Acajutla: 7th - 9th September 2025
7th September – Sunday
I’ve just arrived at my new place, Punta Diamantes, Acajutla, on the beach, and it’s so busy and loud – lol. I thought I wanted quiet but is definitely lifting my spirits. The sea is amazing, too rough for swimming but still so beautiful and the sand is black. This place is not as bad as the reviews made out, yes outdated and the bathroom smells of stale water but it’s still good, let’s put it this way, I have stayed in far worse. There are lots of places to sit and chill and a bar at the pool and loud music., but best of all the beach is just a few strides away. Something I love Latin American people is the way all head off somewhere for the weekend, like a little vacation, and this is one of those spots. However, I do hope it is a little less full tomorrow as it was a bit overrun today.
Later: As expected, it is very quiet now, hardly anyone here, I’ve definitely seen one other guest but that is it so far.
It’s been a very relaxing afternoon, I’m glad I got here early. After my little exploration of the grounds and my first visit to the beach I had a fish brunch, which was delicious and fairly healthy, potato wedges and a lot of salad, no rice and no tortillas 😊. One negative is that the food and beer are expensive. I only have $90 cash so may have to get a taxi into town and find an ATM, they don’t take credit card ☹After eating and chatting on video with both Justine and Flabzy, I found an empty hammock and chilled for a while. I then spent the evening on the beach, unfortunately it was very cloudy so the sunset was lousy, I do hope I get a good one while I am here.
Ok, just seen a few more residence, it’s nice.
My room has an actual bathtub, the first one I’ve seen in months. And now it contains a ton and a half of black sand – lol. I was chilling on the bed, naked, and there was a knock on my door – do I want to order dinner – OMG – I will get fat and lazy – so I said yes – delicious tacos, so not carb heavy and even more beer – my bill is going to be sky high. But I do feel I need this right now, I’ve been mopping around for too long – time to change my emotional charge and I have three nights here to do it in. Tomorrow I must book my next place – I think I will go to San Salvador, the capitol.
8th September – Tuesday
RIP Aunt Nessa – forever loved, never forgotten
Happy Birthday Error!
I woke to the news I have been expecting to wake to for the last week or so. Aunt Nessa passed away peacefully in her sleep at 2:10am UK time. I was expecting to burst into tears but I didn’t, I did cry but not for long – I have cried so much over the last couple of weeks, it was more a sense of relief than anything else. Thank you, Varena, for being such an angel, not only for being with Nessa for the last few months but also for enabling me to have my goodbye video call and keeping me updated with everything. There are not many angels in this world – you are one of them.
Before breakfast, I had a good swim which helped me to focus my thoughts. It’s quite a long pool and I managed 4 lengths without stopping. I had granola, yogurt and fruit for breakfast and then went for a walk along the beach. I didn’t go far, just hour’s slow plod. I picked up a dog on route, like a fool I gave it a stoke and that was it, he followed me the whole way and even back to my hostel. At one point I tried to throw a stick for it but it was not interested, although it did want to play and kept jumping up at me. It was a nice walk, I really enjoyed listen to the waves and watching some birds with very long beaks race backwards and forwards avoiding the tide while trying to peck food from the sand holes. As I got nearer to them, they walked away from me until eventually they took flights making this amazing whistling sound as they did so. I even took a few photos of some of the random things I came across.
When I returned, I had another swim. There are hardly any people here today, one minivan load and a few strays in cars, so the pool was good for doing lengths in. I want to get my swimming strength up so that I can do my diving certificate, I think I need to be able to swim 20 London buses in length and tread water for 10 minutes – ouch – I think I am half way there. For dinner I ordered BBQ ribs and the dog that I fed last night returned and took up position for another feeding. The poor thing, she is so skinny, I ended up giving her more than I should, all the bones and gristle as well as few lumps of meat. She hasn’t left my side since, she followed me into my room and to the toilet and just now she went to the bar with me. I haven’t spent much money today so tomorrow I should buy her a sausage or something similar tomorrow. I keep giving her strokes but I’m a little cautious as you just don’t know what fleas etc. these stray dogs could have.
I’ve had a ring side treat this evening. While eating a guy and little boy turned up, he stood by the first coconut tree, there are 6 of them, put on a pre-made rope belt then strung an attached rope round the tree and scaled it in all of 2 seconds. He then proceeded to chop down some of the branches and then a whole bunch of coconuts were lowered down by rope. The little boy diligently collected the branches and put
them in a pile and undid the rope from the lowered coconuts. This continued from tree to tree. They then disappeared for a while but recently returned with, what I presume to be, other family members, and a truck. They have put all of the branches and bunches of coconuts in the back of the truck and the lady has swept up all of the mess – you really wouldn’t know they had been here. It’s nice to know that the trees are now safe to walk under – lol. The guy who scaled the trees kept walking past, smiling and giving me the eye, I think he enjoyed having an audience and I flexed my muscles at him and said so strong – lol.
No music tonight – the football is on.
9th September – Tuesday
It has been beautifully quiet here today, just a couple of families and a couple of actors. They have been filming promotional videos which have been quite fun to watch. It wasn’t a full film crew as one of the staff was directing and recording the action on his mobile phone – lol. It is hysterical watching people dance without music and all of the costume changes. To be honest they seem to do a good trade here anyway, especially on the weekends, but then I suppose a bit of promotion and updating their website can only be a good thing.
I had a morning swim and then yogurt, fruit and granola for breakfast, again. I had fish for lunch and I am contemplating dinner. Breakfast is included in the room price, so I can afford to pay for two meals a day, even if it is bit pricey. I had another swim this afternoon, and had the pool all to myself. Other than eat and swim all I have done is scroll and play games on my phone. It’s been very relaxing and I don’t feel guilty as I am hitting the road again tomorrow. Last night I booked myself a room in San Salvador, in an area called Colonia San Benito (Zone Rosa), which has good reviews for restaurants, shops and bars. My hotel also has a pool, but it looks small compared to this one, which is a good call as I won’t be spending all day lounging around, I am sure there is a lot to do and in San Salvador – I will research and make my pans tonight.
It’s been cloudy all day, but it seems to have broken a little – I wonder if there will be a good sunset – 25 minutes to go – I’ll pop to the beach just before hand and hope for the best.
Later – Uhm I forgot to go for the sunset. I was too involved with trying to make my website visible on Google 
It’s just got loud here! Half a dozen girls turned up and another family so they’ve changed the music, it’s now more upbeat and they hyped up the volume. It’s good but not good for my concentration – still tomorrow is another day 
