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Tag Archives: El Salvador

Suchitoto, El Salvador

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by Cindy in Uncategorized

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El Salvador, Fernando Llort, Los Almendros, Suchitoto

Before leaving El Salvador we headed out on a road trip with Bill and Jean organizers of the El Salvador Rally, Dave and Linda from Perrr-fect, and Bruce and Gina on board Dream Catcher to visit the town of Suchitoto. After spending hours on old American school buses and vans with bald tires and no air conditioning, the van Jean rented was heaven even if the driver was a little sketchy (just checking to see if you are reading the blog, Bill 🙂 ).

Bill aka our driver!

Bill aka our driver!

We stopped on the way at the Fernando Llort art gallery in San Salvador. Fernando is a local artist whose art work even appears on the cups at the local coffee shop.

Fernando Llort

Fernando Llort

At an elevation of a little over 1000 feet, Suchitoto didn’t offer relief from the heat but it had a nice little town and our awesome hotel Los Almendros had a pool. The owners, Pascal and Joaquin, along with their boxer Leonardo, welcomed us at the front door.

Leonardo

Leonardo

Los Almendros

Los Almendros

Each room is unique. We had a two story suite where we could have thrown one heck of a party.

Our room is too the left overlooking the pool

Our room is to the left overlooking the pool

Los Almendros

Los Almendros

Los Almendros

Los Almendros

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The hotel is filled with art.  This was in our room.  That is a door turned into a shelf.

The hotel is filled with art. This was in our room. That is a door turned into a shelf.

The hotel had a bar across the street called El Chucho, which translates to The Pooch, that Gary thought reminded him of the bars in New Orleans one of our all time favorite places to visit. I have to agree. It had that same rich, old decor and vibe New Orleans is known for. As you would expect, Gary and I went there several times and the owners hosted a wine tasting for our group there. On the second night they hosted a dinner for us along with guitar music on their patio. A lot of poetry, which isn’t quite our taste especially in Spanish, but the food was delicious.

Suchitoto is a small town with a few galleries and shops.

The cathedral

The cathedral

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Everyone rides around in a Tuk Tuk typically 25 cents

Everyone catches a ride in a Tuk Tuk typically 25 cents

On this day the people lined this one street selling all kinds of goods.

On this day the people lined this one street selling all kinds of things.

I feel like a pack animal lugging groceries and just about everything to and from the boat.  My two hands and arms are not enough.  I need to stop one of these ladies sometime and get lessons.

I feel like a pack animal lugging groceries and just about everything and anything to and from the boat. My two hands and arms are not enough. I need to stop one of these ladies sometime and get lessons.

Suchitoto

Suchitoto

Everyone brings their corn to the town corn grinder.  Her hand is on the finished product, which is then turned into corn tortilla's, etc.

Everyone brings their corn to the town corn grinder. Her hand is on the finished product, which is then turned into corn tortilla’s, etc.

We took a boat tour of the lake by Suchitoto because well I guess we thought we all don’t spend enough time on the water. The lake was very low since the rainy season had not quite started.
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I had a flash back to the 60’s when us girls went to a women’s co-op and tie-dyed our own indigo scarf. Indigo dye supported Suchitoto’s economic and population growth in the 19th century until synthetic dyes collapsed the market.

Folding and tying

Folding and tying

Hard to believe this makes a design

Hard to believe this makes a design

So I volunteered to stir all our scarves in the vat.  This vat was six years old and contained live bacteria.  Yes, it smelled yucky.  And yes, I did get it on my favorite skirt :(

So I volunteered to stir all our scarves in the vat. This vat was six years old and contained live bacteria. Yes, it smelled yucky. And yes, I did get it on my favorite skirt 😦

But the final products turned out beautiful. (l to r Cindy, Jean, our instructor, Gina, Linda)

But the final products turned out beautiful.
(l to r Cindy, Jean, our instructor, Gina, Linda)

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Fair winds
Cindy

Passage to El Salvador for the Cruisers Rally

18 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by Cindy in Uncategorized

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cruising the Pacific coast, cruising to Bahia del Sol, cruising to Panama, El Salvador, El Salvador rally, the bar at Bahia del Sol

We crossed into the waters off Guatemala at 1:05 pm on March 15th. We really love Mexico but it felt great to be moving on to a new country. We have plans to tour Guatemala but since the port on the Pacific side is not friendly to cruisers, we sailed a two night passage directly to Bahia del Sol in El Salvador. We had calm seas and light winds the entire time but we did get in some decent sailing without the motor running. A rare occurrence on the pacific coast.

Volcanos line the coast of Guatemala. We were 10 miles offshore trying to get away from the fishing panga’s (no luck there) so while we couldn’t see the outline of them, we did see the smoke and at night the glow.

Bahia del Sol is in an estuary behind a sand bar that requires a local pilot to help you navigate through safely. The pilot will do this only during high slack tide in daylight hours. We timed it so we would arrive well before the scheduled time of 9:40 am so we wouldn’t be late and miss the window. Missing the window means anchoring off a beach open to the pacific ocean well back of the surf but close enough that you have enough chain to hold. Not my idea of a fun night.

Bill and Jean organize the cruisers rally that we will be participating in. For every cruiser entering the bar during the year, Bill comes out with the pilot and relays his instructions to us over the VHF radio. While 99.9% make it safely, the day before an underpowered sailboat sunk (the sole occupant is okay). So when the surf is up as it was on this day, there are risks. At 9:40 with Sereno just a few yards from the surf and the pilot boat right in front of us we put the peddle to the metal and proceed full steam ahead.

I think pictures speak a thousand words so here is our bar adventure.

Sereno II surfing the waves.

Sereno II surfing the waves.

A wave caught our stern pushing our bow to port and Gary temporarily lost steering.

A wave caught our stern pushing our bow to port and Gary temporarily lost steering.

Here we are in a short lull but we had gone way too far to the left heading for shallows.  The pilot had us make a sharp turn to starboard to avoid going aground.  We got hit broadside by a wave knocking us over about 40 degrees.  But Sereno knew what to do and she bobbed back up and Gary quickly brought us around perpendicular to the waves again in time for the next set.  All was good and we motored into the estuary.

Here we are in a short lull but we had gone way too far to the left heading for shallows. The pilot had us make a sharp turn to starboard to avoid going aground. We got hit broadside by a wave knocking us over about 40 degrees. But Sereno knew what to do and she bobbed back up and Gary quickly brought us around perpendicular to the waves again in time for the next set. All was good and we motored into the estuary.

I can’t say enough about Bill and the pilot for their directions in getting us safely over.  They are in a panga riding through the surf with a boat coming at them. Yikes! And of course a big thank you to my Captain for piloting us through and keeping us safe.  

After a two night passage and a drama filled entry, we decided to relax in the cockpit taking in the scenery.  That is until Gary said ‘Now I know how Tom Hanks felt in Cast Away’.  Oh yea, we have to go back over the bar to leave!

Fair winds,
Cindy

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