Another beautiful day on the beach in Playa El Tunco. Josh and Sarita took a surf lesson which was much more difficult than the one we´d taken at Playa Maderas in Nicaragua. The surf was pretty rough and very aggressive. Josh came back with a cut on his toe and Sarita seasick. They both had a great time despite the minor setbacks. We stayed on the beach until the late afternoon and had lunch again until the sunset on the beach. It is great when the service is relaxed and you have no where important to be.
When we returned to the lodge, we realized that there was no running water! We were unable to go in the pool to rinse off as we were all completely covered with sand. The lodge caretaker suggested we shower with a bucket...we paused and looked at each other before cracking up. It ended up being a great time because we just had a water fight and then jumped into the pool. Who knew that showering with a bucket could be so entertaining?
At night, we arranged for our airport driver to come pick us up in the morning for our journey to Honduras before going to the finest hotel on the beach for dinner. Hotel Roca Sunzal was pretty Americanized where the other venues on the beach were completely local to Salvadoreños. Although we all appreciated the local flavor, we were intrigued by this new spot.
The next morning, Gonsalo (our driver) arrived promptly at 9 and we headed out for the border at El Amatillo, Honduras. It took approximately 3 hours for us to arrive and once there, we walked through customs and across the border into Honduras. Of course we were hungry (again), so we stopped in to a ¨comedor¨or local eatery for lunch. The waitress looked at us as if she had never seen tourists before and offered us a choice of simply beef, chicken or fish. The food was outstanding and very typical as I had learned of comedors in my Spanish lessons. Following lunch, we walked to find another cab to take us to San Marcos de Colon, a small town bordering the Nicaraguan ¨frontera¨where we planned to stay the night. Upon our walk, Sarita stopped short and screamed when she found her name to be the national brand of ice cream. She was so excited that the family who ran the shop came out and wanted to be in pictures with her. It was hysterical.
The family helped us to find a trustworthy ride to San Marcos de Colon. We hopped in the car and 3 hours later found ourselves in the quaint, quiet border town. We were able to secure a room at the Hotel Colonial which we´d read about in the guide book before going to explore our surroundings. There were loads of cowboys wandering around town. It seemed pretty quiet and friendly. We went in to Restaurante Bonanza to look at the menu for dinner and the owner was so happy to see us that she assured us a table for later on in the evening. When we returned, the waitress was preparing for a party and let us know that the only food available to us was grilled chicken, but that we would not regret it...the food was great, but it turned out, there was a nursing school graduation that entered the restaurant shortly after. People were announced upon entry to the restaurant and songs were sung. Speeches were given and awards presented. We were laughing so hard as we were elevated and everyone in town was staring at us and wondering why we were at the graduation. When we wanted to leave, we also made a scene as we had to part the people in order to make it toward the doorway. As soon as we left the restaurant again, we burst out into laughter. What a night!
Early the next morning, we packed up and headed to the market for a minibus which would take us to the border with Nicaragua at El Espino. The ride was only 7km, but they packed enough people into the minivan that it seemed to be much longer than that. Along the way, the driver would stop and ask more people if they needed a ride to the border as well, very typical. Upon reaching the border, we again walked across a bridge into Nicaragua and only had to pay a tax and show our passports before entering the country officially.
Once we´d squared away our paperwork, a bus driver approached us and asked to where we were headed. Upon hearing Esteli, we were boarded onto the international King Quality bus and headed there. An hour later we arrived to Esteli where we found ourselves at Hotel Mariflor where we dropped our things. We had a great lunch at a local bakery we´d read about and then toured the town in search of the famous cigars, coffee and cowboy attire. Turns out, we´d needed to reserve tours before hand and had difficulty finding what we were looking to do.
After a few hours of wandering around the city, we made an executive decision to leave the hotel and continue our journey on to Leon. We paid part for our hotel as we hadn´t spent the night and hailed a cab on the street who agreed to take us to Leon although he didn´t know where it was or how far he´d be going...ridiculous. The road ended up being terrible between the two cities and our supposed 3 hour drive ended up being 5 and a half! Once we finally arrived to Leon, he fought with us about the price we´d originally agreed upon (because he didn´t know where he was agreeing to go). We settled the dispute rather quickly and got into a local cab to find a place to stay. As it was close to New Years and Christmas, many of our top choice hostels were full, but we had the help of a great consierge who found us a room at the Hotel Real.
Hotel Real is a very centrally located, clean and affordable hotel which was perfect for our needs. They were able to accommodate our timeframe as well. We were so happy to have arrived to Leon that we ran out for dinner and to celebrate. We found the restaurant at hostel Via Via which would become our ¨go-to¨for the remainder of the time in Leon.
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