Arriving in El Salvador, after my good but tiring day, I just went directly to the hotel, had a hot shower and very good meal. I was just too shattered to go anywhere and San Miguel is a big busy city and I am not a huge city fan.

I like El Salvador however have noticed two things. The first is that there is a lot more garbage littering the roads and the drivers are not as good as those in the other Central American counties I have visited so far. Generally I have had no issues with the drivers in Central America they are nothing like a lot of countries in South America, but so far the ones in El Salvador are my least favourite.

 Lake Coatepeque (pic borrowed off net as my battery died)

Since Central American counties are so small there is no need to get up early to travel from one end to the other unless you have a border crossing as it pays to get to the borders early.  So I slept in and left for Apaneca at 9:30 am. I took it easy stopping to take pictures and visit Lago Coatepeque which is stunning, just as my camera battery died – NOTE to self always CHARGE the camera battery. Shortly after the lake I stopped to fill up and get a drink and think I found one reason the El Salvadorian drivers are not that great. There was a covered eating area just next to the petrol station and a car park with about 6 to 8 cars and a couple of bikes. The seating area was almost full of guys who would go to the shop at the petrol station buy a six pack and sit and drink. It seemed to be the social Saturday thing to do and I am damn sure there were no designated non drinking drivers. They were relaxed not falling over drunk and a few of them greeted me when I sat down at one of the tables. It was all quite chilled but I was still a bit shocked coming from a no tolerance country.

 Santa Ana Volcano (pic borrowed off net as my battery died)

The road to Apaneca is along the ‘route de Flores’ and it is quite lovely, I also passed the Santa Ana Volcano. Another enjoyable riding day completed successfully.

Apaneca must be one of the smallest towns I have stayed it, it is extremely quiet but very quaint. Some of the streets are cobbled and many of the buildings are painted with nice pictures. I’m staying in a lovely family run place with cabanas and have decided to stay for 2 nights. I feel like I need to slow down and smell the roses. The Central American countries are so small it is easy to just shoot through them when you are used to riding 400 to 500kms a day so a 250km day is nothing. Most days I just ride in the morning and spend the afternoons exploring or chilling. However I think I need to do more sightseeing and am seriously looking forward to seeing the Mayan ruins at Tikal in Guatemala.

Sitting having a coffee in the hotel restaurant and this little cutie puts his paws on the windowsill and barks at me demanding some of my cake. He nearly got cake and a new home.

The hotels had the most beautiful gardens full of unusual statues.

Apenaca

On my rest day in Apaneca other than just strolling around, taking in the scenery and watching a couple of squirrels play in a tree, I went to Juayua. Juyua is another small town in the area just a little bigger than Apeneca and it hosts a Sunday market and food festival. It was great, packed with locals and lots of local food. The market had your usual cheap tat but also a lot of nice fresh fruit and veggies and local arts and crafts. There was music playing and it was very festive, I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon there. I have liked visiting El Salvador and am looking forward to seeing what Guatemala has to offer.

Juayua

Juayua food festival. One of the many tents filled with people and good food

Sitting in a coffee shop just watching the world go round, it’s amazing the interesting things you see. The dress flapping in the breeze was somehow just poetic.

I got another cute visitor on my last night in the cottage at Las Cabanas hotel, prior to the kitten I had two squirrels playing outside my window. They wee camera shy so I sadly could not get  a good picture of them.