It’s been a whirlwind week of changes. After thirty-two years, John retired on Friday. Now we are on an Avianca Airlines plane heading to San Salvador where we have an overnight layover before continuing on to Lima.
Our flight should take about four and a half hours. We are on an Airbus A320. The seats are a little snug and there is a slight whiff of airplane washroom as we are at the back but it’s not a long flight.
The flight was uneventful. After landing in San Salvador (capital of El Salvador), my minimal grasp of the Spanish language flooded back to me.
Most of the airport personnel only spoke Spanish. Canada is one of thirty three countries that need to pay the $12 US per person tourist tax. Our luggage is suppose to go straight through to Lima but we stopped at the luggage carousel just to make sure it didn’t come off in San Salvador – it didn’t.
San Salvador is two hours behind Toronto. Although it was 8:45pm and dark, it was hot and humid. I quickly stripped off my sweater.
Through our downtown hotel, we had prearranged a driver to meet us at the airport. Arranging for an airport pick-up is one of the extra costs we are willing to pay at times especially when arriving at night in cities where taxis are less regulated or when the address we are going to is not well known. Our driver was waiting for us. The city is a forty minute drive from the airport but our driver zipped along…let’s just say, if we were driving in Canada, he’d get a hefty speeding ticket. Actually the ride was reminiscent of “Dukes of Hazzard”. We made it safely in thirty minutes.
Our hotel is modest but clean with a comfortable bed and cute pool. Breakfast is included. The menu is in Spanish, thank goodness for Google translate.
All prices are in US dollars:
Tourist taxes $12 x 2 = $24 US
Transfer to hotel – $30 US
Las Magnolias Boutique Hotel $68 US