The East: Playa Espino

Catching up! February 25-27th we had a three day weekend....so we ventured out to explore the East beaches of El Salvador (said to be very nice). Playa Espino is about 2 1/2 hours from San Salvador. We stayed at Hotel Playa Espino ~ La Estancia de Don Luis: http://www.playaespino.com/inicio.html ~ a basic place with good food (seafood soup and grilled shrimp - yum!) and no one got sick (bonus!).

El Salvador is not known for it's "tourism infrastructure", which can be both good and bad. On the one hand, costs are less, there is less "pushiness" that can come with more tourism/tourists, and you have beautiful beaches with very few tourists and little development along the beach. Also, as a tourist you are also not separated from the lives of everyday people - right next door to our lodging were palm houses and roosters crowing (yes, the good and bad) along with roaming cows on the beaches.

There are very few "resorts" and only a handful of small hotels or lodges (outside of San Salvador) in El Salvador. Many people who live here (with means) mostly go to their beach/lake house (or others may rent them out). There are also very few towns that are geared for tourists --- especially at the beaches or lakes. When you reach your destination (hotel, lodge, house) - it is largely that destination alone where you eat/cook all of your meals and do various activities (mainly pool, beach, boat rides, etc...). There is typically not a town that you go to where you may wander around and take in some shops, restaurants, local culture, etc... Many people who come to El Salvador like it here exactly because it is less "touristy". It definitely has a different vibe. I do like that it is low key, but at times it would be nice to have available a couple of beach/lake places with a little more infrastructure in place. In El Salvador that is largely a few inland spots - Suchitoto and mountain/coffee areas of Ataco, Apaneca and Ahuachapán.

At Playa El Espino, we enjoyed the low key vibe well enough - staying for two nights and taking in this area of El Salvador. We had a couple of morning boat-outings in the estuary/bay and more remote beaches (thanks to some friends who connected us with Leonardo and his boat). Cole and I roamed the beach right outside our door in the very early mornings, then after breakfast we'd all go out on a boat (estuary/beaches), and in the late afternoons we'd be back on the hotel beach --- all the while walking, swimming, digging in the sand, and finding sand dollars (live and dead), beautiful shells, crabs, snails, seagulls, pelicans....

Here are some pictures of the desolate beaches we went to and walked around - just beautiful and we had it all to ourselves!



One one of our boat trips, Leonardo spotted an iguana swimming in the estuary. He proceeded to pick it up out of the water and put it back onto land. The iguana seemed to be doing okay swimming...which is interesting. I wasn't sure what Leonardo was going to do with this iguana (e.g. eat it?), so I was relieved when he simply let it go onto land when we docked. Although it would have been understandable had he wanted to take it home for the kiddos.

Just another day at the beach in El Salvador! After these outings, we are typically glad to get home to a nice, comfortable place complete with our cat and dog, and the amenities of San Salvador. We are very fortunate ~ home sweet home.