El Salvador

So Sorry, I sort of dropped off the earth for a little while, actually I joined Paul again flying into San Salvador, El Salvador while Jake flew home to be with Zailey. I probably need to catch all of you up again, since I flew in on March 28th and it is now May 19th, just a few days have gone by...Paul was at the Bahia Del Sol Marina, in Costa Del Sol, El Salvador-great place they only have slips for a few boats but their service is wonderful. There is a fantastic restaurant and they have my favorites "Frozens" these are fruit drinks, slushes if you will but being as we are in Central America it is all fresh fruit just mixed with ice and when that sun is beating down on you these are a fantastic way to cool off! of course you could also go sit in the large pool they have or go across the street to the beach, which we did on Sat morning and we joined the overbearing crowd of people there all 7 of them we had the whole thing to ourselves! Everyone hears bad things about El Salvador, even other cruisers are afraid to go there "They carry guns" is what we hear the most Yes they do big big machine guns to be exact but the best part is those are there for the peoples protection including me. The crime rate is nill, if I as outside of the hotel/marina there are private gaurds at every home all I have to do is scream and they come running so I actaully feel pretty darn safe. We wanted to rent a car so we could go up into the mtns and see some of the Mayan ruins-we called Freddie who is a pilot captain and anything else you might need to get down while here, (rental car agent included). Freddie picked us up with about 4 guys in the back of his pick-up, I was the lucky one who got to ride in front Paul rode in the bed with the others. We head down the road and stop in front of what looks to be an old tienda (store), the guys all pile out and this little old couple is peeking out of the door at us, come to find out this is one of the guys home and these are his parents. So the elderly gentleman comes out with a fire engine red plastic chair so that I can sit while we are waiting for the guy with the car, after sitting for about 20 mins. I see the local police truck coming down the road, this is looking so much like a drug deal and all I can picture is all of us especially the 2 dumb gringos going to jail! Freddie just turns and waves, they wave back and continue on down the street I was estatic. After another 15 mins of waiting and 10 calls later we find that the car guy is not coming but lo and behold don't worry Freddie has another friend with a car to rent. We load up again and head back towards the marina pulling into a poperesa (type of restaurant) and see one of the local fishing boat captains we know, it's his wife's restaurant. Paul buys the boys a round of beer and they go to look at the rental vehicle which has a $500.00 deposit plus $150.00 charges plus gas. He comes back shaking his head obviously not good, he tells Freddie no way, the rental is a van that is about 30 yrs old, most likely won't even make it up the hills and isn't even worth the original $500.! now the boat captain says he will take up but it will be $360.00 plus fuel, we opted to scratch the plan for the time being and head on down the coast.