San Salvador to Antigua to Chichicastanengo

The supposed three hour drive from San Salvador to Antigua took the better part of a day. I was pleased to roll out of San Salvador at 8 am. A friendly guest at the hotel showed me a very quick and easy route out of the city. It was much better than the circuitous way the woman at the front desk had me going. On my way out I realized how San Salvador is really a suburban feeling city. Wide avenues of strip mall like development. It is very car oriented. Apparently because of past violence no one really walks. The city is also very green. The climate is on the warm side but cools at night and because of lots of rain there is lush vegetation everywhere.

El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Central America. This is very evident on the highways. I realized this when I needed to pee and there was literally nowhere I could stop without being in front of someone’s house or alongside people standing on the road chatting.

My drive south (actually driving east through El Salvador) a year ago was along the coast line and this drive is in the interior. Both roads are considered the Panamericana. The interior road is in the mountains with perfect cone shaped volcanoes towering over lush valleys.

The border crossing at San Cristobol was a little more than the usual mayhem. The line of trucks and cars was stopped about a kilometer from the actual border. As I had approached the traffic jam I had followed the usual pattern of just swinging around the semis using the oncoming lane to get around them. Usually the semis have much more paperwork because of their cargo and they sit in or alongside the road for a long time. In this case I had made the situation worse creating the need to jam my car in between a bus and a semi further up the road when I was met with the oncoming traffic.

The problem was exacerbated because there was really only room for one lane of traffic. I couldn’t figure out how the oncoming traffic from the border was supposed to pass. There was a market on either side of the road the whole length from where the traffic jam began to after the Guatemalan side of the border. The market was so packed with people and stalls that it only left room for one lane of traffic. I don’t know how we did it, but the semis, buses and cars all wiggled themselves around to create enough room for the oncoming semis, buses and cars to pass.

Once I made it to the customs/immigration office I parked my car in a rare open lane of traffic and there was a constant flow of traffic only going one direction. I was lucky that when the whole process ended the flow of traffic was going in my direction and I was able to just squeeze in.

People are generally very helpful and patient. There doesn’t seem to be much road rage at all. Of course I was frustrated. But then I realized that the whole process to get through each side of the border and deal with the traffic took me only one hour and cost $6.00. That is far less frustrating an experience than my parents had crossing the US Canadian border this last year when it took them five hours. Depiste the apparent confusion and disorganization it generally works well. One of the customs officials smiled acknowledgingly when I said the border was crazy. He explained that Fridays are always like that.

My next challenge was the drive through Guatemala City. Before reaching Guatemala City the road climbed and climbed. Then I descended just a short while into the valley looking out over the city. I stopped and got gas and asked about what road to take to Antigua. The road I was on was one of the two Panamericanas (the other one along the coast is the road I had taken on the drive south) and goes right through the city. Fortunately it is pretty direct and the signage was very helpful once I knew what places to head for.

The main thoroughfare I drove on was again Roosevelt. It was lined with the usual plethora of US fast food chains, malls services and a few office towers. The buildings were well kept, the road was well maintained and overall, other than a few chaotic merging experiences, the traffic was orderly. Perhaps I have become accustomed to the big city traffic but the drive through Guatemala City was far better than I expected.

The freeway system in and out of the city was very good and often of newer concrete construction. Leaving the city I climbed out of the valley and headed west. After the turn off to Antigua I descended a very steep grade for many kilometers. It was so steep there were a number of emergency brake failure exits and many signs instructing drivers to use their motors as brakes.

Antigua is a very charming colonial city. It was once the colonial capital until an earth quake in the 18th century leveled it. Now it is loaded with tourists, restaurants, craft stores there’s even an amusement park at one end of the town adding to the feel of an unkempt Disneyland. I saw more blonds in Antigua than I’ve seen anywhere in the last year. There was some sort of celebration on Friday night that included fireworks, a noisy show on a temporary stage in front of the cathedral in the main square and the most obnoxious “parade” I have ever seen and heard.

I left the solitude of my hotel, reading on the interior balcony, to investigate the sirens I’d been hearing all over the city for about a half an hour. There was no amazing car chase or criminal attack. All the volunteer fireman and their vehicles, including the ambulances, were driving around town with their sirens on full, honking their horns. There is nothing pleasant about standing on the sidewalk on a narrow colonial street as 15 siren blaring horn honking vehicles pass very slowly. One firetruck had a dalmatian sitting on the top of the cab.

I left Antigua Saturday morning at 9 am and made it to Chichicastanengo about 11:30. The drive was very mountainous and very populated. The whole duration of the drive was under construction. The completed portions (about 10%) were very nice dual carriageway concrete highway. But the uncompleted sections were horrendous.

Chichicastanengo is known for it’s massive market held every Thursday and Sunday. It is also know for the continued practices of many Mayan traditions supposedly even on the grounds of the cathedral. Sunday I will experience the market and then drive to Huehuetanengo about three hours away towards the Mexican border.