“Never again.” Never again would we park in a busy city street with no shade when the daily average is approaching 100F and we can’t open our doors and windows for air flow. Lesson learned as we approach the hottest part of our journey. We spent only around twelve hours in the coastal town of La Union, El Salvador, just long enough to catch a short night’s rest, get veterinary papers for the upcoming border crossing, and stock up on groceries. On top of an already long week, we were in desperate need of some chill, both in temperatures and vibes. Thankfully, it was only a “short” 10km drive away.

Overlooking the small coastal town sits Volcan Conchagua, a nearly 4K foot tall mountain rising literally rising from the sea. Not having the energy or stamina to repeat our Acatenango hike, we were grateful that a road led right to the top. Our car was not so pleased, however. Steep, of course, but also extremely bumpy with cobblestones strewn about the last 5km, it took us over an hour to make the drive (thank goodness our car at least has AC). With this last hurdle cleared, however, the whole journey felt worth it. La Espiritu de las Montanas is a well-maintained and growing campsite, with ample room for us to park and spread out under towering pines, with shade, elevation, and wind all keeping the area cool throughout the day. (We even needed a blanket at night! The small joys of van life.) The views, naturally, were spectacular, as the grounds included an observation deck from which campers could overlook the Gulf of Fonseca, which contains picturesque islands rising out of the ocean and views of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the three countries that share the bay. It was common to need to arrive at least half an hour before sunrise and sunset to claim a front-row seat to the show. Moments like these reminded us of why we started this trip in the first place, and helped reinforce our understanding that pushing through the tough times can lead to some pretty amazing experiences.

Views overlooking the mountains with Arya, a sunset, and some french toast plus a snapshot of our camp set-up.

After the much-needed reset, we took a couple of days to prepare and complete our next border crossing into Honduras (nothing too difficult, but more paperwork for Arya than we expected, and “helpers” in Honduras that generally added to confusion and stress and wanted money in return). With the heat at lower elevations, we initially expected our time in this country to be short and not altogether too pleasant. But a last-minute change of plans took us north and into a much more vibrant country than we crossed into in the south. Honduras doesn’t have the towering volcanoes of Guatemala or Mexico, but ranges still run west to east throughout the center of the country and create very lovely locations for villages in the valleys. In these rolling hills, we found another fantastic spot to relax in Parque Aurora, a quiet, expansive parcel of land with a small lake, pools, showers(!), hiking trails, and very curious horses. Most importantly, room to spread out and take in the wonderful weather. We spent three days reading by the lake, running with Arya, working, and taking in nature. Together with our time at Espiritu, we felt our batteries fully recharge, ready for the next grand adventure.

(left) These horses were very interested in a human and a dog running by them. (right) A view of the lake and our van in the park.