We had to make El Salvador quick because of the aforementioned visa issues, and it's just a small country to begin with too. Our first stop was La Palma just over the border from Honduras. It's a sleepy mountain town and we headed to the coast after one day there. On the Pacific we stayed at Playa El Zonte west of La Libertad. Lots of good surf but we didn't have the time or energy to track down a reputable surf instructor to take lessons with. We did go to see a kicking reggae band play at an outdoor bar in nearby Playa El Tunco on the Saturday night though.
Next was back to the highlands but we couldn't decide between hiking in Juayua or Tacuba, so we went to both. A great hostel was recommended to us in Juayua and we stayed there briefly, but after we missed an early morning bus to go hike Cerro Verde we figured it wasn't meant to be so we packed it in for Tacuba.
In Tacuba we successfully got out into the woods and hiked through coffee plantations and jumped into the pools formed by a 30-metre waterfall. Almost got stuck there when the guide that was recommended to us asked us to run his hiking guide business while he went to Europe for 2 months. But since he couldn't seem to leave my girlfriend alone we figured not to do him any favours and left early the next morning for Guatemala.
First stop in Guatemala was Monterrico on the coast not far from the border although it took us several hours to get there - the trip included a spooky boat ride down a murky canal after dark to get to the actual city. Pretty much the only reason we went there was to participate in the releasing of baby sea turtles that happens on the beach every night. That's me in the photo above with our little fella that is now living the good life swimming around the big, deep blue.
After that was done we grabbed a direct shuttle to Antigua. It was an expensive ride at $10 US each, but the buses in Guatemala seem to be chronically late and over-crowded so we did ourselves a favour.
The photo below is me prior to jumping off a 30-metre waterfall in Parque El Imposible in western El Salvador.
PS - Remember that I am constantly updating our list of destinations, so click here to check out that post to get an overview of the trip so far.
