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We left the beach and caught two buses to the town of Perquín, our last stop in El Salvador, high in the mountains. Perquín had been a guerrilla stronghold during the civil war 22 years ago and we wanted to visit the museum - well I (Simon) did more than Katy.
We got there by 1pm and after a quick lunch went to find the museum. Unfortunately almost all the signs were in Spanish but you could still get a feel for the devastation that it caused this small country. There were many photos of people (rebels and civilian activists) who had been assassinated or disappeared by the government death squads and a large collection of weapons. There was also a series of posters from around the world calling for peace and a downed government helicopter. We were shown around part of the museum by a man who was old enough to be a resistance fighter and probably was but he only spoke Spanish so we struggled to understand much of what he said. We then looked around a reconstructed guerrilla camp next door, which included tunnels, swing bridges and air raid shelters as well as some broken helicopter engines. Finally we climbed a hill nearby, passing bomb craters and trenches, for some fantastic views of the mountains. We asked around for an English speaking guide who could take us to the nearby village of El Mozote the next day but couldn't find one. El Mozote was the scene of one of the worst massacres during the civil war where over 750 people, mostly women and children, were killed by government forces.
Because we couldn't find an English speaking guide and because the accommodation in Perquín was rustic, to say the least, apart from one expensive place that we didn't stay at, we decided to leave the next day for León in Nicaragua. The journey turned out to be a long and eventful one that you have to endure at the time but adds an element of achievement to travelling. Just to get to the Honduras border we had to take 4 buses, when we thought we only needed 2. Then we caught a bus the two hours across the southern section of Honduras to the Nicaragua border - the only problem being that the bus was infested by tiny little ants. So I spent 2 hours killing ants and stopping them running over my legs, luckily I was wearing trousers and shoes. Then the Nicaragua border was very hectic. Our bus was instantly mobbed by rickshaw men who wanted work, one of them grabbed our bags to get our business but we managed to get them back. We found a way through the crowd and walked to the Honduras immigration office followed by only one rickshaw guy. From there to the Nicaraguan side and then to the bus station was quite a distance so we got the rickshaw guy to give us a lift. We agreed on $2 to the Nicaraguan side and then later agreed a further $3 to the bus station. This is over the standard rate but he spoke fluent English and was helpful and it was very hot so I was willing to pay this. I told him I only had a $10 note and he said he could give change. Then when we got to the bus station he didn't have change and wanted to charge us $5 each so we started arguing and the change started to appear. He said that I was a bad person not to give him an extra dollar or 50 cents but I told him that wasn't the point and that we had agreed on a price (which was over the odds) and he should be honest. I got quite angry with him but I would do the same again because he could understand me perfectly and was just trying to rip us off. In the end I got change in a mixture of dollars and cordobas and ended up 20 cents down - no big deal. Finally after two more good buses and a couple of police check points we arrived in León in time for dinner and bed.
Simon
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