We went on our first solo (without Jeff and Paula) yesterday and drove to the coast to visit several of the surfing beaches. Our son, Jon, is going to visit in June so we are trying to find our way to some places that we think he might enjoy when he's here. Stephen spent quite a bit of time last week looking for beaches that we could visit and which weren't miles and miles away from our house. In the US it's easy to "just head south," but it's much more difficult to do here. Thanks to a good friend (Brasil) who knows his way around San Salvador and a Google map we printed before we left, we found our way down CA-4 to La Libertad and then to the small towns and beaches in El Tunco, La Paz and La Sunzal.
The sand is made up of volcanic ash and is very, very hot. It's not a good idea to wear flipflops unless you plan to walk along the edge of the water. Stephen had on his tennis shoes and told me his feet were fine! The beaches are famous for their surf breaks so there were surfers everywhere (in the water and out.) We definitely raised the median age on the beaches. We walked through a couple of the boutique hotels. Now before your imagination gets going . . . think, El Salvador boutique, not Santa Barbara, CA or Padre Island, TX boutique. Okay, they are rooms with a bed, fan and a hammack hanging on the porch!
On our way back we drove through Zaragoza where Stephen located one of the 3 or 4 golf courses in the country. As you might expect the directions on the web were very sketchy! We did manage to find two upscale neighborhoods along the way as well as a small town that had 9 speed bumps in about 1/4 of a mile. We called the golf course and found out that the number rings to a sales office in San Salvador. There was an English speaker who told us that the neighborhood and the golf course are private, but that we could make an appointment to see them both. So . . . it didn't really matter that we didn't locate it as they wouldn't have let us enter without an appointment.
Next time we're heading to the town of Nahuizalco--one of the areas where skilled artisans build rustic furniture.
Love this post! Dorsey and I were just commenting on how many speed bumps there were at the beach in Guatemala with Nelson and Rosemarie. Excited you had a great first excursion!
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