Unintended Beach Day and Earthquake

Plan for the day #1. Visit the Imposible National Park. The clouds on the horizon looked ominous to undertake this trek which I was looking forward to. Better find another option.

Plan for the day #2. Visit the Mayan ruins of Tazumal. Diane has the good sense to google the site. Closed on Mondays. Now what?

Hey, we are about an hour from the shore. Let’s check out the beaches.

And so we set out on our descent from the mountains. The scenery was simply awesome. Little villages dotting the landscape with exotic names such as Juyutla (view from above), and Guaymango, with a pretty yellow church surrounded by rocks.

We reached the shore at Playa Metalio, which sounded like a good stop for lunch, so we sought out a place on the shore where we had shrimp and ceviche.

The beach was not much to boast about, but our guidebook recommended a place called Barra de Santiago, abutting the Guatemalan border, only ten miles away, so we headed in that direction.

It’s simply amazing how tourist infrastructures are absolutely non-existent in El Salvador. In the US, and possibly anywhere else on this earth, such places would have hotel chains and resorts stretching as far as the eye can see; but not here. Tourists do come, but they are of the local variety and they do not have the same expectations, so an area that’s immensely beautiful, is just there as God had created it, with very basic, simple little bodegas and homes that we’d hardly call such back in Massachusetts, dotting the road.

We reached Barra on a shore road flanked by the Pacific Ocean to the south and sugar cane plantations, with the occasional palm grove to the north. We reached the place to discover miles of untouched sandy beaches where nary a soul was in sight. We did however come upon a shabby restaurant where I enjoyed the absolutely best cup of coffee ever and where I was able to puff on my stogie with gusto.

The weather was hot and humid; too hot to lie on the beach, and since we had plans to stop for dinner in a place we scoped back in Ataco (restaurants in El Salvador close at 5 o’clock!!), we thought it best to head for home.

As we began our climb back to the mountains, we could see how beautiful this place is, but soon we reached the clouds, and the mountains disappeared behind them, and with them so did our chances to take meaningful scenery pictures.

When we reached our hotel, only for a quick pit stop, one of our doggie friends walked with us to our cabin and lounged around a bit.

We ultimately made it to the Entre Nubes restaurant, which is set in a coffee plantation, which we explored, before sitting down for dinner. The place is just down the road from we are staying, but the cloud cover made it impossible to take in the superb mountain scenery.

Just as soon as we wound our way back to the Jardin de Celeste hotel, our room shook with such a fury that it scared the wits out of us. The news just said it was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake, and we were right in the epicenter. Thank God it only lasted a second. They say these events are common occurrences in this area surrounded by active volcanoes. I can’t imagine what a seismic wave of much higher strength would be like, especially those that last much longer. Wow!

Well, let’s hope the place does not crumble down as we sleep. Buenas Noches my friends and thanks for following our journey.