The next day after crossing the border into El Salvador, I headed to the grubby little hippie surfer town of El Tunco. Now you may think that my description of the town is derogatory, but it isn’t really. Most people who go there probably hope it never changes.
I had heard about the town through several blogs I read. It sounded nice, especially the beach and waves. It had been a long time since I was at a beach and I was looking forward to it.
My Route
I ended up taking a route to El Tunco that I didn’t intend to take. I just assumed that when I set my GPS it would take me a certain way. It didn’t. But I didn’t mind too much. My route to El Tunco was really nice. Lots of trees overhanging the road and I rode through many little villages which I enjoy doing when not in a rush. It was a short and relaxing ride.
El Sunzalito Hotel
I got to my hotel early as usual.
After unpacking I headed in the direction of the main town.
El Tunco
You can’t really miss the town as it only has 2 streets ha ha. My hotel was on one, and it leads you to a T intersection for the other.
As you would expect the streets were pretty sandy. And a lot of the driveways into the hotels were dirt.
At the T intersection I turned left as it was cobblestone and headed towards the beach. The other way was dirt.
I finally reached my main objective, the beach.
It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. As you can see there are a lot of rocks. But the surfers loved the waves.
It is pretty much a surf town. Everything is geared to surfing. And the dress for the day is surfer shorts and no shirt. I didn’t exactly fit in ha ha.
I did find a bar to hang out in and watch the waves and listen to the sounds of the ocean.
As usual the beer was cheap at $1.50 US. The food, however, was pricey for my budget – $12 US for a small plate of nachos.
Storm
As I have come to expect, the clouds rolled in by the late afternoon/evening and the rains started. What was different here though it that it was a full blown storm.
I spent the time enjoying the storms on the hotel patio which had a roof on it.
Two Days
Two days was a bit too much for me. Especially considering that I arrived early, so it was actually 3 days. If I surfed it may have been different. I could have taken surf lessons, but the heat and rocky shore didn’t make it inviting for me.
The town too was a bit on the grubby side. And after the storms it was really that way as the dirt from the driveways turned to mud and washed onto the road.
Making matters worse for me was the cold showers.
OK … I know, I am a bit of a wuss sometimes. Or maybe I have a bit of a cleanliness fetish. I enjoy things a lot more when I am clean, my bike is clean, my clothes are clean, and my surroundings are clean. Huuummmm but I’m really not that bad. I can be messy. I am not as bad as I use to be though. Traveling to and living in developing countries has helped. But still, I have that in me. I enjoyed being in El Tunco but two days was long enough. I was looking forward to a hot shower 🙂