El Mandarin San Miguel

... seemed a little more aggressive then other places. Everywhere we go we get stared at but here all the men seemed to have very beading eyes and looked at us as if they were trying to stare us down. It was a little unnerving but who knows if it is usually like that or not. They are a country and a people in very unsettling times. I wish them the best and hope they can settle everything without much turmoil.<br><br>We arrived in Nicaragua just as the sun was ...

... breakfast (again, thanks Belinda!). As we were getting ready for the day the family that runs the hostel had the news on. The Honduran President was giving a press conference. Of course we couldn´t understand what was happening because it was all in Spanish. It seemed to be a timely reminder of our day to come, as today we are planning on getting through Honduras... wish us luck!

... sp?) was broadcasted out of (the FMLN´s guerilla radio station), among many other things. As awesome as the museum really is, without a doub the best part was the guide, an ex-guerrilla. We must´ve talked for a couple hours altogether. He joined the guerrillas when he was 15 years old, two years after both parents were killed by the army. We talked a lot about this point, why he fought. Honestly, I hardly remember his name, but I think it was something a ...

10 hours, 5 buses, 3 countries, 2 borders and I'm in El Salvador. My hotel is right opposite the bus station, but I can't get a beer as the area is pretty dodgy. I had to go to the Salvadorean KFC equivalent for dinner as it's next to the bus station. I have got a swimming pool though! Didn't care for the 3 hours I saw of Honduras. I hadn't ...

... of a kind in the world. I had booked a horseback riding tour on the highest road near town for the next day. As instructed, I waited and waited for my bus number 163 until finally giving up after a two hour wait. For those who know me well, yes, I have learnt patience. Sadly, I decided to call it quits and salvage my day by travelling north a few hours away to hike up to the highest point in the country, El Pital at 2,790m. I reached San ...

... through several fishing villages, beach front resorts and retirement centers. The only issue I had with this road is that everything smells like fish. YUCK. We stopped at one of the fishing villages to watch the fisherman mend their nets. We also stopped to watch 7 or 8 people surfing. Once the road headed inland it became flat and straight. The temperature became very hot as well. We were back into ...

... officer. This of course was on purpose just to annoy the immigracion officer. I opted to get my bike exported first. They need 3 copies of my passports, 3 copies of the ownership, 3 copies of the original importation paperwork. I then stand in line for 1 1/2 hours. This is the same line truck drivers need to get their paperwork to cross into Guatemala from El Salvador. While standing in line a teenager was there. I asked him if he ...

... a nice tourist resort. The next day we took a pick up and a bus to El Mozote. It was a harrowing day - El Mozote is a vollage of around 90 families in the middle of the countrside and was the site of a massacre of over 1000 people back in the early 1980s at the start of the war. Very few tourists visit, but those who do are welcomed because the current population want to raise awareness of what happened and hope that poeple who visit will spread the stories to other people. It ...

... of the people during the war, and the guides around actually fought during it. On a lighter note, we tasted the best 'pupusas' so far (a sort of dough stuffed with beans, cheese and porc). Salavadorian cuisine is all about them, people eat them at any hour of the day.

- We left nice and early this morning having had a reasonably nice time. We are driving to the town of Perquin, very close to the Honduras border and the site of the headquarters of the FMLN. It has a museum that goes into detail about the war hence the reason for coming. We are around about 1300 metres above sea so it is nice temperatures again. Once again we had the name of a hotel others had used, this time we could not get under the entrance arch ...