We crossed the boarder today.
As we crossed the boarder, we got out to change money with a guy holding a wad of cash. El Salvadore uses US currency and Guatemala the Quetzal. Needless to say it was not a very good rate and that makes Brian Craaaazy.
We are kind of sorry we did not get to spend more time in El Salvador. Aside from the Capital city of San Salvador, it is very welcoming. No one really hassels you, they actually round down prices in the markets. The locals are not jaded by a tourist industry yet.
Our bus Dropped us off in Guatemala city. We had heard horror stories of this city, but after San Salvador...this place was....reeeeeal niiiiice. We went immediately to the airport to realize we had to wait 4 hours for the only flight - which, get this...took 30 minutes. Full size airplane. The second it hit cruising altitude, we were descending.
Our first stop was Flores. Flores is a wee island in Lago de Izabal (lake Izabal) that you can cover in about 15 minutes (apx 2km across). It is the jumping point for Tikal ruins. The largest Maya ruins in central America. It kicks Chichen Itza's Mayan ass.
Flores has tons of lake front restaurants, hostels, semi-cobble stone streets....and the people are very nice. They don't scare the pants off you like parts of the rest of the country does.
(oh,and in the airport we met a girl from Australia named Catherine who traveled with us for a day or 3). She has been travelling since Februrary...
