I've heard it said that there's no such thing as love at first sight, but I've had it happen to me once. Jordi and I were en route to a backpacking trip in South America, and had a layover in El Salvador. When my ears started popping, I curiously peeked to see where we'd be landing. I saw little swells rolling into a curvy coast, white waves crashing along narrow strips of black sand and endless green stretching out under us. We flew closer over the lush treetops and big grassy fields, empty except for a few goats snacking in the shade. And then WHUMP - we landed! Here, by the ocean, the goats and the trees, was El Salvador's international airport. As I sat in the humid airport waiting for our flight to Lima, I looked out the big windows and imagined ditching all our plans, renting a jeep and booking it for the coast. What would we find?? It had to be good.
Instead I contented myself with an almost-cold Diet Coke (so it goes in the tropics), a bag of Chiky's - Central America's Favorite Cookie, and my daydreams.
We had an amazing time in South America and I'm so glad we went. However, I couldn't get El Salvador out of my mind. My brother, an avid surfer, often makes trips to El Sal, and it's to him I went with my enquiries. With nay a Lonely Planet in his repertoire, he told me tales about this mysteriously seductive place, his trips relying on memory and experience alone.
Over a year of working, going to birthday parties and picking up the house on Saturdays went by when I decided to just buy the tickets. They're a little hard to come by these days - TACA is the only airline that flies direct from LA, and that's at one in the morning. It's not a hotspot, so for $200 more you could get yourself to London or Prague. Plus, a board bag costs $150 each way, so you almost may as well buy your surfboards a seat next to you. But we bought the tickets, decided to rent boards when we got there ($10/day), found a hostel with airport transfer, and off we went.
After a sleepless night with an awful movie and an awful breakfast, I looked out my port hole and saw the loveliness I had seen over a year previously. Blue ocean, white waves, green trees and happy goats. Once again we landed, but this time we excitedly trooped out into the beautiful morning. A solid rain the night before left the air fresh and the earth heavy. Our driver met us outside and we piled into his red pick-up truck, chugging past coconut stands, loud busses and vine-laden trees. Windows down, we cruised along the one highway towards the coast, happy as clams. I was officially on my first date with the country I had spotted across the (waiting) room, and with the warm, damp wind in my face, everything was perfect.
Our trip in Pictures:
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A quiet airport
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Lawn mowers and fertilizer - La Libertad
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Only street in town, it leads to the main
highway. And a gorgeous tree... |
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Delicious local coffee and reading up on politics -
Apparently a quarter of Salvadorans live
in the U.S. - a result of a revolution in the 80's
and a harsh economy (half in NY, half in LA)
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Jordi scored a solo surf session
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My spot as the photographer -
the neighborhood mutts liked to
keep me company!
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The best (albeit only) pupusa place in town -
50 cents each can't be beat!
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Iguana hangin out in the mango tree above our room :)
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View of the waves at the river mouth from the hammock
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Another town, another wave and still awesome
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**UNFORTUNATELY blogspot is an awful forum for uploading pics, and I wasn't able to show you all the ones I wanted to, but you get the idea... :)
For a lil video of the trip: http://vimeo.com/44334039
For a lil video of the trip: http://vimeo.com/44334039
