El Salvador!

This summer has been filled with trips and excursions, and countless opportunities for traveling!  I've been hopping around so much that I am ashamed to say, it took me a while to remember everywhere I've been for the past 3 months!

The most memorable, momentous, and remarkable trip I've taken this year is definitely the two weeks in El Salvador and Nicaragua.  I hadn't planned too much for this trip because of all the other things that were happening throughout the summer.  My expectations also weren't especially high because I had originally wanted to go to South America instead of Central America (it will happen one day!), but timing and funds didn't allow for that so Mike got his dream beach/surf vacation.

It turns out, though, Central America has some of the most beautiful and wondrous sights I've ever imagined possible in my life!  I thought this trip would be too similar to Costa Rica, but it was better in almost every way!  El Salvador is literally Costa Rica 10 years ago... pristine beaches, minimal tourists, almost no sign of mass commercialism anywhere!  Perfection.

Cows, horses, dogs, and chickens running out onto the road while you are driving, almost no street lamps on the roads, fresh and free range chicken and beef, pure fruit juice... country living!

Along with some crazy things happening, like having our rental truck rammed into by a giant public bus in El Salvador, and Mike's surf board snapping in half from a huge wave while surfing, we also met some really amazing people throughout the entire 2 weeks :]

I will probably have to split up everything that happened into three different posts, just to give merit to all the amazing things that happened!

For the first 4 days we drove up and down the El Salvador coastline and checked out almost every single beach.  The first night we arrived we stayed at Playa Sunzal, which has one of the best surfs purportedly in all of El Salvador!  It was perfect for me and Mike because there was a point break where the waves were larger and rougher, and beach breaks which are milder for me to practice on!

Playa Sunzal is actually slightly ugly and touristy (well toursity for El Salvador), one of the least physically appealing beaches we came across... it is surfer heaven though, because all the surf bros come here to catch some consistent waves and then listen to reggae in bars catered to surfer bros :]

One of the BEST KEPT SECRETS of El Salvador is Mizata Point Resort.  Mizata Point is heaven, and so far the resort is the only place to stay in the area because El Salvador is so undeveloped.  It was only built in April and almost nobody knows about it yet, which means the beach is basically YOURS while you are here.

The man who owns this place is George, and he is originally from San Diego.  He traveled all throughout Central America and decided to build here, and used to work in construction and was a landscape architect, and designed and over saw the entire construction process himself!

Him and his wife and two kids live here, and they cook their guests dinners and sometimes other meals, and it is DELICIOUS!!! this place is one of the few in El Salvador with running hot water. and George is seriously one of the kindest people we met throughout the entire trip.  He is so warm and friendly, and genuinely wants his guests to feel welcomed!

Mike broke his surf board surfing at Mizata Point. When I first saw his board I thought it had slammed into a rock and snapped, but it was actually the impact of a ginormous wave that crushed it!  I didn't even know waves could do that!  A lot of surfers were in El Salvador at the time because supposedly one of the biggest swells in 5-10 years was coming, and the waves were going to be SO SICK DUDE. I don't really get the whole surfing thing. As long as I can see more giant turtles and not drown in 4 ft of water, I'm good :) 

We befriended the security guard because we came back so late every night and he had to open the gates for us. Basically everything closes when the sun sets. He carries around a giant machete and a rifle (no joke) every night even though he is the most timid and soft-spoken man in the world :) I can't imagine him using that thing.  It is more of a deterrent, almost every household and security guard for any type of establishment carries a machete and a gun!

We also befriended this guy who works on George's property, his name is Chico and he does everything imaginable!  He looks slightly shady here in this picture like he is going to steal your wallet, but he is EXTREMELY friendly and considerate!  He went surfing with Mike almost every day, and is an AMAZING surfer and swimmer!

One night he even woke us up at midnight so that we could see a turtle come onto the beach to lay its eggs! Him and a bunch of his friends were waiting for the turtle to lay its eggs so that they could steal it and sell it (sad reality).  People eat them as an aphrodisiac, but lately turtle reserves across El Salvador have been buying up turtle eggs for more than they're worth on the market, in order to save them and release them back into the ocean. Chico's friends were planning to sell them to the reserves anyway, so all is well in the world! There were barnacles growing on this giant grandma turtle!

We also went on another hike to Coatepeque Caldera, an active volcano! We weren't able to walk right up to the crater and look down, but we got to do that in Nicaragua :)

Along the hike up, we stood under the spot where two gigantic trees of completely differing species entwine each other at the top.  The story behind it is that if a couple stands under the trees and they are not truly in love, they will not survive..... yikes!

Afterwards we went swimming in Lake Coatepeque, an AMAZING volcanic lake formed by Coatepeque Caldera with hot springs all around it. It started raining and there was lightning all around the volcano... it was GORGEOUS :) Naturally we went swimming AFTER the lightning stopped... We were only able to access the lake because we ate at the only public restaurant there, otherwise all the land around it is privately owned.  

The water was around 80 degrees, which was slightly colder than the ocean in El Salvador, and that's extremely warm for Angelenos but Chico was FREEZING! Hilarious :)

On a different day, we also went hiking in Parque Nacional El Imposible, and met this amazing El Salvadorian couple that we ended up having dinner with!  They spoke English extremely well, which is rare for El Salvadorians, and the husband is a writer and translator, and his wife works for USAID!  Their work sounds so fascinating, and they were absolutely lovely and wonderful! All the parks and volcanoes in El Salvador require guides because they are so unexplored and untouched, and sometimes the guides even need to use their machetes to pave the path!  Our guide carried a machete the whole way!

We didn't see any pumas but we did see this giant dung beetle, and a flesh eating plant! As well as lots and lots of vultures and hawks.

That was the first 4 days of our vacation. The rest is yet to come :] 

Me encanta El Salvador!!!

PURA VIDA!

So I am almost 2 months late in posting this, but that is what happens when you are living life and it decides not to give you any down time.

Costa Rica was a bit touristy of a choice for me for a spring break destination, but I wanted rainforests and Mike wanted beaches, so we compromised!  Where I really wanted to be at was SOUTH AMERICA!  But I guess I will allocate at least a couple months for an epic-ness like that in the future!

And actually, Costa Rica turned out to be pretty epic!

I learned how to surf! Our surfing instructor was amazing!!! I didn't even know how to swim and yet he somehow managed to teach me how to stand up on the board (before Mike MUAHAHHA).  He was from France and said he moved here because he loved the people and the "Pura vida" life style!  That approach to life is really amazing and respectable :] but personally, I think it also crosses too closely to a fine line that could evolve into "I'm just enjoying my beer on the beach with the gorgeous sunset and... woah! I guess I've been sitting here on the same hammock for the past 8 years, how'd that happen?! Oh well *sips beer*'  That approach was all too common while backpacking through Southeast Asia.

We ate A TON of fresh fruit, every single day!  Mangoes in Costa Rica are RIDICULOUS.  The local fruit there tastes like sweet, sweet crack.  Like how local apples taste from New York! And I'm pretty sure I ate an entire gigantic watermelon all by myself for lunch one day.  Maybe multiple meals.

We also canoed down a river with a guide, who had eyes of a hawk and pointed out the craziest animals along the river to us! Like Spider Monkeys and Howler Monkeys and a whole bunch of different birds... apparently Costa Rica has one of the most diverse species of birds in the world!  I even saw a Macaw!!! And a bunch of vultures eating a dead caiman!

Tons of beaches, Arenal Volcano, Baldi hot springs (AHHH-mazing!!! if you don't mind bathing in water that 500 other ppl have been in), cloud reserves, and sky bridges were soooo amazing... I've always wanted to visit a rainforest ever since playing Amazon Trail, and after this trip it just makes we want to get lost in the Amazon forever and ever and trade cacao with some natives for malaria medicine :]

I'm too lazy to type out all the details but it was such a fun trip!  Costa Rica is the perfect place if you want a one stop shop for all the outdoors-y stuff you could want in a vacation!

 PURVA VIDA!