"Los Cóbanos, Sonsonate" Sonsonate by Kaspian

Travel Dates: February 21-28 2011.

El Salvador... I must be getting more adventurous in my travels because I don't know anybody who's even been here before. To most, the country's name conjures images of machine guns and jungle guerrilla warfare. The Civil War is long since over (it ended in 1992) and this smallest of countries in Central America is slowly opening its doors to tourism. Well it should too, because this was one of the most beautiful, lush, and unspoiled places I've ever visited!

Los Cóbanos - Wall Art (2011)

All the locals I met in El Salvador were exceptionally nice and I was always greeted with a smile and a friendly, "Ola!"; sometimes even by strangers simply passing by me in a corridor. Maybe they haven't been in the travel industry long enough to become jaded, cynical, and angry at the throngs of pasty sunseekers who visit their lands during winter?

I sit and drink an iced tea and bourbon (a cocktail which I am firmly convinced that I invented after deciding the soda pop here was far too sweet), watching the sun set in violent orange over the Pacific. Everyone at this resort comes out to watch the sun set; it's a really big deal, I guess. Yesterday the sunset was pink.

Los Cóbanos - Girls With Balloons (2011)

I watch with amusement around my table as the staff begins to hang banners, set up games, and decorate the grounds for tonight's "Mexican Theme Night" using the colours of that country's flag. Viva Mexico! A thin, young, El Salvadorian girl appears carrying a long sting of balloons. She's supposed to mount the string on a vertical board for some sort of darts game but the wind catches the balloons and carry them back onto themselves. Then again. She begins to struggle to untangle the sting's knots and the situation worses as balloons begin to loosen themselves and float off into the trees and into the swimming pools. "Oh, she's completely buggered it up now, the poor thing," I think to myself. Minutes pass, nothing is getting any better, and I can see huge personal disappointment begin to creep across her face. Occasionally I dart out of my seat to grab a wayward balloon for her--I'm stashing them under my beach towel on the chair beside me. Another girl soon joins to help untangle the mess. Soon two more join the fracas. A drink in my hand and a ringside seat for a gorgeous sunset on a tropical oceanside with pretty girls and balloons? I ask you honestly: What in life could be more entertaining than this? It's a party and everyone's invited!

It took these four latinas about 20 minutes to sort out the disaster and get the string properly mounted on the board. The first girl, the instigator, now looks relieved and eventually she comes over for my salvaged balloon stockpile. She thanks me with one of greatest appreciative smiles I've seen, "Muchas gracias, senior!" I almost blush at the sincerity--it has made every one of my half-drunken recovery runs worthwhile. She carefully places the balloons onto the board in an attempt to fill in some of the gaping holes in the would-be game, looks at her handiwork, shakes her head, sighs, and quickly rushes off.

• Pros:Not touristy!
• Cons:Beach areas are quite far from towns.