Estuary times

Paradise Fishing Lodge, El Salvador

As promised, our friend Lou (and his driver) collected us from our hotel in San Salvador on Wednesday afternoon. We made a stop at a Super Selectos grocery store to pick up a few provisions for the boat, then picked up a load of Papusas for lunch and were whisked off to Casa L&L (Lou and Lynn's house on the Estero Jaltepeque) where we stayed for two nights.

 

 

 

 

 

We hitched a ride to the Paradise Fishing Lodge marina on Thursday and spent a couple of hours evaluating the state of the boat, starting up the refrigerator and getting a few things opened up and such. It was a pretty sorry sight, with the disintegrated sail-covers and stripped down woodwork, but overall things were not as bad as I feared - the problems I had encountered during my short visit last spring, particularly with the sink drain and non-functioning head seem to have fixed themselves over the summer - a nice surprise.

 

We could not spend much time on the boat as we had to leave to meet another expat couple who have bought a place on the estuary - as cruisers, we never turn down an invitation to anything. We had a small impromptu afternoon party at their place, which is still under construction but does offer a pretty nice pool.

 

Today, Friday, we have moved onto the boat and are rediscovering the joys of a hot, humid climate with no air conditioning. The actual temperatures are in the low 30s but with the humidy, it feels more like 40. I have started on some of the preliminary work on the boat, taking the staysail off and getting the dinghy pumped up. Tomorrow, I should have a better idea of just how much trouble we are in.

Susanne has managed to get a few cupboards cleaned out, but just sort of ran out of steam around noon. We have rented a car, which was delivered to us here at the marina, and used it to go out for a late lunch at Mar y Sol restaurant - that will be our main meal for today!

{GMST}13|19.422|N|88|56.675|W|Paradise Fishing Lodge, El Salvador|Paradise Fishing Lodge, El Salvador{GEND}

San Salvador R&R

San Salvador, El Salvador

After the usual exciting times crossing the Mexico/Guatemala border, and a long bus ride across Guatemala and El Salvador, we made it alive to our hotel in San Salvador. Since I took this exact same route from the exact same bus company less than 2 years ago, quite a bit has changed.

Long day on the bus

The bus company's ticket office has moved to a different location in Tapachula, leading to our almost booking with the wrong company, although the bus still left from the same terminal as before. This time, we had to change buses somewhere on the highway before we got to Guatemala City, which actually worked out really well, bypassing Guatemala City altogether and getting us into San Salvador about 3 hours earlier than last time. And finally, the bus did not stop at the same place in San Salvador as I remembered, which, after a bit of panic on my part, meant we actually got off closer to our hotel than I had anticipated.




Susanne picked our hotel because we had stayed here before and the location is very good, right behind the Galarias mall. Unfortunately the lot next door is under construction and they seem to like doing the noisy, banging type of work real early in the morning. Oh well, we probably shouldn't be sleeping so late anyway.

Hotel Villa del Angel

 

Typical San Salvador street

 
Today's job of the day was to get a local phone/data chip for our phone - this was successfully accomplished after only a 45 minute wait and a 30 minute negotiation at the Claro store in the mall. Tonight, we may take in the new Beatle's movie, which is playing at the theatres at the mall - if we can stay up late enough for the 8 o'clock showing.

Tomorrow, our good friend Lou has offered to pick us up and take us to the estuary, where he and Lynn have offered to put us up until we have the boat habitable again. All in all, life is good!

{GMST}13|42.195|N|89|13.7364|W|San Salvador|San Salvador{GEND}

Tapachula

Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico

Hotel San Francisco

We arrived in the city of Tapachula last Thursday, flying from Puerto Vallarta via Mexico City - everything went smoothly and our luggage arrived at the same time as us, unlike the last time we flew into here. We have spent the last 3 nights at the Hotel San Francisco, in the heart of the city. At this point we have walked a lot of streets and seen the best that Tapachula has to offer - basically this is a working class city with little of interest for a tourist.

 

 

 

 

On both Friday and Saturday (yesterday) we travelled by taxi to Marina Chiapas, where we were immediately immersed in the cruising culture. Some good friends, David and Caroline on SV Aztec were there, getting ready to head north as soon as the winds die down in the T-pec - we had not seen them for several years. In addition, we met some cruisers we had only talked to via VHF radio before, and many new acquaintances, some heading north and others heading south. An impromptu dock party was called for, partly because 3 people, including me, were having birthdays around now. A good time was had by all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we found the bus terminal and arranged for an early morning departure tomorrow, then a quick trip to Walmart to purchase some junk food for the long trip. By tomorrow night we should be in San Salvador. Sue has booked a hotel for a couple of nights as a last bit of luxury before we finally make our way to the estuary.

A celebratory cappuccino and cheesecake at the Walmart mall for my birthday!

 

{GMST}14|41.9|N|92|23.517|W|Marina Chiapas, Chiapas, Mexico|Marina Chiapas, Chiapas, Mexico{GEND}
{GMST}14|54.021|N|92|16.0056|W|Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico|Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico{GEND}

Slowing down in PV

La Mission Hotel, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

 

Now that we have moved into our more humble quarters at the Hotel La Mission, and our wild friends have gone back to Canada, we have reverted to our more normal, sedate pace of life. We still walk a lot of course, but now we are usually in bed earlier and sleeping in later, especially after I contracted some sort of intestinal bug (hopefully of the 24 hour variety) - It couldn't possibly have anything to do with our discovery of Pepe's restaurant, the home of the best "tacos al pastor" we have found yet.

 

 

 

 

 

We have done some decidedly non-touristy things, like going to Walmart and the mall, where we took in a movie in a lovely air conditioned theatre for the incredibly reasonable price of 30 pesos ($2.00 Cdn) per person. A great way to beat the heat of the day.

After the movie, we walked down to the marina to check things out, but it was Sunday and not much was happening. We did stop into a seemingly quiet little bar to sip a couple of diet cokes and admire the scenery, but almost as soon as we were served, the music started blaring and free tequila shots were being poured down everyone's throats - needless to say, we beat a hasty retreat back to the sanity of our hotel.

 

Today, Susanne insisted that we make another pilgrimge to her new favourite spot in PV - the French Bakery. A long walk but worth it.

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Puerto Vallarta. We have a flight out around noon on Thursday, heading further south to the city of Tapachula, where we will probable hang around a few days before starting the last leg of this journey to El Salvador.

 

{GMST}20|37.248|N|105|13.8684|W|La Mission Hotel, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico|La Mission Hotel, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico{GEND}

 

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PV Continued

Buganvilias Resort, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

 

Our time here at the resort is quickly coming to an end. On the 19th, we have to move out. Our friends will be catching a plane back to Canada but we have decided to stay on in PV for a little longer. Among other things, it appears that the house sale back in Edmonton is going very slowly and I am unwilling to get any further away until all of the loose ends are completely tied up. We think we have snagged a room at another hotel (much closer to our usual style - ie: cheap) for another week.

 

 

Meanwhile, we have been really enjoying our stay. We have made numerous bus trips to beaches in the Bucerias area (nicer beach and less people) and one trip to La Cruz to check out the marina where we stayed on our journey down this coast a few years ago - we took in the very popular Sunday market while we were there.

 

 

We have trekked up and down just about every street Puerto Vallarta has to offer, including a hike to the top of one of the nearby hills for an overall view of the city. Sue's Fitbit tells us we are averaging close to 20,000 steps a day. The last couple of days we have spent more time just lazing around the pool, for a change. It's all good!

 

 

 

 

 

There is always something going on in this town. There have been at least two runs (marathons?) passing by the front of the hotel. A couple of days ago, there was a Volkswagen rally that assembled along the street in front of the hotel, then proceeded to travel down to the Malecon - brought back a lot of memories for me.

 

{GMST}20|37.59|N|105|13.86|W|Buganvilias Resort, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico|Buganvilias Resort, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico{GEND}

 

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