We had to get two chicken buses to El Tunco with two hours of waiting around in the heat between them. During out wait we met another backpacker, André from Slovakia, as we were the only other white people in the bus station he decided to come over and say hi. He was also headed to El Tunco so we got the bus together. We also chatted to a local man who introduced himself to us once we had taken our seats on the bus, he told us that he spoke English and asked if he could chat to us. His son who is 15 lives in the US and he hoped to join him one day so wanted to practice his English. He was an interesting guy, he told us how he had been smuggled across the Mexican border to the US twice already but had been caught and sent back and he was hoping better English would help next time. It costs around $20,000 USD paid to the Mexican mafia to be smuggled he told us helpfully. He also asked us about England and was shocked to hear we had our own currency, he’d never heard of the pound and found it crazy it was worth more than a USD for a currency only the British use. He got off the bus before us but helpfully told us where we needed to stop.
It was safe to say we were less than impressed with our hostel and the area in general. The hostel was full of very clique surfers who didn’t seem to be interested in talking to anyone who wasn’t a surfer. The bunk beds were also very flimsy, so I made Grace take the top bunk, for fear of turning over in the night and crushing her to death as the bed collapsed. Hopefully with Grace on the top bunk there was less of a chance of imminent death but still every time either of us moved, it would start the whole thing rocking and wake you up. The beach town wasn’t great either, the beach itself was made up of rocks about 10cm across and was not very clean, the town was geared for parting with blaring music from every bar from 9am in the morning. It was also soo soo hot. It felt like Magaluf had been put in a sauna. It is interesting how the most ‘touristy’ resort in El Salvador was actually the place we’d enjoyed least in the country.
We persevered for two nights there but we would still have another three before we could build our plane to Costa Rica so we scouted about towns nearby and ended up payinf way too much ($70 a night) for a beautiful double room in a hotel in the town next to El Tunco called El Zone. But it was worth it to get out of there. The beach in El Zonte was sandy, much cleaner and without bars blaring musoc, it just had local restaurants. Although it seemed they’ve already started building everywhere and the hopes to make it the next El Tunco, which would be a real shame.
It was absolute luxury a huge double bed, warm shower, Aircon and a lovely pool. We decided to treat it as a vacation from our vacation and eat at a lovely restaurant on the beach each night even splurging out on glasses of wine and a desert or two.
While we were there grace wanted to do a surfing lesson. After various lessons where I have proven my incompetence and had pretty much paid to almost drown, I’ve given up on my dream of being a pro surfer, deciding it was more effort than enjoyment. So I left Grace to it, spending the hour instead out of the oppressive midday heat painting my nails and shaving my legs. A private bathroom is a luxury you have to make use of, shaving your legs with people knocking asking what’s taking so long gets very tiring.
I’d just gotten dressed when she arrived back, I opened the door to let her in and she burst into tears. It’s not the first time my face has had that effect on someone! But it turns out she was upset after an hour spent with a surf instructor who thought the best way to improve someone’s surfing ability was to bully them into it. He was constantly criticizing and belittling her and moaning under his breath that she couldn’t already stand up on the surfboard. It was heart breaking to see, as she was so excited to go that morning and he had completely ruined it for her and charged her $50 for the privilege.
After some consolation, a nice lunch, some wine and a brownie Grace was feeling a bit more upbeat and ready to try again tomorrow, this time requesting a different instructor.
This time she returned back from surfing absolutely beaming and even managed to stand up a few times. So we got to leave El Salvador on a high note with some nice beach days and beers with our friend André.
Next up we’re off to Costa Rica. I’ll tell you all about it soon. Love Alice x