June 5, 2016
We decide to forego the last 100km to the border and try out a “chicken bus”. What a wild ride!
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Esquintla, Guatemala
Destination: Metalio, El Salvador
40.1 km trip, 2:50 time, 38.2 km/h maximum speed, 14.1 km/h average speed
Route Description:
We opted to take a bus from Escuintla to the border of El Salvador due to the long distance and being low on Quetzals (currency in Guatemala). We found a bus from Escuintla to the border for 90 pesos and we had 92 left so it was perfect. Loading the bikes on the bus was a bit rushed but we didn’t have any problems and the guys working on the bus were great. I logged the bus route with my GPS and it was undulating hills again all day. The road didn’t seem too windy but there was a lot of construction. It was just over 100 km to the border. After coming to the border we crossed without problem, filled out a form and got our stamp. There are guys there willing to exchange your Quetzals into USD. Lots of food and restaurant opportunities once in El Salvador. The road is glorious with a big shoulder and traffic is much lighter than it was in Guatemala. We stayed in the town of Metalio.
Accommodations:
We rode another 40K into the town of Metalio and stayed at the Auto Hotel for $10 USD with air conditioning and no wifi. There was a bigger town about 10K past the border that had another hotel that was $15 USD but we opted to go a bit further. Then after where we stayed you could have ridden another 10K to the junction where you turn left and there was another hotel.
What happened…
Andrew writes: We’ve reached out 6th country! All it took was for Amanda to wake up in a bad enough mood that she agreed to take a chicken bus and away we went. Actually, we awoke to find ourselves down to our last 90Q ($18CDN), and when we were asking about the bus someone said it would be 50Q each. Then another person said it was 45Q….and it left from right about where we were standing…and it was going to be here in 5 minutes. Amanda and I hurriedly started our unpack-repack for bus travel but it was too late. The bus pulled up and 3 guys just started grabbing all of our stuff and throwing it into the bottom of the bus. It was a little nerve-wracking but we didn’t have any time to dwell. Within one minute of its arrival, the bus was rolling and we hopped on. The bus itself sat 50 but there were about 80 people onboard. Rather than being one of the legendary chicken buses it was actually a tour coach. Ahh well, there’s always another time for the true Guatemalan experience.
The 105km drive took about two hours. Seeing the road from behind the windshield really drove home how narrow the roads are. There was one point, maybe 20 minutes after we had left Esquintla when we glimpsed two cycle tourists making their way in the heavy traffic through a construction zone. The stricken look on the female riders face left me wondering if that’s the sort of shell-shocked look that Amanda and I have been riding along with for the past two days. I spotted another cycle tourist outside of a store in one of the towns that we drove through. I wonder if we’ll see any of them further down the road. It’s weird, we likely all stayed in Esquintla last night, or somewhere nearby, yet whenever anyone puts themselves a day ahead, there are so many factors that could play a part in us never meeting. I hope that we do though.
So El Salvador…the border crossing was pretty easy. There were a few people offering to change our money from Quetzals into US dollars. Amanda reached into her wallet and pulled out 2.25Q which netted us $0.30USD. Upon retrospect, we got hosed. The exchange should have netted us closer to $0.50 – ahhh well. Right away I feel a lot safer on the road. There just isn’t a lot of traffic. Maybe the populace is too poor? Speaking of which, when we got settled into our auto hotel some guy came up to us, acting very menacing, asking for money. When I asked him why I should give him any money, he said because I am a gringo. Maybe it was just a cast of it being Sunday, and everyone has been sitting around drinking all day. Maybe people here are just hard up for money.
So Central America is dangerous … El Salvador is the violent crime capital of the world or something. Every newspaper is chock-full of photos and stories on death, kidnapping, corruption, and all sorts of evil. We are watching CNN in Spanish on TV and sure enough, it’s about a reporter kidnapped in Colombia. We try to ignore all of this, reminding ourselves that “if it bleeds, it leads”, but Amanda and I just spent a minute reminiscing on the news in Cuba; it was always good news. Maybe the world could follow their example.