We spent over a week at Barillas, a well-protected estuary and well-appointed resort in El Salvador. From there, we visited the historic city of Antigua, Guatemala. The president of El Salvador, Francisco Flores, was a regular visitor to Barillas over the weekends. President Flores had left just a few hours before we arrived in Barillas. Many of our cruiser friends met him and his family, and had pictures taken with him.

Dear friends and family,

This is our first report from El Salvador, where we arrived yesterday. We hope to head on south in about a week or so, heading south for Nicaragua and Costa Rica, on our way to the canal by middle of April. While in Barillas, El Salvador, we plan to travel inland to San Salvador, Guatemala City, Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and a number of other interesting destinations. (We will leave the contents of our fridge and freezer at the Barillas facility).

We have picked up a mooring at the Barillas Marina Club (13 deg, 15.7N, 88 deg, 29.4W), an exclusive resort where members are very rich and influential salvadoreños. The typical john doe in El Salvador will never get a chance to see this place, unless he works here. This quiet and exclusive resort has everything you would dream about if you wanted to get away and rest and enjoy the ecology and the beauty of this country. A walk just a few minutes away will let you see wild monkeys and beautiful birds. For a vivid example, the president of El Salvador, Francisco Flores, left here yesterday morning, just a few hours before we arrived, after spending the weekend here. There is a helicopter pad where many guests flies in an out, in addition to a full runway. Many of the guests arrive here in their own helicopter from San Jose, a couple of hours from here by car. They say Flores may be back next weekend. Ummmmm.

We are paying $8 per night for the use of a mooring, and that is it. There are no docks here, just moorings and a fuel dock with clean diesel at $1.85US/gallon, gasoline, and unlimited fresh water, drinkable out of the hose. All cruisers are welcome and we have unlimited use of all the facilities, with a small charge for services such as the iced cold air conditioned internet access computer room (or you can connect using your own laptop and their hook-ups at shaded tables around the beautiful pool and jacuzzi, how decadent!). There are some quaint bungalows available for visitors who do not come by boat as well, for $60/night. The mooring area is extremely well protected. People leave their boats here for months at a time, while they go back home for a while. There are four boats that have been here, without their owners, for over 6 months. We would not hesitate to leave SIESTA here for an extended period of time, with the security and care that exists.

That is all for now.

Ed and Daisy (N4CYE/N4CZP)

Barillas, El Salvador

www.marill.com

PS - You can check our position at any time at www.winlink.org, then go to POSITION REPORTING, then enter our ham call, n4cye. We report our position several times a day when we are underway.