I asked a lady on her porch where this hotel i'd heard of might be and she pointed me in the right direction. I walked along the path on the beach in front of and in between the fishing shacks until I came to the end of the path. I asked a bunch of young El Salvadoreans in a few VW busses that were grilling some fish where the hotel was and they had no idea. I showed them the map on the back of the flier for the hotel and an argument insued. Not with me but amongst themselves as to where the hotel might be. There were 5 couples and all five guys seemed to have passionate opinions as to where it might be. Luckily for me, the prettiest gal of the bunch took a shine to me and asked where I was from and the other usual questions. She said she thought it was cool that I was travelling alone, I said thanks as I blushed and lightly kicked some sand while putting my hands in my pockets. By that time the fellas had come to a conclusion that it was the white fenced house that was 2 houses away. I thanked them for their help and made my way to the gate. It had no sign and seemed to be pretty small for a hotel, more like someones house. The exact moment that I was entering, hoping that it was the right house and if it wasn't that they did not own a gun or a dog, I heard a ferocious bark (really, it scared me so much I thought I soiled myself) and a two month old chocolate lab came bounding up to me with its tongue hanging out, ready to attack. Feeling a bit embarrased at my moment of fear, I asked if I was in the right place and, alas, I was. The dog reminded me of a younger, not nearly as much of a pain in the ass version of my friend Brian's dog named Darlene. Darlene is a hellian of a dog that you cannot hope to control, you can only hope to contain her! This dog's name was Ciatsi, which I came to find out means nothing, it was just a litttle pet name the owner, Carla had come up with. Carla was a very gracious host and let me in on little secrets of the town that only locals knew. Actually there were only 2 tourists there, besides myself, so the secrets were out, it seemed. Secrets like a kilo (2.5 lbs almost) of oranges for a dollar, the next door neighbor cooked and delivered food to the hotel for super cheap (I had fresh lobster in a galic sauce, rice and steamed veggies for $6), and the local fisherman would sell you whole fish from the fishing boats for really cheap too. The two times I went to the boats they only had big fish that would feed a minimum of 6 people and they wouldnt sell filets because then the rest of the fish wouldn't get sold, so I didn't get lucky on that one.
There was a reef that was right off shore from the hotel (did I say it was ocean front) where you could snorkle for free during mid tide. Low tide was too low with exposed coral, and high tide had poor visibility. There was also a turtle sanctuary a few doors down but all the eggs had already hatched and been released. Deserted cove beaches with coral rocky outcropings and a western view for the sunsets made this a very relaxing place for a few nights. This was a good find, for sure. Other than that I just watched the ocean alot, read, played with the puppy and sipped on 50 cent beers in the afternoon. But just so you don't think that everything was wine and roses down here, the lobster was overcooked and super salty. Don't feel sorry for me, i'll make it through.
