OK, so I managed to wake up before the witching hour. I actually slept quite well for me. Thanks maybe to the eight, yes, eight pillows that were on offer.

Not forgetting the two bolsters. What is with these bolsters? I've been to many countries that provide these weird forms of torture. I have never been able to fit them to any place on my anatomy. Am I weird or is it some kind of Catholic Church penance. 'Say three Hail Marys and sleep on a bolster for a week' Thank God, I'm a non believer.

Ooh that's a bit contradictory, innit?

I spent a while faffing about in my room until I remembered that I was supposed to have breakfast before 8am. Bit of a scramble but I made it . I met up with Diana and Ed. Diana has a wicked sense of humour, Ed just doesn't understand a word I say. Bless!

We all had to go to a briefing at 8am. This is where our guide introduced herself, as did our driver, Oscar. We were told all about the route that we would be taking and what to expect along the way. It is a very full itinerary, but nonetheless interesting. Maybe everything may not appeal to everyone, but, that's life. We also had to introduce ourselves, I don't think everyone understood my weird accent !

Then we were loaded on to the bus and we were off.

Our first stop was to be the volcano Quetxalestepec which is an active volcano although fast asleep at the moment, thank goodness. It is one of a whole chain of volcanoes that stretch all along the western side of the Americas. There is one, about 3 miles from Guatemala City that is currently throwing out pyroclasts, but no lava flows as yet. The ash cloud is drifting away from the city.

It was my big chance to try out the x 60 zoom on my flashy camera - that I have no idea yet how to work!

Despite my ineptitude I managed to zoom right down into the crater, most impressive!

It was a bit of a climb up over uneven steps, Poor Nadine tripped over a step and gashed her shin. It's usually me that does that, so I was quite relieved!
Everyone rushed forward with offers of plasters, splints, crutches etc.


After that we drove through the town. The poverty is very evident. People are living in tin shacks, they look like a very run down garden shed and yet the school children we saw, waiting for the school bus, were all turned out in crisp white shirts and very smart.

God only knows how these people manage to do this. They are amazing. They work 44 hour weeks for a meagre US $250 a month, which is also taxable.

Next time you buy clothing from Nike, Adidas and Tommy Hilfiger, check the label, does it say, Made in El Salvador? Yes? Well just remember how much these people are paid and how much you paid, and work out the big company's profits.

Next was lunch. Any person who knows me will know that I hate fried food.

Lunch was very fried.

We had papusas ( fried s***), we had fried plantain s*** , fried banana s***, we had fried yucca s***, empanada fried s*** and some kind of deep fried cubes of beef s***.

We also had some kind of fried s*** that looked like a fried dog turd. I'm sorry but I don't do fried food.

On to dessert .... Fried banana s***, some kind of cheesecake s*** and two things looking like puppy testicles, also deep fried (s***).

Lunch could be described as a non event for me.

The diet Coke was nice .

Ok, not exactly gastronomically complete, it was time to move on and visit the body of a dead priest, Father Oscar Romero.

Said priest was killed during the Civil War and he will soon be a saint within the Catholic Church. I always thought that there had to be some sort of miracle performed, in order to become sanctified. Apparently, being shot by the opposition ranks highly among aspiring saints, so this guy is in the running.
His body has been incarcerated in a load of bronze and laid to rest in this cavernous, soulless basement of a cathedral in the middle of San Salvador. It felt like an unoccupied building, I'm sure the poor man's spirit must be restless.

The most strange thing I have observed in San Salvador is the armed guards. There are apparently a vast number of security companies that provide armed guards who are available to protect any commercial outlet. Mostly this will include small food shops, cafes, garages, furniture shops etc. Each have an armed guard, looking a bit like US police officers. All have a pistol /handgun and an automatic rifle. We even saw one guarding a funeral home. Was it to stop bodysnatchers, or to stop the incumbents rising up and escaping, like in a vampire movie?

We visited another church, Iglesia El Rosario which was designed by Ruben Martinez and was completed in 1971, totally out of recycled materials, it had no electricity but the windows were in recycled glass which reflected the light through into the building. From outside the place looked hideous, but the inside was a riot of light from these recycled glass windows. There were numerous bullet holes in the outside facade of the building and over 20 people were shot and killed during the Civil War as they and others sought refuge for many days in this church during the fighting.

Some of the bullets that punched holes into the heavy metal doors had already passed through their victim's body.

Unfortunately many died within the confines of the church and had to be buried underneath the floor of the church once decomposition set in. This was to protect the surviving asylum seekers from disease and to be honest they must have ponged a bit!

Next we were taken to an armed forces museum at El Zapote Barracks.
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I had not been aware that this little Central American country had provided special forces personnel to fight alongside the allied forces in the Gulf War. Many of them didn't return home. The place was full of rifles, grenade launchers and other mechanical ways to kill people, including land mines. There were also a couple of helicopters, loads of tanks and jeeps.

Somewhat incongruously, among this little lot sat a bullet proof Popemobile!

What I don't get is that if the Pope is supposed to be God's representative here on earth and this God is supposed to be all powerful over all things in the universe, why does the Pope need the protection of a Popemobile? Surely he should be protected by the deity he reveres?

Religion is all b******s to me!

Our last stop was at another museum which concentrated on the Civil War, The Museum of the Word and Image. We watched a short video and then wandered around the exhibits. War is so stupid and doesn't usually solve much.

If women ruled the world, there would maybe be a few handbag fights but less full-on wars!

Once back at the hotel, it was time for a quick shower a quick pack of the cases, as we are leaving in the morning for Honduras and then a nice cold beer downstairs.

I met up with Louis, from Illinois and then Sharon joined us and then Ivania who is our guide. Lou is a lovely 80 year old, a retired engineer who has travelled the world. Sharon seems to be my type of person, I think we could get along quite well, fingers crossed, Most people on this trip have travelled between 10 and 20 times with this company, so it must be good!

We would be eating out at an Argentinian restaurant this evening. We had been offered the menu on our return trip and I had chosen filet mignon . This was a little more exotic than I had expected and there was also a glass of wine thrown in. When you consider that meals like this are part of the package, you start to realise what value this holiday represents.

I had to beg everyone not to tell the Argies that I was British, in case they spat on my steak!

And so to bed, bit of a lie in tomorrow, we are allowed to sleep in until 7am. It is going to be a really busy day and we have to pass through 4 border checks which can either be quick or very, very long. The aim is to get to our hotel before dark as I think the nasty people emerge after sundown. We will not be going out for dinner but eating at the hotel.

Night all xxxx