact mooring buoys ($11-20) per day in the river, surrounded by mangroves and alongside a very nice resort with pool, spa bath, bar, restaurant, hammocks swung in palm trees, all in all, a nice little stop. Here we find Maverick!!! Who we thought was in Costa Rica by now, but they arrived and 35 days later, where still here. They have in fact decided to leave their boat here – excellent shelter and great security – and fly back to Germany for 4 weeks. Three other cruising boats with people on board are still here (it’s now very out of season), and a handful of boats have been left here to shelter for the duration of hurricane season. We are still not quite out of the possible hurricane area, but El Salvador has never been hit to date. This is a fabulous place to relax. A 20 minute walk from the resort takes you into the forest where you will find partially tame – enough that they will come and take your banana’s – Spider monkeys swinging in the trees.

El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America and also the only once without both a Caribbean and Pacific coast. It is still however chiefly remembered for its vicious civil war in the 1980’s and although Peace Accords were signed in 1992 Peace Accords, the country still doesn’t attract the tourism enjoyed by its neighbours, Guatemala and Nicaragua. We took a ride into San Salvador, the capital, with Kurt and Agatha then they left for the airport, but returned back to Barillas later that day pretty uninspired. For me the city was bland and had no soul, the only redeeming feature I found was an amazing church, which from the outside looked like a solid concrete semi-circle without a single window, it was only on entering that it became apparent that concrete was inter-laced with the most beautiful abstract stain glass windows. The botanical gardens where not the best, but an oasis in what is otherwise a fairly ugly city.

So here we are, still in Barillas, making the most of the pool, the hammocks and the general air of relaxation. We will probably leave later in the week for Fonseca, where we hope to anchor at the islands for a few days snorkelling, before continuing on to Costa Rica.