Sunriser

We are back in El Salvador for the second time after the summer break planning to sail to Mexico… but what shall one do if you have been already a month in El Salvador and hurricanes pass one after another in the direction you want to go to?

El Nino is extremely strong this year, which is directly noticeable in El Salvador. A hot and dry ‘rainy’ season with sea water temperatures 4 degrees higher than normal and hurricanes forming one after another. Fortunately, they only get stronger north of us; however, north is where we want to go. Forced by the meteorology we decided to stay in our safe and pleasant anchorage.

Our anchorage is on a river in front of the island El Cordoncillo, residence to about 80 families. Bill and Jean manage the anchorage and have pupusa party every Saturday (pupusas are a filled soft corn pancake). At a 10 minutes dingy ride there is a resort with swimming pool and restaurants, and we can do shopping in nearby village La Herradura at a 20 minute ride. It feels by now like home. So much that I went with the fishermen at 4.00 in the morning, learning that fishing is an art that I do not master.

The settling in and stowing away of two big bags of spare parts fills the first weeks back on the boat. We fixed the damage from the lightning in June, and some new issues mostly related to corrosion in this humid climate (non working fridge, internet router, leaking spraycans causing a mess) and a dead starter battery.

But the main challenge was to clean and paint the propellors and reactivate the coppercoat. Our hull has epoxy mixed with copper powder on it, which prevents growth of barnacles and weed. Now and then this needs sanding to reactivate the copper on the surface. Up to now we did this underwater, but this time we went adventurous by letting the boat dry out on a sandbank. We got help from Pastor Dany and two of his friends who did all the sanding while I worked on the propellors.

Only after letting the water go down we realized a riverbed is quite muddy…

We also ventured further away with our dingy than we ever did before and went through a mangrove river to a (very) local restaurant on the river Lempa.

After most of the work was done there was time for leisure, so we rented a car and went with our friends Chris and Jennifer from Skylark to El Zonte. This is a laidback surf city where Chris and Jennifer took 5 days of lessons. We passed this and took up the role of photographer, Beatriz on the beach, Jos with the drone.

After two days we went on visiting the less touristy places. We visited Concepcion de Ataco, Berlin, Alegria and Perquin. The tourists in El Salvador are mostly Salvadorians themselves. As one man explained us he was never able to travel in his own country because of the dangerous gangs, so only now (he was around 40 years old) he was discovering his own country.

There is food in abundance. Most common are the Pupuserias, almost every other restaurant is one. In many villages they also have food stalls, where their menu is presented by ready made meals. Funny detail is that to make it look fresh even after some hours they brush it with oil. It is cheap and tasty. Especially when you take a Michelada with it: a normal beer with hot spices on the rim and other spices in the beer.

But we most liked the hikes in the countryside combined with cooling off in some spectacular waterfalls.

The 5 hour climb/hike around a vulcano was intense.

We are now back on the boat and wanted to leave for our next stop: Chiapas in Mexico. However the weather will keep us here for at least the coming 10 days. The swell in the mouth of the river creates dangerous breakers as result of all the hurricanes that pass further at sea.

We will wait therefore for a good weather window to sail on. The boat is ready for it and so are we.

Beatriz and Jos