ODO: 322,303
First order of business today: find chainsaw fuel line so we can stop the diesel leak. As luck would have it, there is a Stihl dealer in Santa Ana willing to sell us 6ft of fuel line. Starting the day off with a win. Next up, find yarn. We think we have a lead on a town known for their weaving called San Sabastian. It turns out there are two towns called San Sabastian in El Salvador, and we are in the wrong one. The correct one gets added to the map, and we carry on with our day. Our next stop is a coastal road, which turns out to be just far enough inland that there are no ocean views, so we find a place to have a snack where we do get views. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the Pacific and we missed it. Our camp for the night is along or near or at a hot spring. It’s not always clear what you’re going to find when you get to a camp spot. Especially when you wheel in at night like we do. We can see a lot of steam and smell sulphur and hear cows. This should be a good night.
It is a good night, but one of us is startled awake by a rancher moving his cows to the pasture next to us. And again by someone riding their motorbike past. And again when another rancher comes by, so now one of us is very awake. And starting out the window…. and that’s when she sees them….the tiny, tiny very bitey bugs congregating on the screens. And if they’re on the outside, that means there are some on the inside too. And that means it’s time to get out of here. We leave so quickly we don’t stop to look at the fumarole we were camped next to. This gives us a very early start to our day. Now on to the correct San Sabastian! After a couple of tries we find a weaving studio. And after some explaining of what KoKo wants, the man in the office gives us a spool of yarn for free!
San Salvador’s historic district is our next stop. Unfortunately it is only really one building. Feeling underwhelmed, the decision is made to stop for late breakfast. Berne manages to find an American style dinner that teaches orphans who are aging out of the system how to cook, and get job experience. The food is great. And our rule is to always eat before starting a boarder crossing (for obvious reasons), which is our next stop. Checking out of El Salvador is very quick, all their immigration lines are staffed, so we speed through. It takes us about two hours to check into Honduras, they give us the new guy and we may literally be his first tourists with a vehicle. Dusk has fallen by the time we leave the border. This is our fault for getting such a late start, especially when we still have somewhere between two to four hours of driving in front of us. Its a rough drive, foggy, giant pot holes, broken pavement, and pouring rain slow our pace. It’s getting really late, so we give up on our original planned spot and stop at every spot along the way. All are bad, or weird (one was an abandoned hotel?!), and we end up at our original spot anyways…at 11pm. We’re beat. It’s straight to bed tonight.
A sleep in is in order this morning, followed by a nice slow start to the day. The plan, explore the Copan Ruins. These ruins are different than the other ruins we have visited so far. Yes, all the ruins are a little different, but these ones are even more different. There are many, many incredible statues. And the scale of the buildings is pretty ridiculous. The scale of the trees is also pretty ridiculous. The style of the carvings is very similar to what they created in ancient Cambodia, or India. Very strange….The park feeds macaws, so there are giant, loud, squawking and screaming birds in the trees and along the tops of the fences. We also come across a couple of American Agoutis. They’re super cute and look like smaller capybaras. Once we’re done exploring, its off to the grocery store via tuk-tuk, and then a short walk home to relax for the evening.
A store we stopped by on our walk home last night gave us a lead on local yarn, or so we thought. After some texting back and forth, a local tour guide has promised to deliver some yarn to our camp spot! While we wait, we pack up. It turns out he thought we wanted finished woven goods, and that is what shows up to camp. The delivery driver understands and invites us to the main office where he assures us we can buy yarn. We look, and look, and ask locals, but we never find the office. That’s ok, we’re heading to a larger city today for an adult play date we have been set up on. These things are always nerve wracking, you never know what you’re going to find, or if this will make you question a friendship. Lucky for us, the people we’re meeting are fantastic. They take us for a typical Honduran meal, and it is delicious. Lots of meat, plantains, beans, and some beers. One of our new friends invites us to camp at his house, so we follow him home. His house is on an end lot next to a large park, which makes his yard feel gigantic. We set up in his driveway and watch lightning flash all around us until we fall asleep.
During dinner, we agreed to wake up early and go for a hike this morning. Getting up early is important so it’s not quite as hot, but by 8am, it’s already pretty hot. The hike is called the Coke Trail because you hike up to a giant Coca-Cola sign on the side of the hill. Think Hollywood sign. It starts out very steep, and stays that way for most of the hike. AllTrails rates this one as hard. At the main viewpoint there is a place to buy coconut water, fruit, and some other snacks, which we are very grateful for. That, and the rest. There is a great view of the city, and also a ton of terrifying spiders. Everyone assures us these are a new addition. We hike a little further to an even better viewpoint before turning back. Now that everyone has had some exercise, it’s time for a shower and lunch! Power Chicken is a local favorite, and it does not disappoint. They serve chicken (obviously), ribs, Chinese rice, vegetables, not your normal fast food assortment.
And then we nap. The food, plus heat, plus hike have tuckered all of us out, and we still have a full evening ahead of us! We get together as a group again for coffee grown by one of our new friends, and then again for a barbeque at our hosts house. Once the barbeque wraps up we even played a few rounds of one of KoKo’s favorite games: Tile Rummy. Its a Romanian game that follows very similar rules to Rummy, but uses small dominoes instead of cards. All in all, this was a very delightful family weekend, and we are very excited to have been included in it. One of the weird things people don’t talk about when they do an adventure like this, is that you miss the normal family things that happen over the course of the year. We love family functions, and this is the kind of family time we have very much been missing.
Sometimes we try to sleep late, but the sun has other plans, and will burn us out of the tent. Fun fact! Above 40C fans stop being effective, and all we have are fans in the camper. After a quick breakfast, and some more tile rummy, it was time to say farewell to our new friends. Always difficult, especially when everyone has been so great. We’re headed up to the Caribbean coast after recommendations from everyone. Because we are short on time, and want to see it all, we do a quick lap through Tela before heading to La Ceiba for the night.
Our hotel has a lovely view of the ocean, and we enjoy the heck out of it while we have breakfast. Another long day ahead of us, aiming to spend the night just outside of Tegucigalpa so we can run our border crossing errands in the morning. Between enjoying the scenery and trying not to be hit by the crazy drivers up here (and also not hit the invisible motorcycles. Taillights people!) we start to build our audiobook wish list. Being in a hurry has us driving a lot more than we were before, so we signed up for Audible. We end the day way up in the hills on a random road with a wide enough spot for camping. Hopefully the morning views are good.
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