Sunny El Salvador

Well, we just meant to pass through El Salvador but got held up at the beaches along the way for a week! It was nice to relax and not worry about 'what's next' every day... not to mention work on our tans and read a few books. I've now read five books - Jody's almost through his first :) After Sarah's Key I read 'The Glass Castle' (Jeannette Walls). The way this book is narrated reminded me of the classic Aussie film "The Castle" which I enjoyed! Next I read 'Room' (Emma Donoghue), which is told from the perspective of a 5 year old boy in the way in which he speaks and views the world, making it a bit of a difficult read at times, but a good book none-the-less. Since then, I've gotten into 'The Hunger Games' series (Suzanne Collins) - I breezed through the first two books in four days and was dying for a Wifi connection to download the third one! (Jenn Twohey - we'll have to compare notes on this series!!) It is such a relief to read books for pleasure and not for CFA purposes.... not to rub it in, study buddies!!

We hit three different beach towns along the coast of El Salvador, starting with El Zonte. It was a real surfer's hub with big waves and a very laid back feel. The sunsets were incredible:

From there we went to El Tunco beach which had a bit more going on, relatively. Our daily routine basically consisted of breakfast, beach, pool, afternoon nibble, more pool, beach for sunset, dinner, beers, bed - repeat. Here's another beauty:

The local surfers were great entertainment around sunset:

We rented a surfboard one day and Jody gave it a go, but the waves were pretty big and the current was really strong so it wasn't the most successful attempt! I mostly just played in the waves alongside and cheered him on. From there we went to Playa San Diego for a few days and did much of the same. Sunset swims were fun and were one last attempt at cooling off for the day:

We're now back in San Salvador and leave tomorrow for Leon, Nicaragua on a bus that they've promised to be a luxury coach; at this point anything is a step up from the 'first class' bus we took from Guatemala to El Salvador! The people of El Salvador have been very welcoming, friendly, and helpful. San Salvador is actually a really nice city; surprisingly modern & clean in many areas, and feels quite safe. We regret not having seen more of the country but the tourism industry seems to be in its infancy here which makes it very difficult to get information and travel to places - we'll just have to come back in a few years, I guess! Side note: a beach front property with a house, pool and big lot with palm trees goes for about $50K U.S. ... tempting!!
Hope everyone at home is well and having a happy Valentine's Day with your loved ones!! xoxo