San Salvador, El Salvador, 5/2-2007

Route: Guatemala City - Escuintla - Pedro de Alvarado - Sonsonate - San Salvador

Ivo and I started around nine. Him in car and I on Scotty. He helped me getting out of Guatemala City and showed me the way to Escuintla. When you get down from the mountains the heat starts to kick in. We said goodbye to each other close to Escuintla and I headed for the border.

I had planned to cross the border at Pedro de Alvarado. It was not much people when I got there, so I hoped the crossing would be fast and painless. There are a treaty between Guatemala - El Salvador - Honduras and Nicaragua, which means that you are not supposed to pay anything at the borders after entering the first. However, I am in the Central America. so yo never know. Out of Guatemala was no problem, then it was into El Salvador. On the bridge to El Salvador I met some inspectors that repeated that I was not supposed to pay anything for getting into the country. There are always lots of people that will help you for some dollars, but I chose to do this crossing on my own. The imigration is the easy part. Then foto copy terror starts. I first got on copy of the of the entry papers, but what I was not told was that I also needed
copys of the passport and the registration of the bike.

The customs officer was a guy that only spoke fast spanish. That was until he started searching my bike. When searching my bike, he pointed to his paper and indicated that he was supposed to sign it. Then he asked if I brought any Playboy. I thought that maybe porn was not allowed in El Salvador and answered polite that I did not bring any porn. Then he asked if I brought any medications. I naturally thought that he ment strong drugs and narkotics and answered polite that I did not bring any medicines. He then asked if I not even had any asperin, and finally I got it. He wanted a bribe. I told him that I brought nothing and began slowly to pack my bike and he dissapared. After 10 mintes he appeared in a window and showed that he had signed the paper and that was it. No bribe this time.

I have to admit that crossing the borders here are a bit confusing, and the info when crossing is not always right. I then headed toward San Salvador. The road goes through agriculture landscape with some mountains further in in the country.I arrived San Salvador in the afternoon and rode into the city center. I stopped at a park and the first thing I noticed was a guy lying at the sidewalk with handcuffs and two policemen standing close by and talking to another. San Salvador is known to be one of the most dangerous cities in Central America, a place you should not waive around a camera and money, and my first thought was that maybe it was right.

I found a hotel in one of the neighbouring streets, after driving through some streets with booths on both side of the streets. My first impression that San Salvador was a potential dangerous city soon was replaced with a meeting with the very intense marked close to the hotel. It was obvious that it was not that often that people with blue eyes were there, for people stopped up and started stearing when I walked down the street. At the hotel one of the maids looked me in the eyes and said "azul ojo", which means blue eyes. In the evening I walked in the streets and looked at the different things that were sold in the booths, before I went to bed.