Copan Ruinas to San Salvador, El Salvador, el seis de Febrero, 2017

I spent the beautiful sunny morning wandering around the pueblo.  Because this is cattle country, the typical male costume is a cowboy hat, pointy boots, jeans and some kind of belt-

In the market, there are cheap food booths and more cowboys-

I was picked up about 12:30 and the driver and 3 of us headed for El Salvador.  I was in 3 countries in 2 hours!  We left Honduras for Guatemala about 15 minutes away, then in 1.5 hours we were in El Salvador!  El Salvador is modern - good highways, new buildings; it's more of what I know.  The maybe unfortunate thing is they use the US dollar which may mean "expensive" but I'll know more in a few days.

Along the way-

This semi crashed a week ago going down a curvy road too fast.  The driver was killed-

Today I met a young couple from Australia who have been working for Contiki Tours in Europe for 3 years!  The guiding season runs from March to October.  They can say where they would like to go but usually they are just given jobs.  The questions people ask are typical and it isn't often someone asks something new but when that happens it's exciting!  They plan to keep working for Contiki for the next while.  

My very first trip to Europe was on a Contiki Tour in 1984!  I was teaching in Richmound until June 30.  The tour started July 2nd and finished the last Thursday in August before I started school on Monday!  I didn't like my tour leader - Ann, who also was an Aussie.  I'm not sure if it was her or if it was the huge culture shock I was experiencing.  She did some stupid things.  We played a game going through tunnels in Italy.  Each time we entered a tunnel, and there were about 40 of them, we were supposed to change shirts with the other passengers.  Our bus was 'air cooled' which is NOT air conditionned so we were sweating like pigs.  There was little sanitation - plates were washed with cold water and 'flapped' dry.  If one person got sick, the whole bus was sick.  Not fun.  However, it certainly lit the fire for more travel and it wasn't all bad.  I saw so much in seven weeks!

Today has been a sad day.  Two of my former students died:  Max Hesselson, who was in Grade 12 when Nico was sick, spearheaded the class to buy Nico a PS2.  Max was quite the character!  Meagan Friedrich, who was in Grade 12 was a lovely and conscience young woman.  Both were excellent students.  I'm not sure what happened but it is devastating news.

Tonight I'm staying in a hostel in a room with 7 beds.  Right now there are only 3 of us so I hope it stays like that!  Tomorrow I'm off to see 3 museums and the Harley store!