El Cuco, San Miguel, El Salvador
Friday, March 19, 2010
We wanted to experience another surf spot in El Salvador. We had heard it's pretty good but also very expensive. Not able to get any information out of the internet (that does still happen, I can’t believe it), we decided, how bad can it be. There is surfing, there must also be somewhat economic places or maybe even a camp spot. Boy were we wrong! On the way to the surf spot Las Flores, we waited at a big intersection for a connecting bus and the people here in the South already seemed different, just not that friendly anymore. Luckily we caught a ride with someone that used to live in the States and it didn’t feel suspicious, so we took the risk and all went well. He dropped us off in the village El Cuco which gave me a bad feeling. The street goes all the way to the beach where so many restaurants are set right next to each other and what seemed right at the water so there was hardly any beach. When all the people that were waiting for the next bus jump on a pick-up, we understood that no bus was coming. But, we know how to get around so we catch a ride with…the cops! It was hilarious. Turns out one of them surfs as well. They drop us off at the Billabong surf camp that only accepts reservations and no walk-ins. We learn from the cops, that Flores is not another village, it is just a beach next to the village El Cuco. Still not really understanding what expects us, they drive us down to the beach and drop us off. There are another 3 accommodations in total. One was at $65 a night, outch, and the other two were on $15 per night with so bad conditions that it freaked me out. But what choice did we have? It was late and we had to stay. Since in that one place other guests would have been walking through our room to use the bathroom, we decided to go to the other one that only had 4 walls without windows. Nice and dark. There was no-where to hang a hammock or just chill during the day and how am I supposed to spend time in a room that has no windows at all? I already hated it. The beach is a tiny area and Jason didn’t find the surf any good. We ordered some fish for dinner and had another elderly American joining us for dinner and telling us a little more about the place. It was quite incredible, since he just build a house close to Mango surf spot and doesn’t really speak Spanish. He had some weird attitudes but we learned a little more. Concerning the locals the vibe wasn’t that great so Jason and I really felt misplaced. We didn’t know how to get over that evening, so we drank one bear after another, walked over to the Billabong camp and asked the security guy a bunch of silly questions. We made the best out of it. The next morning we just wanted to get out of there. We got another ride to the town El Cuco and waited for our bus out of there and direction Nicaragua. Now it wasn’t all that easy to get out of there. All the roads were under construction as the town was building its first sewage system. On top it was Saturday and I was even happier to leave when I saw at least 100 tourist buses showing up full with Salvadorians from the cities to spend the weekend. Now I knew why that place has so many beach restaurants. It was the craziest thing. Bus after bus was showing up, everything was blocked and the construction really wasn’t helping. But we got out!
