El Salvador Surfing...

Check out these great photos of surfing in El Salvador!

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/naihe-galland-dipietro-get-spunky-in-the-tropics-when-groms-attack-el-salvador_18786/photos/1/

Fun with tourists

Tourism Review asked folks to share some of the bizarre questions that tourists pose. Pretty funny stuff. Do you have any to share?

'The best day...of my whole life'

(Editors note: Our guest blogger, Paul, visited El Salvador with his family and traveled with Tamarindo Touring Company during Spring Break. Although Paul's days of writing school essays about 'How I spent my vacation' are over, he offered to share his story about 'The best day...of my whole life.' )

There we were, in front of the boat that we were going to be on for the next 8 hours deep sea fishing in El Salvador. I was extremely excited for this. It was the first day of our week long vacation. I was completely wide awake, even though it was early in the morning. The boat was pretty big, it was two levels of white deck and had some couches and chairs on the inside. We started to take off and I was even more excited sitting in the front with the wind in my face, hoping to catch a bigger fish than the family record which is 62 lbs. I had no idea how lucky I would get.

It started with the mahi mahi. The boat was trolling 7 lures and I was designated to bring in the first fish. We were about 1 hour into the voyage and I heard a loud zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!! noise and I knew we had one. They strapped me into the fighting chair and gave me a pole, with a reel as big as my face. I started cranking and I was surprised how easy it was. Then I saw the fish come out of the water. It had a giant flat yellow face and was the biggest fish I had ever caught by far. Captain Lucio, Captain Beto and John all yelled at once the Spanish name for the fish…..DORADO!!! Beto gaffed the fish and brought it safely into the boat and I got a few pictures with my new personal record. John estimated this fish to be about 30 lbs!

Not too long after we put my fish into the boat freezer I heard the familiar zzzzzzzzzzzz! My brother Michael had one! This one was gonna be bigger than mine the second I saw it come out of the water. It was a mahi mahi as well and as soon as they saw it, the guys yelled…Dorado. But unlike with my fish, Beto did not gaff it right and the big guy got away. Michael was sad but quickly got over it when we heard the line zip again and this time it was my dad’s turn, our third mahi mahi! This time we actually got it in and I was amazed, this thing was easily twice the size of mine and it weighed in at about 70 lbs, this was starting to become a very good day!

The more we went out to sea, the more that we were amazed with this country. The water was completely calm with hardly any waves at all. You don’t even find this level of calm water in a small lake back home in Indiana. The other thing that amazed me was the sea turtles. They just sat there with no worries at all. I spotted them one by one and as we were sailing out, I counted 80 or so. But sea turtles were not the only animals out on the sea, there were dolphins, and in gigantic quantities. Hundreds of dolphins and I am not exaggerating at all. They were swimming all around the boat and we just could not get enough of them, we watched them and got lots of pictures for at least an hour, they were on all sides of the boat. It was I sight that I will never forget.

The dolphins came and went all of the time. But about 6 hours into the trip we saw huge numbers of the, not your typical bottle nosed dolphin, but the rare spinner dolphins. They are amazing not only because they are a sure sign of big fish, but that they do a corkscrew motion as they fly spinning into the air, this technique is used to corral all of the little fish into one area, but where there are little fish, there are also AMARILLO!!!! It was amazing, I didn’t know what I was in for when I caught a yellow finned tuna on the line this little sucker fought. Beto and Lucio and John shouted Amarillo….. and then to my surprise, my dad had one too! It was a double header with Johns’s favorite fish in the sea!! Yellow finned tuna. After I got this one in, everyone was extremely excited. But before we had time to put our heads down my dad had another one, and he was a fighter.

No one knew what kind of fish that this would be, but when this giant pointed nose came out of the water followed by a sail, we had a pretty good guess. It was a sailfish, and a big one at that. This definitely topped our family record and maybe even doubled it. It fought for a while and could barely get on the boat. It took two grown men to lift it up so we could get a picture with this monster. It was 150lbs. After that, we decided that we should head back, we were already late, but then we heard the sound again zzzzzzzzzzz ! It was Michael’s last fish and we could somehow tell that it was going to be big. We knew that because Michael couldn’t reel the wild thing in, in fact, it looked like the reel was stuck in place. He could not get it to budge. It seemed to be stuck in place. But when the fish wanted to, it could take off and go forever if it wanted.

Michael couldn’t reel it in so I tried. I used two hands on the reel and got it to budge a little, inch by inch. Just when it was about to break the water, it went off again like a speeding bullet. Eventually we saw it go to the surface and realized that it’s head must have been the size of the entire sailfish. It was a Marlin! The guys shouted Marliiin!!!!!! And the kids were kicked off of the deck. With a wild animal like this, you had to be careful. MY dad took the chair.

It had to have been the longest fight that I have ever seen. My dad was in a constant struggle with this thing. He would pull way up and then lean down and reel it in. It must have taken 20 minutes when we finally got it close to the boat. It was 400 lbs which is at least 5 times bigger then the old family record. I doubt we will ever catch a fish that big ever again. When John tried to grab this thing, it speared his arm and his arm was covered in blood. We got about 100 pictures of it and then let it go.

Later on we found that we had been gone 2 extra hours. It was the best day ever. I told my dad, ”if our vacation had stopped here, this would be the best trip ever.” Total we caught 2 mahi mahi 2 yellow finned tuna, 1 sailfish and one giant marlin. I counted 126 sea turtles and tried to count the dolphins but there were just too many. This definitely was the best day of the trip of my whole life.

Tourism helps on many levels!

There is an ongoing debate on the effects of tourism on developing countries. Global travel has certainly exploded over the past few years with many vacation travelers searching out undiscovered destinations and alternatives to a typical vacation such as adventure tours, vacations with a purpose, volunteer vacations, vacation with a heart, etc. Many of the 'undiscovered' destinations unsurfaced are in developing countries. Is tourism good for developing countries? Does it ultimately help the indigenous people or does the tourism industry tend to reward only the wealthy investors from developed countries?

Tamarindo Touring Company has invested a lot of time and money create viable and sustainable jobs in El Salvador.

I recently read an article featured in Tourism Review that discussed community-based tourism entitled: A misguided quest: Community-Based Tourism in Latin America. This article concludes that; 'it is working with mainstream tourism to strengthen links between tourism and local people – often indigenous populations who are located in disadvantaged regions and have vulnerable livelihoods.' Obviously, that is the approach we at TTC have taken, but what are your thoughts?

El Salvador Tourism Video

Just came across this video on El Salvador on YouTube. Thought it was pretty decent. It is hard to imagine all these beautiful places in one small country -- but even this video doesn't capture all E.S. has to offer. My only complaint, the video does not give justice to the great food we experienced in El Salvador!

Hiking Izalco Volcano, El Salvador

My friend Nick and I were ending a semester abroad in the Yucatan
Peninsula of Mexico, and decided to spend three weeks backpacking
one of the most beautiful regions in the Americas. As we made our
way through Central America, one of the highlights was a hike up
Mount Izalco, one of El Salvador's many volcanoes. The park was absolutely
breath-taking, offering a wonderful view of Mt. Izalco from the
top. Of course, this meant that we had to descend a steep 1,500
steps to arrive at the base of the towering volcano, but the verdant
scenery more than makes up for the effort. Among our climbing group
were John Guiliano of Tamarindo Touring Company and a group of kids from his
Tamarindo foundation. The kids bounded ahead of us down the trail,
determined to be the first climbers to ascend the (active!)
volcano.


It took over an hour to climb, but the ashy, barren rock
of Izalco made for a striking contrast with the unbelievable
greenness of the surrounding hills. As we reached the top and
caught our breath, it felt as though we were on top of the world.


There is something so wondrous about standing on the steaming,
sulfur-belching mountain that at one time formed the geography of
the region with its yearly eruptions. It struck me that Mt. Izalco
is both a source of destruction and renewal, burying the land
violently with lava and yet providing a source of wonderfully rich
soil. We spent a few minutes resting at the top, covered in little
red aphids which, the kids solemnly informed us, "bite like crazy".
As the Tamarindos dutifully flicked the aphids off each other, we
had a snack and took some pictures of the glorious view. Then came
the descent, which was an adventure in and of itself! In my
spartanistic planning for our backpacking adventure, I had
calculated that only one pair of shoes was needed, and that pair
happened to be open toed. The ascent had been no trouble, just as
long as I stepped carefully around the sharp dried magma rocks.
However, the descent strategy was, shall I say, more of a "slide and
recover" strategy.

It was much quicker, but my feet did get a bit
scratched up. One of our wonderful security guards helped me
balance as I picked a few needle-like bits of rock out of my shoes.
Then came the 1,500 steps back up to the National Park, where we
discovered that the last bus for Santa Ana had already left. But,
in characteristic Salvadoran fashion, the Tamarindos offered us a
ride to town in their bus. We had so much fun listening to them
play the guitar (they even knew Sweet Home Alabama), and generally
basking in the beauty of El Salvador and its wonderful people. It
was an experience I will never forget!

Picture Perfect Vacation in El Salvador!

About Our Guest Blogger

Our guest blogger, Karen, traveled with Tamarindo Touring Company this spring on a Multi-sport/Cultural Tour. She currently lives in Indianapolis and inspires young students daily while teaching them Spanish. She actually traveled to El Salvador with a former student! Karen not only loves the Spanish language -- she loves the culture. It is her hope to travel to all Spanish-speaking countries sometime in her lifetime. Her trip to El Salvador was the first time she had traveled to Central America -- and she absolutely savored every moment. The locals sure enjoyed visiting with a 'gringo' that spoke Spanish so well!


Guest Blogger, Karen, taking off on her very first zip-line flight!

Editors Note: We created the 'Travelers to El Salvador' account on this blog for visitors to El Salvador who want to share their experiences as guest bloggers. Check back often to read their stories! Please contact us if you'd like to guest blog about your adventures in El Salvador.

From misty parks atop a dormant volcano to delicious breezes off the ocean, El Salvador is completely unique. As you drive around, you feel a mix of so many emotions. The country is lush, colorful, mountainous and gorgeous.

Here are a couple photos I took showing the incredible diversity of terrain in El Salvador. This misty volcanic mountaintop is no more than two hours away from this idyllic sun- drenched beach.

The people are proud, open and generous no matter what their circumstances.













Meet my new 'best friend' -- she and I immediately bonded when we realized we shared the same first name! Her mom owned the local hotel where we were staying -- Betty's in Guarjila. The food was amazing!

I loved knowing that stunning, unspoiled beaches were no more than two hours from mountains, crater lakes, rainforests, and even the big city. For me, El Salvador is a place to experience all kinds of contrasts--rustic to lavish--and the best freshly caught seafood I've ever tasted!







I am embarrassed to say this, but this was my lunch one day -- and the appetizer isn't even pictured! Add the best shrimp cocktail I have EVER eaten -- and you have the entire luncheon fare!