Stage 11: Sonsonate to San Salvador

The Nightmare Road to San Salvador

I made it out at a good time today. But without a doubt, this was the worst and most dangerous ride I have done to date. I only had about 40 miles or so to San Salvador, And it was mostly uphill. However, there was an incredible amount of truck traffic, probably both from the port and from Guatemala. The shoulder was narrow to non-existent most of the way and the trucks drove recklessly, at times coming within inches of my handlebars. I had to focus as much as possible to keep myself on the line between the road and the ditch on the roadside while not getting blown off course by these trucks traveling at high speeds. At one point up the hill I passed a terrible accident - a truck had careened off the road and was partially suspended over the hillside, causing a massive traffic jam for miles that extended into the city. With the kind of driving I saw today, I imagine this kind of thing happens pretty much daily. I had two stop a couple of times going up the hill to steel my nerves and brace for more climbing. 

Stopped for a smoothie along the way

The first part of the road outside of Sonsonate

Truck accident on the hill leading to the city

Finally, I got to the top and entered Santa Tecla, a suburb of San Salvador. I definitely needed a break and waited for a couple of hours before continuing to the city. I had several couchsurfers contact me to say that they couldn’t host me, but would be able to show me around. So I contacted a couple of them and one was available.

Laura is originally from Columbia, but she has lived in San Salvador for the past 5 years. She lives with several roommates. I first went to her house and we worked out over zoom with a friend of hers from Columbia, apparently they have been working out together since the start of Covid. Then we went to a nearby park and played basketball with one of her roommates, Juan-Carlos who was certainly running circles around me. The park was located on a hill and had a couple of basketball courts and was filled with people playing ball.

We then went back to her house and her and her roommates made me dinner - El Salvadoran tamales and beans with jamaica tea (jamaica is a flower that resembles a rose, and it comes from Jamaica). 

Dinner of tamales and beans

Laura and two of her flatmates in their kitchen

Laura works at a logistics company and manages client accounts and organizes export shipping from El Salvador. Her roommates all have government administrative jobs. One of them works for the transportation ministry and I told her about the dangerous road conditions I had just experienced. She said it was a problem because of the massive amount of organized crime in El Salvador, they are constantly pressuring the transportation ministry to do nothing - they are against regulations and fines and offer bribes directly to her and her coworkers to maintain the status quo. She became incensed when her roommates suggested that it was one of the most corrupt government departments, insisting that she did not take bribes. But I asked what her alternative really was, as she is just a simple employee being coerced by a much larger industry, most likely fueled by the drug trade - she was up against much larger forces than she could possibly contend with. She agreed, but her position was that she tried to stay out of those kinds of dealings as much as possible and retain her personal integrity.

I went back to my room after dinner. It was easy to sleep and there was even an air conditioner in the room. Tomorrow is a rest day, which I need after three days of riding, including a century and the stress after today.