Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

We set out fairly early towards Santa Ana for lunch. Mona drove along pretty tree-lined highways (mostly CA-1) while I did my best to navigate. Heading into the capital it was always clear which direction to take, but some of the signs heading other places list destinations beyond where we're going. It wouldn't be a problem, except that they don't seem to sign exits ahead of time here. It's "hey, I see a sign for Santa Tecla ahead, should I take it?"

We had to cruise around Santa Ana for a bit before we found parking, but it was an easy walk back to the central square. We had fairly tasty hamburgers-with-everything, which included cheese and fluorescent pink ham.

After lunch we pressed on to Juayúa. These roads were smaller, usually just one lane in each direction (and occasionally one lane for both). They became windy mountainous as we drove up into coffee country. There were some vista points, but it was a bit too foggy to see much.

Just past Los Naranjos, the roads started to be wet. Mona asked if I thought we'd get some rain, and I answered yes. The first drops started hitting about a minute later.

The storm was impressive. It quickly progressed from a drizzle to a shower, and then to a downpour. When we arrived in Juayúa, we drove around a bit and decided that the place was big enough that we would not be able to randomly stumble upon the hostal we were looking for (no address given on their website). I rolled down the window and asked directions of a man standing outside of a shop, and got pretty wet before I could roll it back up. But the directions got us where we were going.

After we parked, I grabbed my backpack from the trunk and realized that I'd packed my raincoat at the bottom of the pack, so I'd have to take everything else out to get to it. I decided to just make a run for it and wasn't too soaked by the time I got in the door of the hostal. As we were checking in, a lightning strike hit nearby. The thunder was deafening. At first I was sure that a nearby transformer must have exploded, but the power came back on so quickly that it must have just been thunder.

We waited out the storm at the hostal, and then went for a walk around the town, stopping for drinks and for dinner. It's a really pleasant town. Big enough that there's plenty of activity, but without the bustle of Santa Ana.