Playa El Tunco - Life's a Beach

Playa El Tunco is most traveller's sole stop in El Salvador. Its easy to take a shuttle from Leon, Nicaragua to El Tunco, and then on to Antigua, Guatemala. And since the (very incorrect) notion that El Salvador is a dangerous country to travel in is widespread, most people see this as a perfect solution to transit through El Salvador with this one layover. Plus, its beach town, and everyone loves a beach day (except Jonathan, of course).

This was our first stop in El Salvador and we didn't know what to expect. The US travel warning pretty much leaves one believing that they are going to be murdered the second they step on El Salvadorian soil. Having not met a traveller who was directly coming from El Salvador while we were in Nicaragua the only information that we had was third party and thereby almost completely unreliable.

We had booked ahead, for the reasons above, because we were under the impression that it was high season and because we thought that after an overnight shuttle we wouldn't want to look around for somewhere to stay. It was a bad decision, in hindsight. It's not that we got ripped off, although I'm sure we could have gotten the same room for much cheaper if we had shown up and bargained for it. It was that the room was a luxurious apartment and that we really just didn't need that much space and luxury and could have spent our resources much more wisely. That being said- since we had it, we took advantage of it, swimming in the pool and lounging in the beautifully kept garden.

El Tunco is all about surfing. Talk to any surfer dude and they'll tell you that El Tunco has the best

breaks around- whatever that means. What it meant to us was that as we were watching the sunset behind El Tunco's picturesque rock, we had the added entertainment of the surfers.

We could grab a cold beer at one of the little convenience stores along the pedestrian road and watch the scene unfold while sitting on the breakwall. Or, if we felt like splurging, we could grab a drink at any of the beach front bars. It was a nightly ritual that we would not tire of quickly.

El Tunco's beach is black sand but its really more of a rock beach made up of layers of smooth little rocks. Not pebbles, rocks about the size of half of your palm and bigger. It made for a very pretty beach that was not good for walking. It made up for its un-walkability with the sound that the rocks made as they tumbled over each other when each wave receded. Calming. I wish I could have recorded it to listen to as I fell asleep.

Our days in El Tunco were only productive if you count swimming, hammocking, sipping on frozen drinks seaside, eating pupusas and watching surfers get exercise a meaningful way to spend your time. Thankfully we do- at least for a few days!

 

Our fancy hotel: Eco Lodge del Mar