El Salvador & Honduras
COST : £372.24 (£33.84 a day)
CURRENCY : USD $ // Lempiras L
DATE : 16th September - 27th September 2022
DURATION : 11 days
AGE : 21
TOP APPS : Currency Converter / Reverso Contexto / Travel Spend
Changing plans is an inevitability of travel. So when I heard of an outbreak of dengue happening in Cuba and decided not to go, this became my adventure!
Whilst I feel like lumping two countries together doesn’t do them justice, I had just over one week to spend exploring them both, so this just seems more logical.
First off, reimagining the misconceptions: these countries are not the dangerous gang-ridden murder capitals of the world that outsiders perceive them to be. Yes, there are dangers, and yes, like any good traveller should, be wary, but I can say with certainty that I appreciated my time here more than my other adventures in Central America.
The reason for this is that there is less tourism and more authenticity, people are genuine. I could also have conversations with them in español at this point, thus my experience of travelling changed. I was also sola, without a project to work on. I was free!
Contents:
💗🩵 El Salvador: Largaza Hostal / San Salvador / Ruta de las Flores & Santa Ana
🤍 Border Trips
💗🩵 Honduras: D&D Brewery and Cofradía / Tegucigalpa
Largaza Hostal
How does one describe paradise ?
There is a hidden hostal on the coast of El Salvador called Largaza. Here, one can sleep in a dorm for £15 (scrumptious breakfast included). Then, later in the day, after some yoga in the sunshine, become absolutely, perfectly, shnozzled with a bartender who pours the drinks strong. One can then wonder down to a pristine beach where they fall in love with the world and their place in it.
I cannot describe my paradise in any better terms but in all seriousness, if you are in El Salvador, (which you should be) visitar this lugar !
The trip was also made all the more special by the wonderful adventure I took to get there. Gekko adventures can organise this for you. However in my case they told me that there was no availability. So me, being me, decided to just go for it on my own 🤙 After waking up at 6am in Nicaragua, I got a taxi, a bus, another taxi, and then funnily enough ended up meeting with the Gekko tour group at the port. Turns out there was space after all and I was thrilled!
It costs $50 and after an amusing border check, with a sniffer dog who I swear, couldn’t even smell, we enjoyed the two and a half hour boat to a sleepy coastal village in El Salvador. (For context, this avoids a 10-hour bus ride through Honduras and twice the amount of border checks.)
I made small talk with the smiley border guard, got a tamale and a cerveza and enjoyed the VIP direct shuttle to Largaza, arriving at 8.30pm.
One of my fav parts was chatting with the drivers in this incredible journey. I was able to practice my espanol whilst understanding their thoughts and beliefs. The same happened with the staff at Largaza, who, whilst serving me the bluest (and strongest) Long Island Iced tea of my life, reminded me of how lucky I am to be young, free, and able to travel, especially as a solo female.
San Salvador
The capital city. I visited the Museo de La Palabra y La Imagen, which gave me historical context of the struggles El Salvador has suffered. I tried visiting two more museums, but on a quiet Monday in the low season of tourism, nothing was open. At least I did see some awesome street art as I was walking the 24,000+ steps I took that day. Eventually, however, I gave up trying to be cultured, said fuck it and took myself to the cinema 👌 also, try the goddamn pupusas; they’re incredible !
Ruta de las Flores + Santa Ana
Here is an excerpt which summarises why I went, and why I enjoyed La Ruta de Las Flores :
“Travelling through slowly and purposefully is like a meander through the story of El Salvador; a series of villages, each with a mix of colonial architecture and indigenous tones”
Slightly rose tinted. The reality is that it’s very noisy, with lots of crazy sights, sounds and smells. You generally just get to immerse yourself in the country in whatever way that presents itself to you.
Santa Ana is an especially lovely city in the north.
The market, cathedral and El Tazumal, an ancient Mayan temple, are great places to understand Salvadoran heritage and culture 💚
Border Trips
218 to El Tazumal!
These are the buses you travel on. Funky as fuck and bumpy af too . . .
but I love them.
They’re called chicken buses. No real clue why. I suppose sometimes there are chickens on them.
There’s also oftentimes lots of people selling lots of things.
You can buy your lunch, a phone charger and medicine all in one ride !
D&D Brewery 🍷 and Cofradía
This beautiful hostel is in the North of Honduras, just outside of San Pedro Sula. It is in the middle of the jungle and it was here that I met my old friend Brieuc from Thabarwa. The hostel is walking distance from Lago de Yojoa where we went on an incredible 5-hour kayak. Don’t have any photos but here’s one I found online below.
Like something from a story book right?
Well. We may have got a little stranded when Brieuc’s kayak started sinking in a storm that came out of nowhere and made us feel like we were in a sequel of The Truman Show. But all in all a very pleasant experience finished off with a damn good shot of tequila 🌞
After our stay here we headed to a sweet town called Cofradía. Brieuc had been volunteering as an English teacher here and showed me around. We enjoyed mega baleados (a typical dish that is similar to a tortilla) the main square, a river with a bunch of cows and a nice breakfast on the porch (he’s a cheffie chef).
Tegucigalpa
Afterwards, I spent one night in the capital, Tegu, and wish I could have stayed longer.
I did get out a little, however, on a nighttime ‘run’, which was practically impossible due to street dogs, cars, and the absence of pavements.
But it does prove that a random tourist can go running in the previous murder capital of the world with no incidents whatsoever (or maybe she just really lucky).
Aside from that I didn’t have time to do much but now I actually know how to say Tegucigalpa without butchering it 🤣
This was the I made; I travelled from San Pedro Sula to Panama city (over 2000km) over 4 days of non-stop buses: a mixture of chicken buses and Tica Bus (the larger branded operator). I made some wonderful friends, like Matias from Chile and the other Matias from Argentina 😌 and reconnected with old friends (Caleb, Doña Maria, Manon and Léana). I also managed to get the last seat on the final bus from San Jose to Panama City - so lucky!!
I reflected on my trip up until this point as I was retracing my steps (dando vueltas) and finally made it to Panama in time to catch my flight to Dominican Republic :)
