Crossing two very tough and corrupt borders.

This is Mike...
Yesterday we crossed the El Salvador to Honduras border and then the Honduras to Nicaragua border and it took about 5 hours for the border paperwork and waiting in lines, not including the 6 hours of driving. Yesterday was a long tough day. We knew it was going to be but still was exhausting. We have several blog followers contemplating doing the same journey, so below is a detailed description of what it is like if they choose to cross here as well:

We pulled up to the typical mile long line of semis parked on the highway and as we slowed down at least 20 men, from all over the place, ran up to our truck. I obviously did not want to let any of them near us so I drove off road, around the semis and then, as usual at the borders, drove in the opposing lane of traffic for about a mile to the control point. We arrived to an obscure collection of completely neglected buildings and none of them marked as to what they were. An El Salvadoran official came up to our SUV and asked for the following items; original title, driver's license, registration, passport and copies of the same items minus the registration. The guard told us to wait at the car so we did. The guard went to the grey customs building without windows in the middle of the parking lot. After about 40 minutes the officer came out and handed all of my important documents to an El Salvadoran man. That man, had my ability to leave El Salvador in his hands. I asked him for the items and he said it's no problem and said he was a facilitator. He wanted the girls passports as well to get everything stamped and approved. I gave him the passports but had Elise trail him to immigration. That took another 20 minutes. None of the buildings are marked but the immigration office is a shack on the right side of CA1. After that we proceeded about 2 kilometers down the road to the Honduran check-in. Just before crossing the bridge an El Salvadoran soldier stopped us to ask why the facilitator was there. What could we say? The truth that an El Salvadoran official gave him all of our stuff? He would not buy that. We were just jumping through the hoops until he let us go. The Honduran side was tedious because of the customs documents for the vehicle and the mind-numbing lines. Both controls took just shy of 3 hours. Costs for leaving El Salvador $40 for vehicle permit cancellation and $3 a person exit fee. Costs for entering Honduras were $10 vehicle entry fee and a $5 vehicle fumigation fee. Cost for the facilitator was $65 and I felt ripped off since all of my important documents were handed to him without my permission. If you plan on leaving El Salvador for Nicaragua leave no later than 7am and plan on bringing at least $200 to be on the safe side. There is no need to exchange money here as dollars are freely taken. And finally, the worst potholes to date have been on CA1 in Honduras to Nicaragua. Plan on driving around 30 to 40 kph for an hour. Some of the deeper potholes were 2+ feet, enough to break an axle. Entering Nicaragua was a typical C.A. border crossing and the best part is they scan all the docs. The lines were long but everyone was very friendly. For those of you wishing to drive from Guatemala straight through to Nicaragua in one day it won't happen, so plan on staying somewhere along the way for a night. For more specific info feel free to email me. I hope that helps get you further south or north whichever it may be.  See you on the road.
     

Kid's entertainment

This is Mike...
The kids never cease to amaze me regarding what they need for entertainment. Yesterday's big show was as grand as any silver screen showing. Rogers and Ebert would have given it two thumbs up. But the most important critics of all were my kids, and they of course loved it. What was it, you ask? They were watching a mommy dove bird sitting on her eggs. They were mesmerized and conjured up a story line based on the what they new of birds and fairy tales. It was too cute.   

The big event, parasol in hand and fancy outfits make for a fun time

The main attraction, a mommy dove bird keeping her eggs warm

El Cuco

Elise here. I feel like I should mention some the positives here in El Cuco since my last post was negative. The ocean water is really warm. The beach is wide and pretty. It is not unpleasantly hot the way we were told it would be. ( we are accustomed to intense heat after 8 years of Texas summers)
It is not touristy or crowded. It is just hard for me to be positive when our room is so small and dirty. I am just looking at it as camping.
I thought about my fears and "feeling safe".  Just because a person feels safe doesn't mean they are. I could be worried about our safety all day here but there is nothing I can do anyway so I should just try to relax and enjoy myself. The same holds true in Austin as well. Driving on 620 was starting to scare me. Being scared and fretful doesn't make it any safer.  So stop worrying and enjoy.  Maybe that is what I need to learn from this trip.

Fisherman coming in from an early morning excursion and the frigate birds looking for a snack.

The people we have met in El Salvador have been really nice so far.

Living with fear

This is Elise. Mike has been doing such an excellent job of keeping the blog updated. He is amazing. Mike has also been doing a spectacular job of driving. Before I came to Central America I was worried about crime here. I am not really afraid of getting robbed anymore. I am too busy worrying about all the other hazards here. You have seen the post about the waves, the scariest ocean ever with a vicious undertow, very steep incline and tremendous shore break.  We wouldn't even let the girls get their feet wet. Then the ferry ride. In the pictures you can't see that the boat is made of wood and very insubstantial. I was plotting out what I would do if the boat started to tip the whole time. I refuse to take a shower with the  120 volt electrical wires exposed. Our place in Antigua didn't have a railing on the stairs or the second story balcony. The roads routinely leave me breathless.
So we drove through most of El Salvador yesterday and stopped at a supermarket for a few snacks. I was greeted at the door by a shotgun wielding security guard giving me the evil eye. At the gas station there were two heavily armed guards that both seemed to hover near us when I got out the car. Were they guarding us? Were they just curious about the gringos?  Did we look like we were going to rob them?  I don't think we look quite that ragged yet. The girls are learning to tell the difference between weapons. No Zoe that's not a machine gun, it's an AR15.
We are going to relax and recuperate from the long drive here at the beach for a couple of days. It's going to be a long journey when we leave for Nicaragua on Wednesday. We will have two borders to cross and almost 5 hours of driving. Not much we can do to make it shorter or easier. Then we have a week booked at a rental house in Granada. I am looking forward to a country that is considered safer.

I wish I could say I really liked Guatemala. I really wanted to like it. There are some beautiful sites and it has a lot history and culture. I had a good time at the Spanish school and got a kick out of seeing the Mayan women walk around the city in their native clothes. Ultimately though I found it to be a polluted, corrupt place. The corruption there has a direct impact on daily life. In Antigua, the mayor made off with 3 million dollars so the city has no money. So trash removal is expensive so people burn their trash. One morning I was doing dishes when I smelled smoke coming from the alley outside. Within a minute I was dizzy and nauseated from the smoke. What the hell were they burning?  We all got sick and had to go to the other side of the building to get some fresh air. We were in one of the plazas one morning when we encountered a pack of wild dogs. Really?! A pack of wild dogs, in the middle of the day, in a city. The mayor stole the money for animal control.  By the way, they have frequent outbreaks of rabies there too.
Am I having fun?  Yes!  Am I glad we are doing this?  Yes!  Is it really hard and scary sometimes? Yes!  I guess I just look at all the dangers as temporary things.  I try to be careful without letting the fear consume me. I keep looking ahead to the next destination and don't stay in any one place long.  We thought we would be doing mostly VRBO one week rentals but we quickly realized there are a lot of places that are only worth a day or two.  We are ending up scrambling around looking for hotels when we arrive in a new place.  Last night all three of the nice places in town were booked up and we didn't have reservations or a place to stay at nightfall.  We had to settle for a place that I didn't like.  For the fourth night in a row we have had rooms that aren't nice at all.  The girls have begged me to stay here a couple more nights so they can enjoy the beach and I have relented. The girls have been beyond patient and good through it all.  The grounds and setting is quite lovely even if the room isn't.  The staff here doesn't seem to understand my Spanish at all.  I have gotten this weird feeling in this country that they don't want to talk to me.  I know it sounds paranoid but that's the way I feel.  I was able to communicate basic things in Guatemala. I don't know what's going on here.

How do you spell Surfer Paradise? E L S A L V A D O R

We decided to drive south of Monterico, Guatemala and proceed into El Salvador. The border is an amazing example of government incompetence and bureaucratic red tape. We had stamps on top of stamps and had to make copies of stamps on top of stamps. The whole process took almost 3 hours to complete. They wanted to know the size of the engine, year vehicle was made, on and on. Incredible to think this backward country should even want to care about such stuff given the other problems it faces. Something we learned about Banana Republics, they divert your attention until the problems leave your mind, but they never really fix the problems. They wear you thin to the point you are willing to pay someone, anyone to assist you. It wasn't even for the language issue. How can you tell when the car was made? Not the year of the car but when it was actually made. I found out! It is on a sticker on the frame of the car behind the engine. But who cares? I am 44 years old and never ever needed to know a car's date of birth and some how I survived. It was not just us getting frustrated, though. The poor truck drivers wait 3 days to cross the border in 4 mile long lines of parked semis. The day before we arrived the computers crashed and El Salvador wanted to close the border and apparently riots broke out between the truck drivers and the border guards. In many cases, the truckers are carrying perishable goods and need to get them to the markets, so I can see their frustrations. Either way, the Norte Americanos made it through the gridlock and now we are in El Salvador.
Once you leave the border area and skirt the coast it reminded us of driving on the Pali on Maui. The arid land with Mesquite trees and plunging cliffs to the rocky coast below was just like thousand peaks. It is easy to see why some surfers call this their Mecca. Hundreds of Miles of unspoiled beaches and perfect waves. In fact, this morning the kiddos and I, ran out to the beach to play in the water. Zoe found a perfect, large, sand dollar and some pink shells, almost immediately, and was so delighted. Sierra found a hermit crab and some dead jelly fish. This is what the kids crave and why we wanted to be here. And out of the blue, I here Zoe scream, "A cow!" I turned around and sure enough a cow was running along the beach. I wish I had a camera for that moment. I am kicking myself in the behind right now because I wanted to bring it but thought the camera would get in the way. Well, this is El Cuco, maybe I can get a second chance tomorrow?

You can barely make out the shack on the beach. Would you need anything more than this?

Dead jellyfish make great toys :)

Zoe proudly displaying her treasures

Zoe found these within a minute of playing on the beach this morning. She wanted to get a close up for posterity

Surfer chicks rule!

Our hotel is Azul Surf in El Cuco, southern El Salvador.