If you read the last e-mail you know that we successfully crossed the Gulf of Tehuantepec and that we are El Salvador . We are, in fact, enjoying life at “ El Salvador ’s Most Exclusive Resort” although how exclusive can it be if they’ll take in two vagabonds from California aboard a small sailboat?
“The crossing” turned out to be boringly placid. If you had asked any of us under what conditions we would have liked to cross the Gulf you would have heard a lot of “flat, calm”, “no wind”, “full moon”, etc. Well that is exactly what we got… and we still weren’t happy. The lack of wind required us to motor almost 200 miles. That’s a long way in a sailboat, and it is extremely boring. We read, we fished, we slept, but we didn’t sail. Everyone says we were lucky. Bah!
We passed out of Mexico and into Guatemala at 3:30 AM on Tuesday (left Huatulco , Mexico on Saturday evening). We bypassed the Guatemalan ports because the country has no attractive stops on the Pacific Coast , and they also charge about $150 to enter the country by boat. It took us about 24 hours to traverse Guatemalan waters, but we took some of their fish with us. I dropped a line from the stern and in less than 15 minutes I had hooked a 20 – 25 lb. blue fin tuna. The blue fin has rich, blood red meat, and he was filleted and turned into a sushi lunch within the hour. We also got several dinners worth of grilled tuna for our efforts.
The winds picked up enough for us to fly our spinnaker for the next two days, and we sailed smartly down the coast of El Salvador . Our next port of call was to be Barillas where we expect to winter the boat, but Bahia del Sol (13° 16.500'N/ 88° 53.200'W) was 30 miles closer and we were very tired. We arrived outside the bar to BDS at midnight (bad timing due to the Tehuantepec calm) and decided to throw down an anchor and sleep. We nosed up to the beach (1/4 mile off actually) just outside the surf line, dropped anchor, and were quickly asleep. The next morning we awoke to a beautiful, palm lined beach with a huge volcano lurking in the background, and after a leisurely breakfast we called BDS for help getting over the bar. Even in Google you can see the large breakers that surround the entrance to the river estuary so it is necessary to have a pilot show you through the surf. The pilot came flying out through the surf in his panga, and then turned right around and to lead us back through the breakers. Hell of job.
Bahia del Sol is a resort, not too fancy, with pool, bar and restaurant some moorings and some dock space. You can pick out the pool on Google (13° 18.000'N/ 88° 53.550'W). El Salvador is typical of the Latin American countries in that there is significant poverty throughout the country. While we sit off the resort coming in to use the internet, buy $1 beers (it is very strange to be using dollars in a Spanish speaking country), swim, and eat we also see dugout canoes (literally carved out tree trunks) crossing the river with multiple water buckets to take home to the island in the river. There are no utilities on the island which is home to a large number of people. Yesterday we motored (dinghy) upriver to the town of Herradura (13° 20.600'N/ 88° 56.800'W) for the Saturday market. The market is a large metal warehouse with rows and rows of vendors selling produce and meats, prepared foods, clothing, and household items. Much of the clothing for sale was used and we suspect this is the final resting place for all those Goodwill contributions we make at home. For a population that speaks no English at all there are a lot of American t-shirts here (today I saw a “Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon” shirt). El Salvador has an 80% literacy rate, but 50% of the population lives below the poverty line, and it is a low poverty line. Before the most recent revolution (we supported the bad guys) 90% of the economic resources were owned by just 2% of the population.
While we were at the market we saw an amusing roadside accident. I am including a picture showing the three vehicles involved. What was amusing is that the accident was between the taxi (three-wheeled vehicle on the left) and the truck. The bicycle belongs to the policeman.
It is almost Christmas here. We have listened to Christmas carols at the bar in 90 degree temperatures, and we have seen a Santa entertaining the kids in full beard, red suit and boots. He must have been the hottest guy in town. We will make one more sailing trip before Christmas and then we will start exploring the interior of El Salvador . The country is about the size of Maryland . Our visa is for four countries ( Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua and El Salvador ) and there are numerous volcanoes, ancient ruins, and colonial cities to see.
Merry Christmas to all!
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