Hello mundo,
It has been 2 weeks since we add our last blog - mainly because of 2 reasons: The first is we were both sick for a couple of days and the second is that we spend most of the time in buses (or waiting for them ;) ).
Since we left Merida in Mexico a lot have happened: First of all we decided to move back to Guatemala - but this time with a first class bus. So we paid a lot of money in order to get near the border - and both got very very sick. The bus ride took 8 hours during the night but the bus driver probably worked before as butcher and was used to work in a "fridge cold environment". Therefore he turned on the climatic system down to 10/15 degrees. We were not prepared for that at all and entered the bus only with t-shirt and short. The result was 40 degrees of fever and a 4 day break from our travel.
But before we could rest we had to travel sick for 1 more day, first passing the Guatemalan "immigrant border". The border is very far away from the normal boarder passing and it is very easy for the locals to enter into Mexico without immigration problems. At the border was the first time we met 3 guys (between 20 and 25 years old) who were about to take the train to the United States. "La bestia", how the train is also called is stuff of a lot of movies and documentations. People from all over Central America ride this train on the roof. The train starts at the south of Mexico and ends up at the border with the United States. The ride itself is an absolute nightmare. Girls get raped, men get killed of kidnapped by the Mexican Mafia and only a few percentages actually get through it. We saw a lot of documentaries about that, but meeting people who are actually doing this and taking the risk was something very moving - and reminded us again how fortunate we were to travel around just for the fun. Here a short CNN documentary if you are interested in knowing more about the suffering of a big part of the Central American population:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7UZk6Hg-Xo
Border Mexico - Guatemala
After we passed the border we had to take another bus driving for 5 hours through unpaved roads until we arrived finally in Flores (Guatemala) again. Here we stayed for 4 days in order to get rid of our fever. As we hadn´t any medicine against fever with us we decided to buy some in the pharmacy - what has his own charm. It is not like in Europe that you buy a pack of medicine. Here people are selling you pills alone - without package or description for what this is. In my (Roman) case the pharmacist gave me 4 little blue pills and I was not sure if this was actually against the cold of if she was just selling me her last Viagra she had in stock. I took them anyway and they helped. As I felt asleep quite quickly afterwards I do not think it was Viagra - but who knows... ;).
After 4 days we finally crossed the border into El Salvador. Our first stop was Ataco, a small town in the mountains. The town was actually very nice as we arrived on Sunday. The streets where packed with people and business was good. So we decided one more day (until Tuesday) in our family run hostel. When we got up on Monday morning the owner of the Hostel just said "good bye" as they were going back to the capital where they were living during the week. They gave us the keys from their house/Hostel and as we were the only guest they just said "stay as long as you want. Maybe we see us on Friday - good bye" - and gone they were. And there we where: Owner of a nice little house for our own. The owners let all doors open for us so we could actually live there - for free. They didn´t ask for any money, nothing. It was just one more example of the unbelievable hospitality we experienced here.
Our "own" house for the first time after 2 month
We still moved on at the next day. The next stop was the pacific coast from El Salvador. After waiting 8 hours for the bus in the main bus station we got the connection and moved right into "surfer heaven". Until then be barely saw tourist in this country but the coast is packed with surfers from all over the world. With them come Hostels, bars, restaurants - everything what a travellers mind expect from holiday. Those places are normally not our preferred spots but it´s nice from time to time to enjoy a "western lifestyle".
After the 5th bottle I should do "something funny" - alcohol makes you stupid ;)
We stayed 2 days more on the coast and after one more day in the capital San Salvador (there is nothing to tell about San Salvador. It is like every city in Central America. Noisy, dirty and extremely dangerous) we took a but until Perquin, another village town in the south of El Salvador. Here we are at the moment. Perquin was the headquater of the guerillas in the 80s and 90s and the town (and the villages around them) suffered a lot because of their support to the guerrillas. In fact in 1982 a nearby village got completely erased by the military. More than 1000 deaths and only 1(!) woman survived the attack from the village.
Perquin itself is a beautiful village. We saw a guerilla camp nearby and talked with the people who all (or their parents) supported the guerilla. It is like a living museum with real stories. Unbelievable what people had to suffer while at the same time in a different place in the world we were playing football in Hauset or learning how to drive a bicycle in La Paz.
The beautiful town of Perquin
Anyway, tomorrow we will move on to Honduras - statistically the most dangerous country in the world. Hard to believe after all the good experience we received in our trip so far.
Have a nice weekend and all to the supporter of Athletico Madrid, Bayern Munich or Arsenal London - congratulations for the victories!!!!!! (Not to forget that every club has at least one Belgian player in it ;) ).
Abrazos a todos
Somos un mundo
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