El Salvador wasn’t originally a country we intended to visit - partly because of its reputation and partly because of a lack of time. We did however have to pass through El Salvador en route to Guatemala. Actually to catch a shuttle from Nicaragua to Guatemala you travel through Honduras and El Salvador - 4 countries in the space of 15 hours! Our Shuttle stopped for two hours at a small coastal town called El Tunco in El Salvador so the passengers could have lunch etc. When we pulled up we couldn’t believe what we saw, a small little beach town with great surf, beautiful palm tree and jungle lined coastline, friendly locals and plenty of cheap little cafe’s, restaurants and bars.
Tommy and Emma who we were still traveling with suggested we come back there after a week in Guatemala, it is only a 5 hour shuttle form Antigua to El Tunco. Initially we said while the idea sounded good it wasn’t really going to work as there was more of Guatemala we wanted to see, however after a night to sleep on it we changed our minds and after one week in Guatemala headed back across the border to El Tunco.
El Tunco proved to be one of the favorite places we visited during our trip. The locals are very friendly and eager to promote the area and tourism in order to try and improve the poor reputation El Salvador has internationally. A classic example is one local guy we meet spent two hours with Tommy and I looking around the various surf shops trying to find two decent hire surf boards at a good price. Eventually we found the boards and we offered the guy a tip/beer/lunch and he refused to take anything, he simply asked that when we go home we tell our friends that El Tunco is great and tell them to come visit! Crime in the area is virtually non existent and any crime is swiftly dealt with by the local community.
El Tunco is very unique in that you can see the sun rise and set over the water, something I have never seen before. It rises over the water to the south and sets over the water to the north, the sunsets are the most beautiful we have seen. Most tourists and locals head down head down to the beach in the evening with a couple of beers and sit along the boardwalk, have a beer and watch the sunset. The weekends are busy with a lot of families coming down from San Salvador (45mins away) for the weekend. It is a very chilled and relaxed environment.
Tommy and I went out for dawnies every morning and spent most of our day in and out of the water while Jen and Emma got stuck into yoga and workouts. Other than that we chilled in the hammocks, drunk beer and played cards. There is one main street with all the bars and restaurants and we would head there every night for $1 beers and cheap meals. It is a great atmosphere as all the locals you see out in the surf are cruising around most nights and are always happy to say hi and have a yarn. The El Salvadorians love to promote their little piece of paradise and are eager to ensure you are happy and spread the word that El Salvador is a good place to visit and worth the trip.
After a week of sun and surf we were back in the shuttle and heading to the cross the El Salvador/Guatemala border for the third time in 8 days!