November 19, 2009
Chiquimulte Guatemala to San Vincente El Salvador

This was another driving and very stressful day. First we left Chiquimulte and drove a pleasant hour or so on a road that seem to deteriorate with each mile and the going was slow up and down those small mountains and then to the border at Anguiatu. At the last 2 miles before the border they pave the road much better.
Now park the RV over by the trucks and first have the immigration persons check your customs papers to see that you have the right vehicle papers and that you are exiting the country. Next over to customs to have them fill out about 4 forms (but first make copies of your drivers license and passport and vehicle registration, 2 copies please). Then wait in line till they fill out their paperwork. Now take these back to the customs people outside and have them stamp them and sign them. Now you must have your passport stamped at immigration.
You may now leave Guatemala.
Twenty yards up the road you may enter El Salvador. First go to customs and have them give you a vehicle permit. Now they want you to first fill out a form in Spanish with the number of cyl of the vehicle, number of cc of the engine, the engine number, number of occupants, vin number and license number along with other stuff that I had no clue as to.
Well after about an two hours we were finally thru with all of that an could then go to immigration and have our passports stamped. Well he just records it in the computer and off you go. Finally we are on our way.
Please make a copy of this as 1Km down the road they will ask you for a copy of what we have just filled out. The road is packed with large semi trucks on both sides of a very narrow road making it possible for traffic to go only one way. There must have been a hundred trucks waiting to cross the border.
I will say that the roads improved dramatically in El Salvador. Still two lane but now it was concrete with a large shoulder. The problem is that El Salvador has really big mountains so that you may only go about 45 mph at the maximum and most of the time it is much less than that. Up and down and around corners and all the time worried about trucks passing you or cows or horses on the road.
Other pluses of El Salvador is the gas is cheaper (Guatemala was about $4.50 per gallon and here it is just over $3.00 per gallon. And the currency is US dollars. So you are not always having to convert 8 to one and having to change money.
We finally came to Santa Ana where the road became 4 lane divided roadway to San Salvador. This is not saying much as even though the road is quite nice people park on the right side of the road taking up some of the right lane and then others just stop in the right lane and then there are vendors all along the right side of the road every few hundred feet. This on what we would consider a freeway. Again 44-50 mph max.
Then the excitement of passing thru San Salvador a major city where we had to navigate city street traffic. I think we got lost because the map shows a major road. I finally paid a cab driver to show us the way. Even then after we left him we asked about 4 times for directions and it was always just go straight, and a lot of other words I did not comprehend.
Finally out of town we tried to stop at a motel but could not fit thru the gate (we are too tall. So we are staying the night at an aquapark near San Vincente that is gated and they tell us it has a guard at night. There is a hotel jus across the street that owns this so I think that the guard may be for both. There is a church next door where they are singing and clapping and a horse grazing on the side of the road so all is now well with the world.
Tomorrow we must reprovision our RV with some of the fresh things that we need to buy so if we see a large supermarket that will be a stop we must try to make. Then on to the border with Honduras and I hope that it goes smoother.
Well that’s all from the land of C.A. Ozz for today and maybe if the stars shine tonight and the moon comes over the barn we will be able to post thes last few days worth of blogs sometime soon.