Suchitoto

Planning on only having about one week in El Salvador, one of the places we wanted to make sure we visited was Suchitoto. Having heard that it was "Antigua before the tourists got there," we were anxious to see what it was all about.

We got into our Hotel Balanza just before a HUGE rainstorm hit. This was the first hard rain we had seen on our travels...although there are many more to come since the rainy season is beginning. We really lucked out with a great hotel that was basically an entire house almost to ourselves, including a kitchen, but the best part was our sweeping patio with hammock, table and chairs, and a view of Lake Suchitlán.

Although we stayed 3 days in this little colonial town, we really didn't do too much. Brittany purchases an indigo dyed shirt in the market, since indigo (añil) has been a pretty big industry in this par of the country. This town also has lots of galleries and local art, so we wandered around some of these. Most of all we just enjoyed the peace and quiet of the town and the lake vista. We got plenty of reading done as well, which is important, because we're carrying a lot of books around with us for the trip. Visiting Artex Café was a daily ritual to get 75 cents lemonade and americanos, where we also established a long running tally for who is the Backgammon and Rummy 500 champion of Central America. We haven't yet decided what the prizes for each title will be, so any suggestions are welcome.

On our last day we met the local gringo Robert who runs a little restaurant called El Rinconcito del Gringo with his wife. He is very involved with the local community and helping to establish better tourism initiatives as well as help run non-profit projects throughout El Salvador. We had a great time visiting with him and gorging on a veggie burrito and gourmet pupusas (a local El Salvadorian dish).