Scary El Salvador
Day 54
After a few days in Granada we decided we would try to make it to Antigua, Guatemala for Semanta Santa. The most straightforward, and reasonably cheap way, was to take a Tica Bus from Granada, all the way to Guatemala City. This took 1 day and a half, including an overnight stop in San Salvador (El Salvador) and involved crossing 3 land borders.
There is not much to say about the journey apart from that it was long, at times confusing as you cross the border or are all sheparded out the bus by yet another set of police (sometimes with sniffer dogs) who want to check your passport about three times.
The night we arrived in San Salvador it had just got dark and we had been told the area by the bus terminal was not too safe. None the less we needed to find a room and some food for the nightso we ventured out with a few other travellers we had met on the bus. We found a local hotel which was cheap, but the worst place we have stayed in to date including some resident cockroaches and the strangest ensuite arrangement I have ever seen (it was actually possible to shower while sitting on the toilet!). We then went out for food and actually had a decent meal in the local market.
The area however was completely chaotic and very intimidating and we all felt rather nervous in the street. Our fears were realised when, heading back to our hotel, we met two other people from the bus who said they had just heard gun shots and suggested we get back to the hotel super fast. So, safe in the security of our cell like room we listened to the sound of police helicopters all night, then to be woken in the morning by the resident cockerel that didnt seem to realise it was meant to wait until it got light to start making noise.
We have since met other people who tell us San Salvador is a very nice place. But its not somewhere we want to return for a while!.