El Salvador salvaged(finally)

What is it with me and road trips?  Let’s backtrack to Monday and the latest attempt at going back to El Salvador. I had the shuttle arranged but not the bus. I had a verbal reservation bus-wise for Monday afternoon, leaving Guatemala City and arriving 5 hours later in San Salvador. What I didn’t have was a way around the Monday morning hell that serves as a massive traffic jam in Guatemala City. The driver was excellent and he took every back street, every short cut known to man. But…the bus had just left. Do I go back to Antigua and return in the morning for the 5:30 am departure or do I stay in the City and get up early but less so than if I were in my own bed? I chose Plan B, and hastened to my downtown hotel-haven, a few blocks away from the National Palace and the Grand Plaza. A little stroll, some photos, a Wendy burger and lights out.

My cabbie was on the dot at 4am. The door was locked and there was no sign of the guard. I turned on lights and made noise. I finally unlocked the entire front gate, slipped through and tried to close it as much as possible from the street side. The guard can explain it. The bus left on time and we quietly rumbled through the darkened streets, with no traffic: a quick exit from the environs of Guatemala City. The border guards barely glanced at my new visa, gave me the exit stamp and we’re outa there. Two hours later, San Salvador! Shiny new city, lights aglow, streets wide and clean. If I ever choose to live in a city again, this would be it.
 

The famed British Club, that expat watering hole of adventurers? Closed two years ago, per my local sources…so much for fresh information. That left extra posters from the American Legion, that I was taking as a favor, for the interior of the famed gentlemen’s club, Lips. Dan, the eccentric owner, will place them somewhere.

Naturally this involved going to the aforesaid club, in the company of an old friend from Havana. I tried to be good and avoid the sights (and I was fairly successful, thanks to a strong moral fiber and poor vision) and we only stayed for a few hours…we were talking business and politics in the sanctity of his office and yes, he did have closed circuit video of the premises and activities (and I only looked up once or twice…maybe three times).

And yes, the beaches…finally…beautiful, 30 minutes from San Salvador and a surfer’s heaven.

A tour of Joya de Cera, the Mayan version of Akrotiri and the vast depths of El Boqueron followed the next day, with the bus being late (welcome to Central America) and further delayed by traffic in Gautemala City…and finally home, seven hours later..so, you want to be a travel writer?