Friday 15 January 2016

It's all gone downhill

Our night in Santa Tecla was ok but not worthy of an encore. After a yucky gag worthy breakfast of soggy Pupusas we were on the road again. After a steep climb out of the city on a busy dual carriageway with no shoulder we were more than happy to stop off at the biggest, most modern, fully stocked supermarket we've seen since the new Sainsbury's on Charlton Peninsula. So this is how you lot live? Not bad eh?

The wifi where we are is so slllloooowwww that I can't upload many photos so I'll keep this brief rather than rattling on.... Well, briefish....

San Salvador sits at about 1000m above sea level and seeing as we were heading to the sea it didn't take a genius to predict the ride.

Luckily a hard shoulder appeared. Well I say hard but sometimes it was soft where dirt road side turnings wash themselves onto it leaving sand and rubble to negotiate. That's not too bad. Throw in a few makeshift shops that set themselves up on there, lots of parked cars and trucks, sleeping dogs, a man walking along with two 12 ft long logs on his shoulder who decided to do his best impression of the film 'The Plank' just as kate rode past, forcing her to duck & swerve and I don't really remember what else but lots of things, it didn't make for the most relaxing descent.

One thing I forgot to mention about riding around San Salvador was the lack of manhole covers. They have the manholes alright, bloody great big storm drains about 4ft x 2ft that sit in the gutter, ready for the seasonal downpours. No covers though. Get that wrong and it's going to hurt...

On one particularly steep bit of today's descent, a truck was crawling down the hill in the slow lane, it's brakes visibly smoking as they held back the weight. 
Checking over our shoulders we veered out into the fast lane to pass it. Anywhere else it may come as a surprise but here? I'm not too sure. In the middle of the fast lane was a manhole and, yep, no cover! This one was only a mere 2ft diameter and carefully positioned in the centre of the lane where it would cause no problem to a car or truck. For us though, going at about 50km/h, it would have made a very 'interesting' addition to the day if we hadn't seen it. 



Of course though, being the intrepid adventurers that we are we made it and are now safety at the resort of El Tunco on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. El Tunco is, (I can't believe you don't know this already) a slightly sleazy, grungy, backpacker hangout made popular by surfers.

Tattoo'd dudes and dudesses cruise the strip. Bleach blond hair, ankle bracelets and hipster beards are derigeur. And don't even think of going anywhere without a board under your arm. 

We, sporting our 'cyclists tans' and being a tad middle aged only go out under the cover of darkness and right now are safely sat beside the little pool at our guest house.

Hang ten bro






3 comments:

  1. Hi Will and Kate. I'm glad you are enjoying yourselves. If you don't have to force yourself a bit, there's no satisfaction. Right? Laurie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Laurie
      Force it? I prefer to tap it! There was a fair crowd watching that sunset and we spoke about you on your desert drives when you did the needful while the tourists gawped at the glowing sky

      Delete
  2. Ah, tiz awhile since I heard that expression - did the needful

    ReplyDelete