El Salvador - Suchitoto

El Salvador - suchitoto 

I had a lazy morning because I finally caught the cold everyone has been passing around :(  I have tried so hard not to get it, because my Lupus lungs do not do well with respiratory infections.

Rickshaw!  Dan, Carone, Luming - Martina's Picture

Later in the afternoon, I went on a hike through the area where the guerrilla fighters hid during the civil war 1980-1992.  We saw their trenches, smokeless kitchens etc.  They learned a lot about how to fight from the Vietnam war. We met one of the fighters- he was 16 when he joined and at one point he went to Cuba to train.  He answered our questions about the war and his involvement. It was quite interesting and I am so blessed that I did not grow up in a war torn country - I can't even imagine!

A few days later Trump would make his comment about Haiti and El Salvador being "shit countries". We spent quite a bit of time in El Salvador and it is a beautiful country with friendly, hard working people. 

I have been taking pics of all the different Christmas trees and nativity scenes I have seen. This is a downed American Huey that they keep as a monument to the war. On the fence are weapons that were ordered to be cut in half by the UN. Their Christmas tree was in the middle - I found that hilarious!!  A church choir was practicing nearby and I recognized a song that we used to sing when I did mission trips in Ecuador.

the UN demanded the weapons be cut lengthwise and they used them for the monument

downed huey with the Christmas tree

mural depicting the civil war

the church

Some people went bird watching in the morning so we didn't leave until 10 am. We drove through El Salvador and stopped at a mall to get lunch (KFC) and get groceries for the day we leave at 5am. During the first part of the trip we always left pretty early and would get to the next place around 1pm. Now we are leaving later and it makes the day of traveling seem endless.

We arrived at the tortuga verde resort in el coco in the afternoon. I went for a walk and hung out at the beach. Our rooms all have a screened in porch with hammocks which is really nice - no hot water though!