SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

We've checked out of Mexico and traveled south past Guatemala all the way to El Salvador. There aren't many places to stop in El Salvador, but those that exist are pretty inviting. Guatemala is way too expensive to stop for a short visit. People that go there take a car from El Salvador or Mexico. We've been participating in a number of meetings being sponsored by El Salvador to promote BAhia del Sol...where we are. It needs promotion. In order to get here, you have to transit a river bar that has breaking waves across its entire expanse. From the sea you cannot see the path. By pre-arrangement they send a jet ski out to guide you in. It actually works pretty well, witness our successful transit. It certainly is EXCITING. This may be the only time in the life history of Panta Rhei where we ever take the boat surfing. Everyone but Larry was completely confident. They were standing forward by the fanny bars (next to the mast) taking pictures. Larry was worried about the boat and keeping everyone alive. We better stay on good terms with everyone here...they have to lead us out, too! You can only transit the bar at high tide, so it is a once a day opportunity. After a two night passage, we came to anchor in the sea and waited for the tide to rise. It sounds worse than it is. I took a nap.

So where did we arrive? There is this quiet river that is half the size of the Columbia River and running about as fast. Our marina is on this river. Its a muddy river, but deep. The current flows at about 3 knots at low tide. That is a lot of current. DON'T fall in the water. Everything is green (like Seattle). No dust. The hotel is big and very nice. We joined the "Cruising Rally to El Salvador Club" which gets us 30% discounts in the restaurants and bars and allows us to run a tab. There is a nice swimming pool. Slip fee is $25 USD per night which includes enough power to run our air conditioning. The currency in El Salvador is US dollars. The people here are miniature due to their Mayan ancestry, I think. Larry is referred to as the" tall guy". The food is changing from Mexico. There were no tacos or burritos on the menu. They've got hamburgers though, good ones.

We need to make a plan for the next step. Ed and Connie have been to Costa Rica and they are anxious to show it to us. We'd like to see it all but there is not time. We'll see what we can get done and try not to waste time. We are going to be encountering strong headwinds (called Papagayos) along the coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. They may be strong enough to stop us from time to time. We'll see. We don't have good internet access but we can get weather information via our ssb.

Today we've chartered a panga for a whole day to see this huge inlet. It will plane with all of us aboard, which the dinghy is not powerful enough to do. Tomorrow we'll get a taxi and go to somewhere. We're still working on where. Maybe somewhere in Guatemala to see Mayan ruins. We'll see.

While we ride the "twin horses of economy and adventure", you can expect the story to turn around which horse leads.