Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Sadly Mary is struggling with health issues. To see the latest about her situation, click here
To view past blogs, scroll to the bottom of this page and use the menu.
I’m currently in my 24th year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click here
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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails RV Resort in Bow, Washington. I’ll depart here August 13th.
Today… A trip down memory lane!
2004 Central America trip…
This trip ended up being 343 days and 16,000+ miles through the back-country of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. 11 rigs started the trip, within a week we broke into three smaller groups for ease of traveling. Only myself and one other rig went the full, pre-planned route. All the others dropped out for various reasons. All returned safely to the United States. I’m planning to show these photos, more or less, 10 a day, whenever I’m not doing something else deserving a blog entry. FINALLY, it must be remembered these photos are prior to my switching to digital in 2006. The films were developed during our trip and the lack of quality control sometimes is plainly evident.
Today…El Salvador (north-bound) #1…
El Salvador was the most unusual country of our entire trip. According to our guidebook…”in consideration to its neighbors (meaning the other Central America countries), El Salvador has little to offer and is the most dangerous country in Central America.”
During our several days in the smallest and most densely populated Central America country, I constantly felt “danger in the air”. The locals were reluctant to talk to us. In the other countries, a big smile and an enthusiastic “Hola!” (Hello!), won us instant friendship…not in El Salvador. The locals were very reserved and usually just stared at us. It must be remembered these folks had never seen a motorhome or a “gringo” in their village. The country was engaged in Civil War from 1979 to 1992.
Our guidebook indicated and we had been told that “San Salvador (the capital), was probably the most dangerous city in Central America.”
The following comes directly from my book…
“The roads continue to be great. It is so interesting to note, that the countries that are supposedly “poor” have great roads, and the supposedly “well-to-do” countries have terrible roads. While driving to the capital city of San Salvador, population about 800,000 (2,300,000 including the outlying suburbs), I had a most terrifying experience! My heart stopped beating for a full five seconds! I was in the lead on a very busy, two-lane, winding, up and down street at 35 mph. When, there it was, directly in front of me! An OPEN man-hole to the sewer system! The cover was missing! Had I hit it with either the motorhome or the towed Bronco, it would had taken out the entire front end of the vehicle! The locals must know about it, and just drive around it. But, it sure surprised me! I somehow managed to put it in-between my two front wheels, and not drive into it. I still do not know how I missed it, (instinct?), but I did! Whew!”
And…
“We are parked in a PriceMart parking lot. Bob and Bud did some shopping, while I had 15 rolls of film developed for $108. Because the city is so large, we hired a taxi to help us find a place to drop off our laundry. Then we had him take us to a nice bar district. We had a pleasant happy two hours and a meal. We decided to walk the eight blocks back to where we are parked. Along the way we had numerous people approach us and ask us for money. I got the feeling that this is not the place to be walking around after dark, because instead of asking, they would be demanding! We beat feet to get back before it got real dark!”
And…
“We are at about the 2,000 foot elevation and it’s still hot. The afternoon temperature was 98 degrees in the shade!”
And…
“At PriceMart during the day, they have four security guys wearing pistols, constantly riding around the parking lot on bicycles, two guys at the entrances and exits, with pistols and 12 gauge shotguns, and a guy in a 30 foot high elevated watch tower in the center of the parking lot, with a pistol and a shotgun! At about 7 PM, the guy in charge of night-time security insisted we move our rigs close together and adjacent to the building for the night. We were “surrounded” by about ten security guards with pistols and shotguns while we slept! Quite the cultural experience!”
The below three photos are the only photos I have of El Salvador as I was quite uncomfortable walking around with a camera in my hand…
As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…
Here’s an image that shows El Salvador’s location…
You can read all about El Salvador by clicking this link…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Salvador
Next Guatemala…
I hope you enjoyed the photos.
I hope you will enjoy the future blog postings.
Forecast for today is sunny and 74 degrees.
Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!
The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…
Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein
“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.” –James Madison
“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.” —Mark Twain
My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…
On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!
Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8
If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos
If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/
For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust
All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2019
Que Sera, Sera... Whatever Will Be, Will Be... 