El Salvador and bus etiquette

So on Wed. i left antigua for San Salvador. I am traveling with Stine, another volunteer from the project from Norway. we bought our bus ticket from a travel agency in antigua, we later realized we paid way to much. on wed we went to guatemala city, and then switched to a pullman style bus to go to San Salvador. It went well except for one hicup on the border. It took us a while to clear the border because on our last trip to El Salvador they gave us a stamp for 90 more days on our visa which they normally dont do because theres an agreement between the countries. i needed to renew my visa so we asked them and they said it was fine. This time around the immigration officer didnt understand why we had the extra 90 days, she had to talk to her boss but eventually said it was fine. We stayed the night in San Salvador and went to the immigration office in the morning to make sure everything was alright. there we found out that our extra 90 days stamp wasnt valid so we needed to get new stamps. we made friends with the immigration officer because she asked us to help her with her english homework. it only took us 3 or 4 hours to get the new stamp which was pretty good. then we left san salvador and got to playa el tunco. this required 2 buses but was very easy to get to. playa el tunco was very relaxing with not very much happening. our first night there, there was a bunch of locals playing in a mini soccer tournament on the beach that was fun to watch. the next day we just relaxed on the beach, i tried to surf a little bit but wasnt able to do much. this morning there was a surf competition at the beach right next to playa el tunco which we got to see some of. we left around noon for san salvador and then took a bus through town and caught another bus to the quiet little town of suchitoto, where i am now. the place we are staying isnt that nice but its only one night here so we think its going to be fine. this afternoon we walked around the town a little bit, it overlooks a nice lake. we had dinner at a pizza place that was very nice and we got to wath the sunset there. now were getting ready to have an early night because were getting up early tomorrow. We are starting at 6:30 in the morning and have to take at least 2 different buses to get to the el salvador/honduras border. then from there another bus up to copan. then either tomorrow afternoon or monday morning we will see the ruins in copan. After that I think i will split up with stine and try to go to utila to scuba dive. i had a little question with insurance but found out that the dive schools cover you with there insurance when you take classes. so hopefully by the end of this week i will be a certified scuba diver. after that i think i will head up to tikal and see the ruins there and then head back to antigua to relax for a few days before my flight home. All my plans are very rough and we will see how closely I will follow them.

Now I want to tell you about bus edicate, which I got to experience today in the buses. We were taking the equivelant of guatemalan chicken buses in honduras and here are some of the rules i learned.
1. Elderly people always have priority to sit in a seat and if they come on a full bus you should stand up to allow them to sit. It was interesting to see this in the buses because they always seem so hectic and chaotic but there also is some order to it.
2. Mothers with babys have next priority. this was not followed as closely but I had a first hand experience with this. A mother holding a baby was standing in the aisle for a little bit and I was thinking of standing up and leting her sit in my seat with my bags. then I looked around and caught the eye of a younger woman and kind of gestured to the mother and she noded. so i got up and let her sit down. Next time i looked around all of the el salvadorians were smiling at me.
3. You have to wait to pay for the bus. This seemed a little strange to me because I was trying to pay when we got on the bus, but actually the buses work with a team of 2 or 3 people. the driver, and two others. the others along long stretches of roads without stops will go around shaking change in the hand and thats when you pay.

It was a very fun experience going on the chiken buses because we got to see more of the el salvadorian culture and interact with more people. I felt even a little bit more safe in these buses then the pullmans because they seemed less likely to be targeted by robbers and the people running them seemed less likley to scam you.

I dont know when Ill have internet next and/or ill have internet long enough to upload my photos. but probably in a week or so ill have photos from my travels up!