San Salvador and the Lost Camera Charger

From El Tunco it was a very short ride to San Salvador, El Salvador.

Starbucks

I was surprised to learn that San Salvador had a Starbucks! Because I got to San Salvador way too early to check into my hotel, I went to Starbucks to relax for a while and do some work.

While I was there, I was approached by MT Ruiz who said he had been reading my blog! He is an avid motorcyclist from Honduras who was now working in El Salvador. So nice to meet fellow motorcyclist. It made my day to meet him 🙂

Camera Charger

You may notice in this post that there aren’t many pictures. Well, while I was in Antigua I noticed the camera charger for my Canon point and shoot was missing. In El Tunco I went through all my belongings looking for it. It wasn’t there 🙁 The last place I remember it was in Lanquin, Guatemala, when I was charging the battery. I must have left it there. That is the second time on this trip I have done that.

When I got to San Salvador the battery had finally gone dead. Since this was a major city I figured it wouldn’t be too much of a problem to find a charger. They are all over the place back home. I had one whole day in San Salvador to look for one. Np problem!?

The next day after checking into my hotel in San Salvador I started my search.

I went to Sears, two Radio Shacks, Simans, RAF photo, Sanborns, Office Depot and 3 electronic stores. None had ANY camera chargers!! The clerk at Office Depot said I would have a hard time finding one here. I can’t be the only one to ever have lost their charger.

I checked on line to see if I could get one sent to me. The online stores in El Salvador get them from the US. It would cost me $100 US to buy one and take 2 weeks to get here. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. I could buy a new camera for that price.

So without a charger my Canon point and shoot is basically worthless. This created a problem for me. I like the point and shoot because it is easy to use and it fits in my front pocket.

Luckily, I do have a Sony 6000 with me as well as a GoPro and my Samsung phone. The problem with the Sony is that it is big and I store it in my backpack. I really don’t like to have it around my neck as I just feel too conspicuous. The other thing is that I am not as comfortable using it. Lots of settings ha ha.

Oh well, at least I have a camera. It would take me a few days to get in the habit of using it. Soooooo not many pictures of San Salvador. I should have used my phone but wasn’t really thinking.

On the bright side, I did manage to find another Starbucks during my search for a charger. I took comfort there for a while before heading back to my hotel.

For the rest of the evening I drowned my sorrows in a couple of beer at a local Sports Bar.

I did get the feature photo though at Starbucks ha ha

And I got one of my hotel room.

san salvador room

I will make it up to you and me.

My Route for July 14, 2017

el tunco san salvador

My Location for July 15, 2017

san salvador

Frustrating Day Preparing for Riding Mexico

Today was a frustrating day preparing for riding Mexico and making my way from Los Angeles to San Ysidro.

Los Angeles to San Ysidro

My goal today was to ride from Los Angeles to San Ysidro where I would spend a day preparing for my ride through Mexico. I had booked the Travelodge Motel there.

Office Depot

On the way I stopped off at Office Depot to look for a small case to put my original documents in for the border crossing. Mission accomplished.

Next was Best Buy. This is where things started to go off the rails.

Best Buy #1

I realized that I had left my point and shoot camera extra battery in the charger in Laughlin grrrrrrrrr. so I needed to buy a new battery and charger. I got the charger but it turned out that they don’t make stock the battery anymore because it is old.

While looking around I found a cable I had been looking for for awhile now to charge my computer from my Antigravity battery. To make sure it was the right cable I turned on my computer. Wouldn’t you know it had updates. And they took forever. Rather than wait I just closed my computer thinking it would all work and I could leave.

Radio Shack

Nope, radio Shack didn’t have the battery for my camera either. I should be able to get it on Amazon. But of course delivery would be an issue. Perhaps when I am home in January. In the meantime I will just have one battery.

Banks

Next stop was a bank to get $500 USD for the border crossing. I stopped at one bank and it said I didn’t have sufficient funds! What???!!! I went to another and the same thing. time to chill out at Starbucks.

Starbucks

At Starbucks I planned on Skyping with Canada Trust to see why I couldn’t withdraw money.

I don’t have a phone on this trip as the roaming charges are too much. My last trip I got an international SIM and used that. But on this trip I planned on just buying local SIMS along the way. Most of the calls I need to make are to 1-800 numbers so I can use Skype for this.

Anyways … when I opened my computer I had a message that said that I was disconnected and to use my last password. What???!!! I tried using my password and it wouldn’t work. I couldn’t get into my computer!!! I knew it had to do something with the update where I just closed my computer thinking it would take care of itself. Just what I needed.

Best Buy #2

So it was back to Best Buy to see if I could get my computer fixed now.

At the Geek Squad desk the technician said it would take 3 to 5 days to fix it!!! I explained that I was leaving for Mexico and couldn’t wait. He was nice enough to look at the error message and said that he thought if I connected to the internet it would work. So I connected the the Best Buy WiFi and sure enough it all worked!!! YAY!!!

Next was to Skype with Canada Trust to see why I can’t withdraw money. The recording said a 5 minute wait. 5 minutes turned into 20 🙁

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Finally I got through. It turned out that when I made 2 withdraws a few days prior, $500 USD for emergency money and $500 USD to convert into pesos, I had basically reached my weekly withdrawal limit. I knew I had a daily one but was unaware there was a weekly one too. Luckily it was no problem to raise both limits.

Travelodge

After a short ride but a long day, it was nice to finally get to my motel.

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Definitely learned a few lessons today.

My Route for September 28, 2016

sahara-motel-travelodge-map

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