Frogs and Beans?

We seem to have spent a good deal of time on chicken buses as we travel through El Salvador, firstly stopping in Juayuya after leaving Tacuba. The buses are generally crowded (El Salvador's very overpopulated) and often take longer than they should, mainly because they let so many people on to sell things. Still, we've bought some nice fruits and some very tasty fried banana chips from the people onboard. The problem is when people come on trying to sell medicines or magical cures for this and that, and launch into a seemingly endless lecture....though strangely people do actually buy pills from them.

The music on buses is also a little strange, in particular a peculiar obsession with 'Lady in Red' which one bus played twice in the ten minutes or so we were on board.

Of the things I was expecting to find in El Salvador, an international gourmet food festival wasn't one of them but that's what happens every weekend in Juayuya, and people flock from all over the country to be there. Our plan to leave at lunchtime on Saturday quickly changed as we decided to make a day of it....then ended up staying for Sunday as well. The food and drink was very nice and we had a good group of people for company.

A canadian guy from the hostel was a bit of a concern though....he ate a frog (cooked at least, he didn't just pick it up and eat it) then launched into a tirade against turtles. Later on in the day he sat alone sharpening his machete and then went to buy a pinata, filled it with sweets and then set about decapitating it with a broom.

As well as the food, we hiked to some waterfalls, swam through some tunnels beside them and visited another town along the Ruta de Flores.

Next up was a trip to the pacific coast to Playa San Diego where we did some bodyboarding, though the beaches here weren't really that great.

Our final stop in El Salvador was the beautiful little town of Suchitoto, apparently an important 'leftist' stronghold during the civil war.