Pais numero tres

Slept pretty well - despite the drunk singing in the street outside our hotel. Then in the morning, we woke up to the sound of singing again, but this time the singer sounded sober - don't think it was the same guy.

On Tuesday night after dinner, Nealy and I had arranged for a guide to take us on a hike to some waterfalls the next morning. We wanted to get back and get in some good rain-free morning driving so set the tour for 7:30am. Unfortunately, El Salvador evidently runs on Guatemala time too because Douglas, our guide, didn't show up until 8:20. And that was only cause the girl at the front desk called him twice.

Douglas was a really nice guy. He lead us through a coffee plantation and on to a series of waterfalls. The first one was enormous - we only saw it from the top, but it was scary high - easily a couple hundred feet. The rest were relatively short. They have a pretty neat system, actually. They've built a series of walls along the side of the mountain just beneath all of these waterfalls. This creates a series of pools which each of which flow along the side of the mountain into the next pool through a series of tunnels, until finally, they cascade down the side of the mountain in a 200 meter waterfall whose power is harnessed to generate energy hydroelectrically.

We actually swam through one of the tunnels! Evidently Nealy doesn't do well with long dark tunnels full of swift flowing water and little breathing room. I had to call her a chicken to get her to do it - I know it was a low blow, but it had to be done! At first I didn't know why the guide went with us - to the untrained eye it looked like the tunnel simply started in one pool and ended in the next. However, it turns out that in order to end up in the second pool you have to take a right where the tunnel branches ... otherwise you head down the tube to the 200 meter drop ... so ... yeah.

After a swim in one of the pools (which were very clean and refreshing) we headed back to town. On the way back through the coffee farm, Douglas showed us a tree called a Pimienta Gorda. The leaves had an incredible and unique smell! I really liked it, but it made Nealy a bit light headed. Douglas said the locals use it to help them get over colds and stomach problems.

Back at the hotel, we picked up our laundry (we had to pay $6 to have it dried after driving through the rain!) and headed to Comedor Karlita for breakfast. Good stuff! And, as is my wont, I gave the proprietor's little girl a sucker. I've been passing them out to kids here in Central America. Evidently that's not incredibly creepy in this part of the world ...

As soon as we got on the motorcycle it started to sprinkle. Ridiculous. But eventually we drove out of it ... then back into it ... then out of it again ... then into it again ...

Our path to Honduras took us through Santa Ana, and once again we got turned around - because there were no signs! Haha! After asking three people for directions, we were finally back on the road again.

The fastest route to Honduras from our location in El Salvador was to go back to Guatemala first. The El Slavador/Guatemala border crossing went smoothly after we maneuvered our way through the long line of waiting semi trucks.

The Guatemala/Honduras border crossing was a bit more of a hassle. It was raining pretty good and the semis were packed in so tight that it took a little doing to get around them. At the border were the usual money changers, but also some guys trying to help us with paperwork for tips. I'm always wary of these deals cause I've had some unfavorable experiences at border crossings with scammers. We got through immigration pretty easily - although they did want to see a bunch of paperwork for my motorcycle (the first and only time this came up). But about 20 meters past the border there was a national police checkpoint. The officer stopped us and asked us where we were coming from. I misunderstood and told him our destination - Gracias Lempira. He repeated his question and I told him we had come from Guatemala ... seemed kind of like a no-brainer since we were at the Guatemala/Honduras border crossing, but I played along. Then he asked if we had family in Gracias ... Once again, I'm not sure what it was about two gringos that made him think we might have family ... well, anywhere in Honduras, but I played along again and said "no."

Then the officer proceeded to give us a thorough looking over! Haha! After an uncomfortable silence during which he scrutinized us, he let us pass! Hahaha! I couldn't believe it! Was he considering having us turn around and head back to Guatemala? For the love ...

Our encounter with Officer Friendly and the pouring rain gave us a less than favorable first impression of the country. But we soon came around!

This post is getting long, so I'll tell you about the rest of day three later!