2014 El Salvador Fly to Ride Vacation

After reading multiple accounts of folks flying to far off destinations to rent ADV motorcycles, I decided it was time to give it a try. A few years ago I bought a piece of real estate in El Salvador, sight unseen, near the beach, and I am planning to build a small beach style cabin there for occasional use. Of course, it will have to have a "closet" large enough to hold a couple of motorcycles.



If you know nothing about El Salvador, a quick trip to Google will tell you it is poor (it is), dangerous (it is), beautiful (it is), gang ridden (it is), and underdeveloped (it is). It will also tell you the roads are great (they are), the people wonderful (they are), and chances of bad things happening to you very, very low if you follow basic rules (true). My purchased guidebook, written in 2010, was titled, "El Salvador, a good place to visit". Not a great place, not spectacular, not amazing...simply good.



Planning was easy. Save up $1,500. Invite / convince / bribe / lie to my willing riding buddy, Everett, aka Foxrider. Buy tickets on Spirit from Houston for $350 roundtrip. Arrange to be picked up at the airport. Get a ride to the big city. Buy a couple of bikes. Tour for 10 days. Visit the investment property to make a plan. Store bikes. Come home well fed, well surfed, well rode, and well...ugh...sleepy.



Plans generally unfolded as planned, sort of. Missions were accomplished. Scares were had. Eyes were opened. Cheeks got clenched. Flats happened. Riders returned very well fed, rode, and sleepy.



This is surely not a trip report that is going to win awards for ingenuity, fun, daring, prose writing, or ingeniously deep insights into our souls. But, it will be the first I can find on ADV rider that will tell you just how great this country is if you have $750, a visa with a $1,000 limit, and 10 days.

Some keywords to help other future travelers find this thread: San Salvador , Santa Tecla , Plaza Volcan , Park Impossible , Tamanique , Jiboa Raceway , Quetzaltepeque , EL Tunco , El Sunzal , Plaza Antigua Hotel , Tunco Lodge , Juayua Nahuizalco , lake Coatapeque , El Porvenir , Paya Las Hoyas , km95 , km 60 , El Salvador Surfing ,

I'm from El Salvador, glad that you enjoyed the country. I am agree with most part of your description because it's true haha!!

Next time you should try Ruta de los Naranjos, Ahuchapan, Juayua/Sonsonate. I f you have your house in El Litoral near el tunco or that area, just follow all the tunnels you will get into el kilo 5, then just follow the signs to Sonsonate and it will take you to that area.

There is also a "new" road which is La Longitudinal Norte. It supposed to be a nice riding area; never been, probably will go next time I go down there...

Spent a night in Juayua. More later!!

Mot people are so afraid of hurting someone's feelings, or offending them in any way by saying that they made a mistake, that they wont tell you what you need to know. I am going to do you a favor, and give it to you straight. That's a really bad place to purchase a vacation property. Nicaragua would be been more affordable and much safer. Unless someone lives at your place full time, expect to find nothing there when you return, not only possessions, sinks, fixtures, everything will be gone if it is not guarded constantly.

Crime is common down south, and most of the time you an be careful and deal with it... That place is out of control violent, and you seem to be making light of it. Where there is a difference between a place where crime is higher, and when its so out of control and violent that you are putting yourself in real danger. Play Russian roulette, an the odds will catch up with you. This will probably end badly, hopefully its only property you loose.

Mike

My wife recently took a group of university students on an exposure trip to El Salvador. What a history of hardship for such a tiny country. This is a pretty interesting and unexpected destination for a motorcycle adventure. I'm curious to read your ride report. Thanks in advance,

Doug

I would also love to visit El Salvador and it would be awesome If I ever had a chance I would eventually go to El Salvador

You gotta read the report, which I still have to write, to see how it shakes out.

P

So three months or so ago I settled on a Yamaha Crux 110cc four speed as the bike of choice. After reading a fellow ADV rider's stories about his 125 in Costa Rica, I was pretty well convinced.

Here is his cool story:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=854572

$1215 out the door and the very friendly staff of Yamaha El Salvador (on facebook) said just bring a cc and photo ID.




It was also very similar to a bike I already had in the garage back home in Houston, my trusty CB125s, circa 1977. This is a bike I've ridden 100 miles in a day, maybe 3-4 times, with oil probably from 1988 still in it, with a mismatched carb that doesn't idle well, and a nasty valve tick that makes a ruckus on I-59 maintaining 65 MPH cruise (and top speed). I certainly got my $400 investment out of this fun little bike in Houston.

This isn't my bike, but is exact same model.


So the planning continued. Knowing full well that all plans made in the 3rd world are just general ideas that you hope will happen but will never actually go according to plan.

A big part of planning is also, well, planning. Talked to friends from there, read all about it on Lonely Planet, scoured the net. Not a lot to discover, but a good baseline. Most bikers just blast through in a moment, 200 miles gone in 3 hours on a big GS, nervous to turn around for fear of being followed, just happy to hit the border.

I stumbled on a guidebook, written by a woman, 2010 an got it on Amazon. Her 2-3 paragraphs on crime, not more, helped convince me it maybe wasn't as bad as the rumors I'd been hearing. Frank discussions with my warehouse crew about where they were raised and how crime and organized crime impacts their family was, well, eye opening. One brother was here because he was shot. Another cause he sort of helped one gang and was wanted by the other, a couple of cousins who are here cause the gang gave them a no refusal offer to join, and another who continues to delay his return home due to the easy life here in the states (wife back at home in El Salvador notwithstanding).

Okay, so it's rough for someone who grows up there to not be involved. My real question, "How rough is it for a vacationing gringo?". The answer, universally, is that I wouldn't be messed with. I'd just fall into the cracks between the gangs fighting each other, extorting money from businesses, and bus robbery /dues due shakedowns. Stick to the big money areas, travel like an El Salvadorian on a small bike, and slip through the cracks of a place with a violent history and continuing struggle to balance crime versus real life. I had to remind myself that in a country like this, life goes on. There are no landmines, no beheadings, no real gang versus government beef, just crime as a way of income in a reality where the minimum wage in the capital city is $230 a MONTH, down to $150 in rural areas. Heck, 1/2 of the GDP comes from Remisas...those are the checks sent home by all the guys I talked with before I proceeded.

Murder capital #37 in the world. In terms of murders per capita, waaay safer than Guatamala City and much safer than, well, just about anywhere in Brasil. Safer than the motor city, Detroit. Safer then Baltimore. Safer than New Orleans. Safer than the city of St. Louis (where I spent my college years, before it got nice).

So looked into flights. A 2 am arrival into, then a 2:30 departure, from San Salvador were about all we could afford. Spirit Airlines, through Ft. Lauderdale, for $350 a person. Se we packed up a bag filled with helmets and boots between the two of us, carried on a couple of backpacks, said goodbye to concerned family and friends, and took off on a Wednesday. Return flight, Saturday night, about 10 days away.



OK, so a key part of any story is who we are. Everett has the beard, I am in the back seat, Kris is driving us to IAH.



So, standing up at the twelve step program to introduce myself, I am Peter, and I have a problem. I'm a motorcycle nutcase, have been since my first ride on a Honda three wheeler, ATC185S in 1982 at age 11. Always have 15 - 30 bikes on premise. I'm a decent wrench. And I love to buy and sell just for the variety in it. I try to never lose a dollar on a bike. In the 150 or so I've owned since college, I've lost money maybe 4-5 times. It's an addiction I can't explain. I ride dirt occasionally,



street occasionally, trackdays 8-10 a year as an instructor for Fastline Motorcycle School here in Houston,



I race minis (250cc Ninjas and CBR500R's) with the CMRA (home of Colin Edwards, Schwantz, Spies)



and run a ~15 person race team (BRAWP Racing)



I ride 50's in parking lots, adventure bikes to Mexico once upon a time, and generally try anything I can on two wheels.



The only thing I don't do is ride for basic transportation. That is cage time. Miles = opportunity. Opportunity to get injured or worse. I'd rather live to ride something in a way I'll cherish and let the commuting miles tick away under 4 wheels.

My travelling buddy is Everett. He rides a SV1000 for commuting, a DR650 motard on the track, and when shoed up with dirt tires, the same DR on the dirt. He also races minis on his Honda RS50. He also likes jeep and big trucks, goes back to his 5 years of Army service in hemvees and huge truck driving. He will probably chime in here once he figures out I started a thread. I have no idea what his ADV tag is yet, LOL.





Without a beard he's a pretty normal looking guy. When being interviewed yesterday for being a lifesaving passerby when he smashed windows with a tow hook and pulled a guy out of a burning car fire (true story, ABC13 news Houston) I snapped his pic. He says he looks "Like an axe murdered in that outfit". I told him, no, it's the beard. With no beard, and with my son helping do heavy lifting, he is a ladies man as can be seen in this staged pic with the BRAWP Bus.

you're welcome Roland. If you are interested just send me a PM, and I can give the list of the places that I recommend.

Shadman, waiting for more...

Yes It could be dangerous in some areas, which for obvious reasons are not touristy, so why would someone wants to go there? In the other hand, the ones that are considered "attractions" most of the times are patrolled by the police, so they are ok.

What you mentioned about the guards taking care of the house it seems normal to me. Usually, whoever owns a beach house in ES needs to have someone taking care of it, not only to protect their belongings, but also to provide some maintenance the property might need...

El Salvador is not as bad as media shows it to the world, of course it has shitty areas just like any other place; as long as you don't go there or mess with the wrong people you will be fine.

Day 1, Thursday:

I'll skip over the US part of taking an Uber ride to the beach in Ft. Lauderdale and back on our layover. Spirit Airlines arrived around 1:30 AM. We had a dated picture of my friend Manuel's mom, Carmen, who was supposed to meet us with a truck. A half hour or so to get through customs, grab our bags, through inspection and we wandered out to see a line of 50 identical El Salvadorian middle aged women. We walked opposite the crowd to see who might follow. Carmen approached. It was obvious in 10 seconds our limited Spanish and Carmen's zero familiarity with ever dealing with non-spanish speakers might be, ahem, fun. So we wandered over to an old Toyata Hilux Diesel 5 seater four door. Occupied by 4 adults. Carmen, a niece who lived in the states for a few years and never learned a word of English, the driver Pedro, and Alexander, a brother/husband/friend/not sure who would ride in back with the bags.

30 minutes into the 20km drive from the airport I was wondering if we might be lost or something. As with any trip to a sketchy place we were a little concerned about, well, everything. We ended up taking about 10 minutes of very small dirt roads and stopped in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. But I knew about where we were.



Bags out, led thru a metal gate into a 100 by 100 foot compound behind barbed wire and metal gates. 2 small houses, both in good repair, with gleaming tile floors and handmade everything including bamboo and tile roofs.





We "talked" with Manuel and David's family (they both work for me in Houston) for an hour or so (google translate, thank you!!), had icewater, then bedded down for the night.



70 degrees, humid, and perfect for a 6 hour nap.

Day 1 continued:

Waking up, late, 10 AM, we had one mission for the day...buy 2 bikes in the capital city of San Salvador, 60KM north. How to get there, where to buy, what to buy, how to budget, where to stay, what to bring, how to plan....all very general concepts. But we had no choice, here we were, LOL.



We brushed our teeth and walked out of our comfy little cabin. Life was in full swing, rural El Salvadorian style. Carmen had a bucket of fresh fish being cleaned, kids were playing in the dirt, babies being bounced, lots of chubby women laughing and generally being amused by Everett's beard, our Spanish, and my horrible accent.



Everett tested the concrete commode. Just do your thing, then dump fire ashes on top. Never mind the smell. Just make it quick.

Manuel and I have worked together for 5+ years. He has been here in Houston for 7 or 8 years. In this time he has never made it back home for various budget, political, and gang issues. However, his daughter, who lives 2 hrs away from where we are now, is now spending summers and right now the winter holidays with Carmen, Manuel's mom. At 12 years old she may be the most solid character I met the whole trip, a chip off the old block. She listened while I talked about her father. Stories she already knew most likely. She took us on a little stroll to the beach, thru "town".



Maybe 5 minutes total, 1 minute down the unpaved street, 3 minutes down a trail at times only as wide as between two tree trunks touching, and with pigs basking in mud on either side of the barbed wire, then across a fresh water lagoon 1 ft deep, then over the dune.



Out onto a wide, ashy colored volcanic beach and endless Pacific. Thigh high waves, warm water, and only fishing boats in view left, right, and out in the water.



If I were 12 years old, and had nothing to do with my time in a poor country, I think I might spend some time here too. With Gramma. Learning how to live a country life of sustainability, constant but relaxed work, loving family, and the security of home.



Never mind there are gangs all around, one on each road into and out of this small town, always present, always lingering...a part of life here too.