Just about perfect

Now there are some who have commented, nay criticised, that the 2016 blog has been a trifle negative. Well short of lying about our experiences I'm just telling it like it is. In this entry however, I don't think negativity even gets a look in.

Yesterday started with the ubiquitous El Salvadorian Pupusas - a tortilla 'sandwich' filled (more internally smeared) with refried beans and melted cheese. They're served up with shredded, lightly pickled white cabbage & carrot along with a mild tomato salsa sauce. Perfect fuel for a long day in the saddle

We began with a 7km climb that included a short steep descent giving us a quick burst of 55km/h.  More hard but manageable ups, more blasting downs. The only thing that really bothered us was the horrible rough Tarmac surface, littered with potholes that hid in the shadows.

A lookout point

A dead moth we found and a glimpse of the rotten road surface

A big downhill and some short climbs led us to an early lunch of tasty, cheap burritos. I'd peered into the empty restaurant, thinking it a bit cheeky to wheel the bikes inside but seeing the owners motorbike was already in there, in they came, no worries.

An hour or so on a hot but flat & easy main road brought us to the town of Aguilares where we searched out some sugar. Boy did we come up trumps

I, as usual, struggled with the wifi

From here we took a lovely quiet road to our final destination of Suchitoto. The road was like riding a country lane in Kent. Short, punchy climbs and matching descents. Hard but nothing to make our lungs burst or hands ache from braking. In Kent though you don't get roadside stalls selling sliced pineapple & watermelon for 20p or this little lot

It was also nice to see that we're not the only ones who resort to pushing our laden bikes when necessary 

Once in town we found a great little guesthouse (£10 between us) and hit town for a well earned beer. We'd done 75km today and treated ourselves to the first 'proper' meal we've had in ages. Proper as in western style in presentation & taste, China plate, metal cutlery and unfortunately, price... Why is it though these type of places insist on playing cover version songs that absolutely murder any life that The Beatles, The Carpenters or Don Mc Clain ever had?

Suchitoto is a quiet little town. Apparently it gets busy at the weekend with a food fair and art galleries, right now though, it's lovely and peaceful.
Here is our own little gallery of the place

View from our courtyard hammock

Now, (this isn't negative, merely an observation) I do have a few 'hygiene issues' with eating Pupusas. There is no cutlery so it's fingers only. The only thing is the plastic pots that the cabbage and salsa are in are always pretty grubby and there is no way to avoid touching them. It's a bit like being in an English cafe, squirting the mankiest ketchup bottle known to man on your chips and then grabbing hold of your burger before chomping into it. So far, our tumtums are coping but it does feel a bit like it's just a matter of time...

Today we've walked down to the lake and very nice it is too.

We passed by this rather rustic looking cafe and headed down to the waters edge. 

In the few hours that we were here the floating plants came in and totally transformed the waterfront. The green boat in the 1st photo took some people out then seriously struggled to get them back to shore as you'll see in pic 2 on the right.

As all that drama was going on, to our surprise we found a swanky swimming pool. For the price of a cuppa & sausage roll at Greggs we spent a good few hours here just soaking up the view and the sun. Well, everyone deserves a bit of a holiday now and then don't they?

P.S. My editor was a little disappointed with this entry as after checking through for typos she handed back my phone saying in a slightly surprised and rather condescending tone "Hmmph, no mistakes at all..."