Stopped at the shack for drinks

It's our last day here at the La Cocotera. The staff has been so friendly and helpful. The manager and chef have even agreed to let us tag along for a ride to our next location. 

They also really gave us chocolate for breakfast this time. You know it's hot out when it's melted to your plate before you can get a picture. 

I love that it's a turtle!  The little guys on the resort were still swimming around happily before we left. 

These beautiful macaws are also rescued here on resort. Apparently they have become extinct on El Salvador so they also release the baby birds into the wild from this ma and pa bird. 

This is the front outside view of our room.  We researched El Salvador a little before we left. It's a high crime place they say....we never locked our door here. Not once! We couldn't actually. We felt very safe! 

Selfie on the beach. No one is around to take a picture. 

We walked to the end of the peninsula on the last morning. We read that there is a shack to stop and have a drink.  So we had to go explore this and enjoy something from the local life. 

We enjoyed a local Pop (0.90) and corona (2.50) in this little hut canopy shack???

In amongst the burning hot sand were these petunia looking flowers. After this picture we started running towards the ocean. The sand was so hot you could probably cook something on it. 

We also took one last dive in the pool before eating one last delicious meal here. 

Also need to mimic this apple salad. 

We lounged around the pool area until the chef and manager were ready to take us just south of La Libertad. 

The coolest thing about this drive was asking 5 million questions while driving. 

I don't have photos of the people or the things on the side of the road. Just memories. 

We saw oxen evenly yoked pulling cart and driver down the road. 

People using the road to dry corn on. Ok we never would've known it was corn but of course our drivers did ☺️. The people dry the corn and either grind it down to sell or sell it in bags of kernels. And no they don't make popcorn from it...I asked. 

We also saw a pickup with three men in the back. 2 were in army gear carrying big guns while the other guy stood by.  I didn't ask if he was under arrest. 

We also saw a local delivery truck and a guard with his big gun standing beside it. I guess groceries are worth a lot?

We saw people along the roads the whole trip. They wait for the bus. I don't think there is any set bus schedule around these parts. If the bus isn't full they stop and pick you up. No set bus stops either. It must take a long time to get anywhere. Part of the laid back life in these parts. 

Our ride was fantastic and we learned a lot!

We arrived at our next place and instantly the guard with his gun and two other workers were there to greet us. Definitely not feeling as secure as the previous place. 

Then our credit card wasn't working. The wifi is down so we have now way of phoning as we've been using Skype. And the worker didn't speak English and the manager was gone....

We were really disoriented and uncomfortable. 

But a little while later the manager returned and gave us a mobile wifi and the credit card worked. Life felt a little more secure again!

The place is also all set up and decked out for Christmas. Feels strange being so far from home at this time of year. And seeif blown up snowmen and ornaments and Christmas lights in these parts...just doesn't fit???

Thankfully the sunsets are always somewhat familiar 😀

The resorts pool and deck area

Waiting for dinner on the rancho (deck?)

Having our first local beer. It was good!  I drank this one for my brothers who like trying new beer! Wonder if you guys can find it back home?

We used Google to translate the menu and ordered some food. We had a good chuckle about our server bringing back the dishes to the kitchen after...watch your sheets for last nights dinner. He had walked through all the laundry drying outdoors. 

We returned to our room and I was catching up on this blog. The post just finished uploading when they came to borrow the mobile wifi for another guest for 15 minutes ...the longest 15 minutes. We got it back the next morning at breakfast.  

Though we were a little bored because every Chanel was Spanish on TV. Good thing we still had some books to read. 

That's it for our Monday