Tranquility and Turtles in El Salvador

Waking up at 1:30 am was a bizzar concept, however that is what was required to catch our shuttle from Leon to El Salvador. I was nervous to cross through Honduras as everything we had heard about the people and country had been negative. We drifted in and out of sleep as we bounced along the lightless highway as our driver sped and appeard to make it a game as to how close he could get to an animal on the road before swerving hard to miss it. Thankfully, he did take good care of his passengers as we never had to set foot in Honduras even though we crossed two borders in order to enter El Salvador. After 8 hours of travel we arrived at La Tortuga Verde (the green turtle) hostel resort on the beach and sadly parted ways with our Swiss friends once again as they continued on to Guatemala. 

For the next week we thoroughly enjoyed our beachfront home with each day playing out nearly identical to the last. It was like Groundhog Day for a week as we added or subtracted from the events until we had perfected our craft. Our private room had its own front porch with a hammock where each day started with Travis reading while I suntanned. We would play in the waves and a couple times I braved surfing with my sports instructor husband making sure I caught the right waves and performed the skill correctly. That feeling of gliding across the water was incredible and made up for all the times I crashed and the salt water rushed up my nose burning my sinuses and cussing me to gasp each and every time. We would play Crazy 8's and listen to music as we laughed and visited through the heat of the day before heading out to the large nearly empty beach which made for a perfect spot to catch the incredibly stunning sunsets. With the beach and colourful backdrop to ourselves we could play frisbee until the light dictated we stop. The bed we had made the experience even more enjoyable as it was very comfortable and came complete with 4 pillows! Not a bad day to reenact repeatedly and a welcome reprieve from the grind.

Our highlight came the day before we left when the resort informed us that they had baby turtles ready to be released into the ocean. They operate a conservation program where locals get paid to bring sea turtle eggs to the resort instead of eating them. Along with other guests we released about seven turtles into the ocean. I was nervous to touch them but Travis picked one up and carried it to the ocean, but the breaking waves kept pushing him back to shore so Travis scooped him back up and in his cloths walked him all the way out passed the waves. We were proud to give the little guy a great head start as the attrition rate for the endangerd leatherback turtles is very high.

We can not fairly say we seen El Salvador as we never left our resort area, with the increase in gang violence (12 murders per day) and the fast spreading mosquito diseases we decided to continue on to Guatemala. What we can say though is that the drive was beautiful as we traveled in the shuttle van once again. The lush plants, flowers, rolling hills and volcanos all the way up to the Guatemalan border were gorgeous. Maybe someday we can do El Salvador justice, but for now we are greatful for the lovely week we enjoyed on the beach near El Cuco.