I've been in El Salvador for a week, filling in for a colleague who's on vacation and reviewing transactions and procedures. Yesterday I made my first venture out of the city, to Sonsonote and Cara Sucia in the west of the country. I accompanied a Salvadoran colleague who was auditing hotel stays to make sure that all the trips which had been claimed really took place.

There are few or no proper hotels in that part of the country, so many staff have been staying in these very depressing "Motor Hotels". These are places that charge by the hour and are really just used for illicit romantic activity. You pull up to a drive-through window to get your key, and then pull your car into a garage directly attached to the room. You can drive in and go to your sleazy trysting room without ever having to get out of the car in public and potentially be identified.

The price list on the wall of one room we looked at said:

Hamburguesas: $1.25
Hot dogs: $.75
Peliculas de XXX: Gratis!*

I'm recommending we find somewhere else for people to stay.

It's pretty interesting, though, that there were three of these places just outside Cara Sucia, a town that apparently doesn't rate a real hotel. I don't think we're in Egypt anymore, Toto.

¡Vamos a jugar por la playa! On the beach near Cara Sucio, on the Guatemalan border.

*(Let's see what that does to the search engine query logs.)