WE'RE OUTA' HERE!

Yes, it's time to leave for Ecuador but, as always, we hate to leave all our friends. We expected to stay 3 weeks and now it is almost nine weeks. We were delayed 2 days due to tropical storm Alma (the first of the season). Our trip to Ecuador should take around 10 - 12 days so we will be updating our blog via email. As we always say " The best time to leave is when you don't want to go."

PERSONAL SECURITY IN EL SALVADOR

For all of you who are considering traveling down here to Salvador: There is no need to bring your own security guard!! Well, that's a statement that we thought we'd never make. All of the well-to-do people here have their own personal security guards and most business establishments have at least one armed security guard. Not that it's dangerous here but, people with money are occasionally kidnapped and a guard costs about $10 per day. Jean and I took an overnight trip to San Salvador with our friends Mike & Mary to celebrate our Jean's birthday. One morning we took a taxi down to the central open-air market located right in the center of San Salvador (hence the name). We were stopped by these two city policemen who told us that we should be careful of pick-pockets and that we should be careful where we go. We thanked them and continued to stroll the markets. A little later we met up with the same officers. They called two of their officers over and assigned them to watch over us while we shopped! They also told them to follow us at a discrete distance and not be obvious. There you go...when did that happen last in San Francisco? Anyway, the open market is quite an experience. Jean and I have been down there twice and always enjoyed the sights and sound of the vendors. Name a vegetable and you can find it somewhere in the market. Fresh vegies, housewares, box California wine ($10 for 5 liters of Franzia Burgundy), hardware items, you name it. Of course, there are many places and many kinds of food from which to choose. This fella here, in the video, managed to miss his fingers while frantically chopping his cabbage. He does, however, look pretty nonchalant about it.

We had an interesting bus trip from Bahi del Sol to San Salvador. Here in Salvador, when it's time for the bus driver to get a drug and alcohol test they just pull the bus over to the side of the road and perform a breath and urine test right there! Our bus was pulled over right at the entrance to the bus terminal. The poor driver was given a little cup and he stood behind a bush and peed right there! Apparently, bus costumers are used to this as they just got off the bus and walked to the terminal from there.

We all stayed at a nice hotel near one of the large European-style malls and went to a nice steak house for Jean's birthday dinner. Four of us, four steaks, two bottles of wine, four top-of-the-line after-dinner drinks, and desert (plus included tip) $105. Ya gotta love it in El Salvador! No wonder we can't seem to get away from here.

SURFING INTO EL SALVADOR

So far twenty-eight boats have come into Bahia Del Sol this season. The other day six boats wanted to come in but the surf across the bar was too large and the wave period was too short so the boats had to anchor out for the night. The next morning we saw that the surf was a little smaller and occassionaly there were some long periods (relatively speaking) so the pilot decided that we could bring the boats over the bar. Sail boats are slow so the technique is to bring them close to the bar behind the breaking waves then, when the set passes, the sailboat goes full speed over the bar before the next wave set comes in. It works most of the time but, as you can see from this sequence of pictures, the 45-foot catamaran, Yachtman's Dream, had an extra exciting entrance. The first picture is from the pilot boat and the remaining were taken by Paradise Bound who was waiting outside to cross the bar. The surf was at least six-feet and moving quickly. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get all six boats safely over the bar. The pilot and I got pretty beat up in the rough surf but we still had a good time.

TESTING OUR EMAIL UPDATE SYSTEM

We just set up our email update system so we can update our blog while we're underway or away from a wireless station.

GREAT TIMES IN EL SALVADOR

The owner of Hotel Bahia del Sol asked us to help him with a print ad so Jean pulled me to the top of the mast and I took a few pictures then, a friend of ours created this ad for the hotel. We all hope this ad will help attract more cruisers to the area. I'm still volunteering to help bring the boats across the bar with the pilot boat. We go out and the pilot decides when we head in and I talk the boat through the maneuvers. It's great fun and so far 23 boats have come across the bar this season. We brought one boat in that had a nine-foot draft with no problems. The local fifty-foot sport fishers go in and out the bar all the time without a pilot but, sail boats have to wait for high tide to ensure that there is plenty of water and they need help locating the channel. We expect 3 to 5 more cruisers to arrive next week.

Eleven of us rented a panga for a day and took a tour of the mangrove estuary. We each paid $6 for the all-day trip. We first visited a small island in the middle of the mangroves that had mango trees all over. We all picked all we could hold. We then took a long site seeing trip in and out of the mangroves. At lunch time we stopped at a shore side palapa restaurant. As you can see from the picture it was very rustic and very Salvadorian. We all ordered the fish lunch. Five dollars for a medium fish and six dollars for a large one. Everything was freshly caught and cleaned then fried in a large pan over an open fire. The fish was served with ice-cold beers, deep-fried shrimps and cooked rice. We had a great view of the estuary and watched the weekend panga traffic cruise by. We saw a funeral procession consisting of 3 panga loads of people and one casket. We were told that they were giving the recently passed his final tour of the estuary.

After lunch we continued on to the Rio Lempa, the longest river in El Salvador. We beached at the mouth of the river and all took a cool, freshwater swim then scavenged the beach for any washed-up treasures. So, for the all-day trip, local guide, panga, and lunch it cost us $26 per couple.

We hadn't planned on staying in El Salvador this long but, it is so pleasant and beautiful we have a hard time pulling ourselves away, however, Ecuador is calling and we can't wait too long to leave due to the weather. Probably and week or two more here then off for a 10 or 12 day sail south of the Equator.