Stage 10: Pedro de Alvarado to Sonsonate

Crossing the Border to El Salvador

As I predicted, I got to sleep very easily. I wasn’t sure about where I would end up today. I had a tentative plan for a couchsurfer, but I had hesitated to confirm with them, because I wasn’t sure if I would survive the century ride or feel up to leaving the next day. Well, I did both. I woke up, went to the immigration window outside the hotel, exited Guatemala and entered El Salvador.

At the border after crossing over from Guatemala.

The border crossing was easy, some people showed me where to go and I got my exit stamp from Guatemala. All I received in El Salvador was a ticket, they did not stamp my passport, apparently that’s only if you fly in through the airport. I did not have to present anything except my covid vaccination card and there was no entry fee. I was a bit surprised with the relative ease with which I passed into El Salvador - only two administrative windows and I entered in 5 minutes.

I didn’t have a long ride today, it was only 30 miles to Sonsonate. So I took a detour and went to the beach at Acajutla. A port town about 20 miles from the border. It was really hot and the water was warm. I drank a frozen lemonade and just sat in under a covered area on the beach where there were many restaurants and sitting areas. The beach wasn’t crowded at all, I figured this was because it was noon on a Monday.

The beach in Acajutla

I left in the late afternoon and completed the ride to Sonsonate. It wasn’t apparent to me that there were many suitable places for camping around here and I found a hotel for $15. It was much more comfortable than my previous lodging. This is a small town and I walked to the central area and had pupusas for dinner. I’ve had pupusas in the states, but never remembered them being this delicious. They are essentially stuffed tortillas which a wide variety of ingredients and served with a type of cabbage/carrot salad. This is the national Salvadorean dish and a source of great pride for everyone. They are also delicious. They cost about $1.00-$1.50, depending on what’s in them. I ate six.

Pupusas and the accompanying salad

Painted on the wall of the pupuseria where I ate. The sign reads “Mass is not created nor destroyed. It is only transformed into pupusas.”

After walking around the plaza for a bit, I decided to go back to my room and try to get an early start for the next day. Most of the town was shut down and the only activity I saw in the center of town were people waiting for buses to leave.