SanlorenzotoBarillas2007

SAN LORENZO TO BARILLAS (EL SALVADOR) and a visit to GUATEMALA

We remained in San Lorenzo for a little over two weeks but time was passing and we needed to move on. Thus on Tuesday the 25th of September we heaved up our anchors and moved off down river to Amapala Harbour on Isla Tigre. Here we found a very pleasant anchorage just off the Naval Base, sheltered from the south by a small Island that lies close by Isla Tigre, blocking off the southerly swells. It transpired later that the nice house on the shore here belongs to Fred, Armundo’s brother. He came by to say hello, offer his services and the use of his beach for getting ashore. This was a rather nice gesture and we certainly felt welcomed, I think there has, in the passed, been some negative press with regards to anchoring off Amapala; mainly being bothered by people begging in canoes. Things have changed rapidly in the past couple of years, land on the island is becoming sort after and property prices are rising, money is trickling down the chain and the more desperate poverty of the past is receding; you are now more likely to find that you are welcomed as an equal rather than a wealthy foreigner.
Although we remained in this anchorage for two days we never did go ashore. After the hectic social life of San Lorenzo there was much to catch up on. One job was the cleaning of the hull below the waterline; at high water, slack tide, the water became clear enough for me to see a few feet and that was enough. Fortunately it was mainly slime and not too many barnacles!

Our main reason for using this anchorage was because it made a very convenient staging post for our next destination. We were headed for Barillas Marina in El Salvador and wanted to arrive off the entrance just a couple of hours before High Water. With the tides as they were this required an early morning departure and the Amapala Anchorage was nice and easy for us to leave in darkness. We were fortunate however that there was a little moonlight to help us avoid the many fishing floats that dot the whole area.

Our early morning departure gave us an offshore breeze and we stormed out of the Golfo de Fonseca with a full tide under us which we carried most of the way to the Barillas entrance; thus arriving at the ‘Pilot Area’ a little ahead of when we had intended. After a few calls on the VHF we established that there was a boat on its way out to guide us over the Bar. This is a free service offered by Barillas Marina so there was no point in trying to be heroic, going it alone. The Bar here can get quite dangerous and local knowledge is essential due to the shifting nature of the various sandbanks and channels.

The Barillas Marina Panga soon showed up and we followed them over the bar and up the channel to the Marina. There were a few areas of ‘small breakers’ going in and we did get a little water on deck however I believe this was because we were early and the tide was ripping in through the entrance, pushing us along at nine knots!
The term Marina is a little misleading for Barillas; it is really a club for the more wealthy members of the Salvadorian society. There is not much in the way of docks; instead they have put down a substantial amount of moorings in a wide but protected channel through the mangroves in Bahia de Jiquilisco. The Club is very nice, it has a good restaurant, swimming pool and showers, the security is excellent and the price is within most budgets. The whole area is a nature reserve so there are plenty of things to see, even from the boat. We had an Alligator that would sit on the mud bank only yards from the boat and sun himself whilst the tide was low. There were also many species of birds; some of them attracted no doubt by the well kept grounds of the Marina Club.

Most people however come to Barillas because it’s a great place to leave a boat unattended whilst going inland to tour in Central America and this was our situation also. It was our intention to tour the western part of Guatemala, see a little of El Salvador and combine it all with me getting a replacement Passport at the British Embassy in Guatemala City.

Clearing in at Barillas was very smooth, they have everything to hand, not just because of the visiting yachts but because they also have a lot of guests that arrive by private airplane on the Clubs large Grass Strip. Once all our paperwork was done we were able to get to work on cleaning up the boat and preparing it to be left for a couple of weeks. We were also able to meet up with a few of the other yacht owners who were down at their boats, most of whom had already been out touring. It was nice to meet up with some fellow cruisers as we hadn’t seen too many of them over the preceding months; we gleaned some good information both for our tour and for the forthcoming voyage north

The Marina operates a free shuttle bus to the nearest town where visitors can go shopping for a couple of hours twice a week. Without this Barillas would be a rather difficult location as it is very remote (which I guess helps make it so secure!).
On Tuesday the 2nd of October we got a lift on the free shuttle which took us up to Usulatan about forty-five minutes drive from the Marina. There was no one going shopping so the driver kindly took us direct to the local bus station and deposited us in front of the next ‘Sevicio Directo’ coach which was headed out to San Salvador, the Capital. The service seemed far from ‘directo’ but it was better than the average ‘Chicken Bus’ and we made the journey in three hours arriving at 1300hrs. We picked up a taxi and rode into the big city where we had already been recommended to a ‘cheap and cheerful’ hotel within walking distance of the ‘King Quality’ bus terminus.

We had heard much about ‘King Quality’ from others that had been touring and we were not disappointed, they provide first class transportation throughout most of Central America and it is well worth the few extra dollars above what a normal coach service would cost. Once we had checked in at our hotel and left our bags in the room, we headed down the road and reserved our seats for the next morning’s early departure headed for Guatemala City. It was a very smooth process and we got great seats in the front row above the driver.’
A little further down the road there was a Pizza Hut, exactly as one would find one in the U.S., so we popped in for a little lunch and coffee whilst planning an afternoon in San Salvador. We decided to go and have a look at the Mall’s; San Salvador has a few, including the largest Mall in Central America. You may wonder why we weren’t seeing the Museums or the wonderful churches; even exploring the older part of the City…. We’d had enough of that for a while and seeing as the opportunity was there, we wanted a reminder of what life was like back in the ‘first world’! Thus we picked up a Taxi and went to check out two of the Mall’s nearest our hotel, there wasn’t much that we wanted and even less that we bought but it was a nice change. I was surprised to find so many of the local Salvadorians out spending money on luxury items and there were plenty of them about, from Fast Cars to huge Flat Screen TV’s. In fact there was everything you’d expect to find in any ‘State-side’ Mall; which just goes to show how advanced El Salvador is compared with its neighbours.
Our hotel was not the most brilliant around but it was convenient, we slept well and received an early wake up call in the morning so that we could be up and ready for our 0630 bus down at the King Quality terminus. Every thing went perfectly and our bus left on time with us in our ‘ringside’ seats, it was very comfortable and well appointed. The stewardess came around and gave us cushions, blankets and even headphones to watch the on board movie; it was more like flying than bussing!

It was noticeable, from our vantage point, that El Salvador was spending a lot of money on roads and infrastructure, also that there was quite some pride in home ownership as many of the houses we saw had neat gardens with flowers and the owners had found some bright paint to apply covering the drab grey concrete that so many of these Central American homes display. As soon as we crossed the boarder into Guatemala we noticed the standard of road finish deteriorate and pot-holes were interspersed with temporary repairs making the road a patchwork quilt of unevenness!

We came into Guatemala City down a steep hill from which we overlooked the sprawling mass of urban development; it looked much better from a distance than it did close up!
At the terminus the bus reversed into a huge garage and then the metal doors were swung closed so that both the passengers and the luggage could be discharged in relative safety.
Guatemala City has a very high crime rate; it’s the murder capitol of Central America and not a place to be trifled with.
Unfortunately we had not been able to get any good Hotel recommendation here, most people don’t hang around and they get the first bus out of town to someplace better. We were forced to stay as I had to visit the Embassy and it was by this time closed for the day. The only thing we had was an address for a Guest House which we were assured would at least be clean, thus we jumped in a taxi and headed in that direction.
On arrival outside, we both looked at each other and I could tell Paula was having the same doubts that I was. I guess it was mainly due to the area, which I would say looked rather ‘unsafe’ and run down at first glance. Almost on the point of giving up to try elsewhere we plucked up courage and decided to at least have a look, the door was eventually opened by a young lad who was caretaker to the property which was owned by a chap who operated a Guest House in ‘Chichi’. The actual room and the bed were fine, we weren’t struck on having to use a separate bathroom but we decided to stick it out rather than risk jumping from frying pan to fire. There was an unexpected bonus when it turned out that we were only a few minutes walk from the ‘Miraflores Mall’, at least we now had somewhere to waste away the rest of the afternoon and somewhere to eat without having to venture to far into the badlands of Guatemala City. On reflection the area that we were in probably wasn’t so bad when compared to others; it was just that the whole city is a third world urban sprawl. Anyone with any money lives way outside of town in a ‘gated’ development with good security!
We survived and the next morning took a taxi to the Embassy instructing the driver to call at a bank on the way so that I could draw out some money to pay for my Passport(s). I had tried the local ATM’s but they were all very limited in what they could dispense and a new British Passport is now so expensive that you almost require a mortgage to afford one………. The taxi driver called in at the Banco Uno where I was treated to a great display of how to make a simple and speedy transaction both difficult and prolonged. It was over half an hour later that I emerged from that one, tearing my hair out and trying not to dwell on the fact I was paying my taxi to stand by for the duration.
The British Embassy is in a nice new Tower Block in a more ‘up-market’ area on the outskirts of the City. The security was awful but they did have lovely views from out the windows, service was quite good; which I found unusual as normally our Civil Servants are far from ‘Civil’ and display the attitude of, ‘how dare you bother me with your problem?’ Due to the time constraints involved in getting a new ‘Full’ Passport, I was stuck with having to secure a Temporary Passport here and then apply on line for a Full Passport from the Embassy in Mexico City within the next year; it was an added expense but unavoidable in our circumstances.

Having dealt with the Embassy we were ready and raring to go, I managed to haggle a taxi driver down to decent price for taking us to Antigua and off we went, rather glad to be getting out of the big city and on our way to exploring what we’d come to see. Our driver was practicing for Formulae One and did the whole journey at break neck speed. He was however quite proficient, as when we hit some moving water on a fast curve and the back end started to slide, he corrected nicely and we fishtailed out of it with only a few more grey hairs.

Antigua was even better than we had expected, very old yet tastefully up-market; apart from the ‘McDonalds’ and a few other ‘U.S. Cultural Exports’……
We were dropped of at the Parque Central and found our hotel just around the corner; the Casa Rustica del Parque. It was a little rustic but the room was clean, as was the en suite shower / toilet and the price was good for a central location ($23/night). Once ‘checked in’ we used the rest of the day to explore and familiarize ourselves with this beautiful old city. In many ways it reminded us of Trinidad in Cuba but on a much grander scale, it was very easy to see the wealth and prosperity that had once caused this to be one of the premier cities in the whole of Central America. As was the way of things then, the Church was very much a part of and benefactor from any prosperous ventures. Hence there are many churches in Antigua but unfortunately most are in a sad state of repair for these large buildings were never designed to withstand the regular earthquakes which have, on occasion, shaken this area most violently.

Late in the afternoon we booked for a walking tour to the local Volcano, ‘Picaya’ with a pick up at 0600hrs the next morning in the Parque. We’d been well recommended to this tour and for only seven dollars each it proved to be a wonderful experience.

That evening we did the Mexican Tacos and walked it off around the town, it was nice to be able to do this whilst feeling quite safe and secure for most of the Central American towns we had visited up to this time, one would never consider stepping out after dark. The bed felt just a little damp when we jumped into it but I guess that goes part and parcel with the ‘rustica’ bit, we tend to forget that all these old buildings lack the ‘damp-course’ of more modern construction. Things were tough in the old days and the people were tougher also; occasionally it’s nice to sample a little reminder of just how good we have it these days!

After a good sleep we were up and about in the cool early morning, waiting for our 0600hrs transportation. He was only a few minutes late but that was fine as it gave a chance for the Café Condensa to open up allowing us a good cup of coffee to start the day with. We jumped in the van and it did a round of the town picking up other tourists who were embarked on the same adventure and when there was no more room we took off on the one and a half hour journey to the base of the Volcano.
On arrival we were met by our ‘official guide’ who handed out stout sticks (at a small price) to aid in the climb. We were also met by many locals with horses, these were referred to as ‘Taxi’s’…… “Hey mister, you want a taxi??” most were good looking animals and some had quite expensive saddles. We assembled as a group and started our climb; it was one and a half hours of fairly steep plodding however the path was well defined and steps had been inserted at the more difficult areas. There were a couple in their eighties along with us and whilst she was forced to take a ‘taxi’ after a valiant beginning, he managed it all the way with no more difficulty than some of the much younger members of the group were having……. At the top of our climb we were rewarded with a good view of the lava flow which was coming from a vent in the side of the volcano about three hundred meters below the summit. Once we’d re-grouped and let the stragglers catch up we descended onto the Flow for a closer look at where the fresh, molten lava was churning its way up to the surface. I’m sure that walking on an active lava flow is somewhat dangerous, especially where you can see it clearly through the fissures under ones feet however they obviously don’t have too many accidents………
I was able to get close enough to poke the fresh lava with my stick, setting the end alight as I’m sure many other stick holders before me had done; it was an unforgettable experience and a demonstration of the power of nature. Needless to say we took loads of pictures; this is not something you get to do that often!
The return trip was a little easier on the lungs but just as wearing on the muscles, our toes also suffered from being jammed up in the fronts of our walking shoes. It was however a great adventure and one that will remain with us for ever.

We returned to Antigua well worn out having almost fallen asleep in the van, but with a few hours of exploration time still available we quickly revived ourselves at the hotel and set out once more around town.

The next morning we were picked up by a shuttle outside our hotel at 0730hrs and once more did the rounds of the town, stuffing as many people as they could fit into the overworked little bus. By 0840hrs we were stuck in a major traffic hold up at road-works and the delay was one hour and twenty minutes! With over a hundred cars, busses and trucks all stopped and captivated in the middle of nowhere the Guatemalan spirit of free enterprise had swung into full gear. Along the roadside they had set up little stalls selling everything from food to bongo drums. It was truly amazing how many and varied are the vendors engaged in this enterprise, from small children trying to sell little dolls and trinkets through to older women with chicken and a deep fryer…… I don’t know where they all came from as there was no evidence of their personal transportation but there was a thriving little business community just sitting on the roadside.

When we got the signal to move off there was a free-for-all with all the Chicken Buses doing a Grand Prix racing start and barging to the front and as we moved along it was clear that the road-works had been going on for a while and would continue for some time to come.
Due to the delay we missed our connecting shuttle and found ourselves transferred to a local ‘Collectivo’ (worn out mini bus) for the journey from Los Encuentros onwards to Chichicastenango. Collectivo drivers are much the same as the Chicken Bus drivers and this one got away to such a flying start that half the goods that had been stored on his roof rack came flying off and ended up decorating the road and the ditch. We had to do some serious ‘backing up’ to recover everything; fortunately we travel light and our small back packs remain on our knees!
‘Chichicastenango’ rolls off the tongue with the same intriguing connotations as places such as Kapingamarangi or Marrakech. The locals however find it a bit of a mouthful and refer to it as ‘Chichi’ although it has been known by many other names in the past. This is home to the famous Market, probably not the biggest or even the best Market in Central America but certainly one of the most interesting and the most colorful! Sunday is the big Market Day and the vendors start rolling in and setting up on the Saturday, late afternoon. We also rolled up during the afternoon and soon found our way to a well recommended Guest House,’ El Arco’, located near the Arco Gucumatz. This turned out to be about the best value accommodation that we stayed in for the whole trip. It was a lovely room, lots of hot water in the shower and a nice balcony with a view over part of the town out towards the mountains (all for $23/night!).

We went for a walk around, mainly to get the lay of the land so that we would know the best places to be in the morning when the Market got going. It was certainly interesting to see and I was more than intrigued by the huge amounts of vegetables, that were being brought in to be sold. It was obvious that the tourists would not be buying these and the local Restaurants would no doubt have them delivered. Therefore there must be an awful lot of housewives that come into town from the surrounding countryside to do their Sunday morning shopping. I guess that is one of the nicer things about this set up, it’s not a Tourist Market, it’s mainly for the locals but the tourists come to enjoy it anyway.
We found a central Restaurant that had a balcony where we could have dinner outside whilst watching all the preparations taking place below us and afterwards went to check out the evenings activities for the locals. There wasn’t actually much except for the huddling round of fires and cooking pots with people trying to keep warm in the cool mountain air. The temperature certainly drops up here at night and you need a warm jacket to be out and about. We’d forgotten ours so didn’t hang around to long before returning to our accommodations, a hot shower and a good nights sleep.
Sunday morning and we were up and out at sunrise, not before most of the vendors however who were setting up shop where ever there was space. Those that were not working in this pursuit were hunched over open fires and cooking pots working on getting a little warmth for it was a chilly mountain morning. We did a round of the stalls and then went in search of breakfast which we managed to get in the same vantage point where we’d had dinner the previous evening. The town was humming with activity and amongst all this was the Mayan tradition, not just the very colourful costumes, of which there were plenty. There was also the thunderous explosion made by some portable mortar device that was being moved around, this was to ward off the evil spirits. Then on just about every street corner they were letting off the ‘Chinese Firecrackers’; the resulting clouds of smoke given off by these mingled with the fresh incense burned in little brass gourds suspended by a chain and wafted around by many wandering Mayans who seemed to be disinfecting the whole market area with whatever it was that they were burning. This early morning vista was mesmerizing and evaporated somewhat as the morning sun came up over the mountains, we were still pretty much alone as tourists and were grateful for the advice we’d received about getting here early.

There is no starting point and no end to the market at Chichicastenango, you suddenly conclude its running and at some stage when almost everyone has left, you know it’s over. Bus loads of people start to arrive, the housewives flood in from the neighbouring villages and soon after, there are the pale faces of the tourists; the more hardy travellers at first then the ‘fresh from the hotel’ brigade after 10am. Paula is ecstatic with the many and varied colours and our cameras are so overworked that we have to seek out an internet café where we can download what we have shot to our ‘jump drives’ freeing up more space for even more pictures. Of course it’s difficult to move a few yards without someone trying to sell you something and they do work very hard at it! We are not buying, just looking; we know that most of the tourist prices in the Chichi market can be bettered by some careful bargaining even in such places as Antigua. It’s also difficult to get photos as most of the Mayans are very camera shy, they believe that by stealing their image you are stealing a part of their soul…… maybe they’re right.

Before the mad exodus from the market, we cut out, collected our bags from “El Arco” and went looking for a ‘Collectivo’ mini bus to take us to Panajachel. Our driver for this trip could no doubt have been another Grand Prix Racer but in this case he was handicapped as, by the time we departed, we were so overloaded that the exhaust was bouncing on the road at every bump. There were twenty-two adults and three children crammed inside and the weight of another five adults, in shopping, on the roof. I don’t think we ever got out of second gear and the motor was screaming on even the milder of the hills. Still, we eventually lurched in Los Encuentros where we transferred to a Chicken Bus that rattled on down to Solola where we did yet another quick change onto the ‘Pana’ bus. The last part of this journey winds down the steep decent into the monstrous crater that holds Lago de Atitlan which shimmers away at the bottom and stretches away for miles towards the towering mountains and the breathtaking San Pedro Volcano. The decent gives you a new trust in brake design and a new appreciation of the Blue Bird Bus and Coach Company who must have built this particular bus over thirty years ago!

In Panajachel we did what we were not supposed to do and went to the first decent looking hotel that we came across; actually this was a lesson for us as we found that for just $10 (£4.80) more than what we were paying at the ‘el cheapo’s’ we could get a first class hotel with all the amenities…….
Having booked ourselves into the Hotel Primavera we freshened up and then went to explore the town. ‘Pana’, as everyone around here refers to it, is the gateway to Lake Atitlan and it is from here that most of the visitors take launches to the various destinations scattered around the lake. There are two towns on the opposite shores and several small villages, these are home to various Mayan sects and a whole load of ‘Gringo’s’ that have bought property for either investment or to live in and many others that are just hanging on in here because it seems like the right place to be; a lot of them seem to have been left over from the hippy generation.

Unfortunately it was here that the weather took a turn for the worse, a hurricane in the Caribbean was passing well to the north but the associated rain was being dragged across Guatemala. It did not dampen our enthusiasm however and the next day we took a water taxi across to San Marcos, a sleepy little hamlet, about an hour down the lake. Here we booked into the Hotel Jinava, which had been highly recommended to us by some other cruisers that we had met. San Marcos is a small village perched on the side of a mountain, mainly a retreat for people that want to escape from the fast lane for a while. It was quite a hike up to the village from the dinghy dock; not that it was much of a village. A few buildings, a very small Tienda (shop) selling very little, the Church and quite a large school. Our hotel was a little way up the main road and then, having entered through the gate it was another hike, most of the way through well tended gardens and scattered bungalows, back down almost to the lake shore where there was a reception.
They must have been going through a quiet patch as we were the only guests and had the choice of all the accommodations. We selected the bungalow that was highest up in their garden, this because it had a superb view over the lake to the San Pedro Volcano, also because it had a lovely balcony with a couple of chairs and a love seat outside. This turned out to be a smart move as we soon discovered that there is little to do in San Marcos other than sit and admire the view. We spent quite a few hours out on our little love seat gazing across the lake, the rain moved in and the view changed; the rain stopped and the view changed once again, it was never the same, a tapestry in endless motion…..

Late one afternoon we were checking out places to eat and stumbled into ‘Las Pyramides Meditation Centre’, a retreat for those seeking themselves; in the mental, emotional and spiritual sense that is. Here guests live in little Pyramid shaped buildings where the corners are pointed in the ‘right’ directions….. I could never work that sort of thing out but I guess some people need a little assistance in life; we didn’t leave ‘Spiritually Enlightened’ but we did get to enjoy a rather nice Spaghetti with herb sauce.
During our visit we did take a side trip over to San Pedro La Laguna travelling once more on a ‘Publico’, which is a communal shared water taxi and an interesting mode of transport. Looking up from the town dock on arrival one sees the impressive San Pedro Volcano looming over the town and in better weather conditions we may have thought about climbing it but this day, with curtains of rain drifting majestically across the lake, we decided only to explore the town. I can’t say I was that impressed with the place however, if I were a teenager trying to get one-on-one Spanish Language tuition on the cheap, this would no doubt be a great place to spend a couple of weeks.

Lake Atitlan is a place of scenic beauty and tranquil relaxation, if you are not into “beauty appreciation” or in need of relaxation then there is little else here to hold ones attention. As tourists we could easily have done the Lake on a day tour from Panajachel however I felt we made the right choice. Our ‘room with a view’ cut to the heart of the Lake Atitlan experience, to come here and not contemplate this majesty would indeed be a tragic waste.

From San Marcos we returned to Panajachel on an over-crowded ‘Publico’ stopping at just about every little dock along the way. The early morning boat was full of local women in their Mayan costumes with bundles of produce and handicrafts which they were going to sell in the Market and in the many stalls that line the streets of Pana where the tourists gather coming to and from the Lake.
We had another night at the ‘Pimavera’ and then early the next morning took a shuttle bus directly to the Guatemala City, a journey of about four hours. It was another unforgettable journey; the steep ascent out of the crater was by a different route than that on which we had arrived, it was even more scenic and twisted along narrow roads and through small villages. There was an early morning fog which slowed us down for a while and it was certainly quite cool up in the mountains. On route we got to see some of the damage that the heavy rains had caused, there were several land slides that had almost blocked the road in places and we could see both trees and power lines brought down (they must have had some wind up here that we missed down on the lake!).

Our shuttle bus dropped us right outside the British Embassy where it only took me a few minutes to secure my new Temporary Passport. This left us a few hours to kill before we were due to board our coach for the return leg to San Salvador. They run two coaches per day on the return leg, one at 0630 and the other at 1530hrs, we had opted for the afternoon one so as to avoid spending another night in Guatemala City. With a five hour journey this meant arriving in San Salvador late evening however we were confident in getting a room at the Bus Terminal Hotel.
The rain was still falling as a tropical depression swept across the Caribbean to the north of us so we decided to waste a few hours at the Pradera Concepcion Mall, on the outskirts of the city but not too far from the King Quality Terminal. We spent some time ogling all the latest electronic gadgets and toys, the things one ‘really must have’ when living ashore but have little use for the average Cruiser. Our time would probably have been better spent in the Hipper Market next door to the Mall where they sell more realistic and useful items but I didn’t realize that until it was too late. We negotiated out way into another taxi for the ride down to the King Quality but were still a little early so wandered around that location for a while. There were actually plenty of shops and services around in that area and we could have spent our free time there however ‘seeing more’ is always better than ‘seeing less’ when it comes to tourism!
As on our previous trip, our check in was painless and the Coach left on time; we could find no faults with King Quality. The journey was a great experience and again we had seats at the front above the driver with a panoramic view of all that we passed. It rained for most of the journey and there was no shortage of water on the roads which made it difficult for the driver to avoid the many potholes. We arrived on time and were quickly booked into the same room as we’d been in on the way out and the Pizza Hut at the bottom of the road served up dinner.
Early the next morning we caught a bus to Usulatan; ‘service especial’ this time. It didn’t make any difference, we stopped the same amount of times and the journey took the same three hours! The rain was still falling and was heavy at times; our bus hurled along at breakneck speed, no window-screen wipers and the driver holding an intense conversation with his colleague (the engineer / conductor). I’m not sure how he managed as I couldn’t even se the road at times, however I guess they do this trip so often the bus knows which way to go without assistance! Down on the coastal plains we encountered a lot of flooding, rivers had overflowed their banks and the farmers fields had turned into lakes. There were many houses with several inches of water running through them but the natives didn’t seem too perturbed, in one house we saw them sitting watching TV as a small river of water washed through their living room! We were a little worried that Barillas may be cut off and we might not get back but our worries were soon put aside when we rolled into Usulatan and saw the familiar bus parked outside the Don Juan Supermarket. We had a little time to do some shopping before we were whisked back to the Marina and eventually to the boat, it was still raining however and we were somewhat drenched by the time we were aboard with all our shopping.
The next couple of days were spent preparing the boat for our next leg and sorting through the hundreds of pictures we’d taken on our trip. We watched the weather forecasts and judged the tides so that we would have an easy exit over the Bar.

Next Stop Mexico

John & Paula