The day began unsparingly early with a 5:20 AM wake-up call. By 6:50 AM, an Uber had us on our way to Vancouver International, lining up smoothly for the first leg of our journey aboard Air Canada to Houston. The connection could not have been better timed; we had an easy, unhurried layover before boarding Avianca for the southbound run.
Leaving Houston, which sat two hours ahead of Vancouver, we tracked south and slightly east toward Central America, touching down in San Salvador at 8:50 PM local time. Sorting out the pickup point for an Uber took a few minutes of airport navigation, but our ride materialized just as an enormous tropical thunderstorm broke overhead.
The 48-minute drive into the city was completely dark, yet illuminated by a relentless and spectacular lightning show. The torrential downpour left plenty of standing water across the roadways, but our driver navigated through without trouble.
We checked into the Barceló tired and somewhat hollow, having eaten sparingly across both flights. At that hour, options were scarce, leaving a massive, brightly illuminated McDonald's sign as the glaringly obvious beacon. It was an uncharacteristic culinary detour for us, but sustenance was required. By 12:05 AM, with bellies full of fast food and rain drumming outside, deep sleep was the only item left on the itinerary.
