Rested in Antigua and No Problemo At El Salvador B
Trip Start
Oct 20, 2008
1
11
41
Trip End
Feb 28, 2009
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San Miguel,
El Salvador
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
It is another beautiful day in Antigua, again I slept poorly last night which has been the norm for the last week. The Hostel owner George whipped up an excellent breakfast. During breakfast I made a list of questions that I felt we needed to ask at border crossing. George´s command of English is excellent and he translated them into Spanish for me. We hit the road early knowing that we needed to leave Guatemala and enter El Salvador. We took a back road from Antigua to Escuintla and it was fantastic. There was virtually no traffic, the road surface quality was very good and of course due to our elevation and close proximity to three volcanoes it was a motorcyclists paradise.It offered very tight turns, huge blind turns and great scenery. Once we got to the end of our descent we stopped and had huge smiles on our faces. We needed this because we were both very nervous about our next border crossing. We arrived at the Guatemalan border and had to export our bikes. Of course the leeches were there too try and take our money. They were grabbing at our documents and got mine twice... ahh once bitten twice angry. I snatched my documents out of their dirty little paws before we could be separated and was very direct "no". We parked our bikes in the way of the Guatemalan immigracion 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 spoke English he said a little.
There was a very pleasant truck driver who was 5 people in line ahead of me, he knew exactly what I needed. He pulled me in line ahead of himself . He talked to the immigracion official behind the barred window. The teenager told me what I needed to do. Amazing after 1 1/2 hours of waiting in line it took me less than 3 seconds to get action. The officer went outside and confirmed the vin number. He looked at Mike and asked for his paperwork. Mike went and copied his and I explained to Mike which barred window to go too and stamp, stamp we are done. I thanked the truck driver very much for his kindness. I know he did not understand what I said, but he knew how much I appreciated it.We then headed off to the El Salvador border, some what pleased with ourselves that we resisted the leeches help and we were halfway through the process. The teenager led the way and showed us where to go for the El Salvador Immigracion. He did not ask for money and I did not offer it as I don't want to perpetuate the problem for other tourist. I simply thanked him and shook his hand. He had a huge smile and said your welcome.
It was very busy at immigracion as well, there was a HUGE sign in English and Spanish that said ALL services at this location are free and you do not have to pay anyone for anything. Mike watched the bikes while I stood in line. El Salvadorians are very friendly and I met 4 people who spoke english. They were happy to help me. One of them explained to the official what we were doing, and I was told we would half too wait apx 1 hour. However they did explain what documents they needed copies of. So Mike copied the documents while I watched the bikes. Then we waited.... during our wait a couple of kids wanted to polish my boots, which were filthy. I had a lot of fun bantering back and forth trying to agree on a price. I started at .25 cents and they started at 3.00 dollars. After about 5 minutes we agreed on one dollar. This kid polished my shoes better than new. There were a lot of laughs while he did it. We finally filled out our paperwork and we were on our way. Less than 3 seconds later as we try to enter El Salvador, the police stop us for a search and ask us for our documents. I pull out my papers and some guy walks over and pulls them out of my hand. I grab them back.. another guy starts saying something to me. Instant stress and confusion. We put two and two together by watching what everyone else was doing. We have to pay 5.00 dollars tax fee to enter El Salvador from the second guy. Then we show the first guy who snatched my paperwork the receipt. He stamps it. We then show the police the stamp and we are off. Ah ha watch, be patient, don't let our paperwork out of our hands. We figured it out. We are ecstatic with ourselves huge smiles and thumbs up as we drive down the highway.It is about an hour before dark and we need to to get to a large town to find a hotel. We drive through the country side and it will never fail to amaze me how different a country can be by crossing an imaginary line. The first thing I notice is people are everywhere on the sides of the highway and sitting outside their homes. Children are playing soccer, flying kites, holding hands running around. Adults are conversing with each other laughing, playing some sort of game or tending to their fires. I smile again and instantly like El Salvador. We arrive in Sonsonate at dusk. We book ourselves into a hotel room and drink a couple of cold cervazas.
