In early September 2022, we took a trip to El Salvador with another couple, Ammu and Jino. We flew out Thursday evening and after a long day of travel, arrived at the resort. It was rainy and dark when we arrived so we couldn't see the amazing landscape until the following morning.
The next morning we woke up bright and early to the sun creeping into the room.
Stepping out onto our room balcony, we admired the beauty of the El Salvador coast. The following images were taken on expired film. Expired film is always risky. There's no telling how the aging of film affects the emulsion layers. I think this particular roll had a very interesting character to it. It almost looks like there were extreme light leaks for some odd reason.
After enjoying a breakfast, we explored the resort and the private beach area. Going during the off season has its risks but also its perks. We were so nervous it would rain throughout our stay, but luckily there were blue skies during the days and only rained at night. Because it was off season, there were so few people at the resort it felt like we rented the whole place out. We had the private beach all to ourselves which was so incredible. Black sand, strong waves, cliffs on either side, a real paradise.
After enjoying the beach and pool we took a surfing lesson in the afternoon. It was my first time surfing and what better place to try than in El Salvador. It was very tough and I stood up on the board only a few times, but it was such a fun experience. The waves were powerful and it was extra windy, which made for harsher conditions. I didn't bring my film camera to surfing unfortunately, but I probably wouldn't have been able to take any worthy shots anyways.
We got back to the resort, had dinner, a few drinks, and went to bed early since we had to wake up at around 5am the next day for our volcano hike. Overall, a very successful first day.
The next morning, we woke up before sunrise to hike the Santa Anna Volcano: the tallest volcano in El Salvador. It was about a 2 hour drive to the trailhead so we all tried to nap in the car as best as we could. The hike was very rocky but not super difficult.
It was a very fun hike. The views were amazing throughout and the payoff when we reached the top was so unique. At the very top of the volcano (all volcanos in El Salvador are still active), there is a small lake inside the crater that is a vibrant, turquoise blue.
After hiking down, we decided to eat lunch off campus. There was small street with some local vendors selling food right at the trailhead. We told our driver to wait a bit while we picked out a spot to eat. El Salvador is home of the pupusa: bread with some savory filling such as cheese, meats, beans, etc. We had to try it. We found a place with some seating and had a delicious lunch after our hike.
We all napped on the car ride back to the resort. This was perfect since we were all pretty wiped and had some drinking to do once we got back. We immediately changed into swimsuits and hit the beach and pool...and maybe had a few shots beforehand.
The next day we went into town to explore San Salvador, the capital. We were dropped off at the Basilica de Sagrado Corazon. From here, we walked around to different popular spots around the city. I was amazed at all the street vendors. It felt like everywhere you turn, there is some kind of food or clothing stand.
I shot the following on FPP Retrochrome. This is a color positive film (or slide film) which means the image on the actual film is a positive, true to color image. Retrochrome is known to have some very unique color science in the emulsion layers. I put this roll in my point and shoot camera, the Konica Big Mini 302. This camera reads the DX code on film (a pattern of black and white boxes which denotes the ISO of the film) to set the ISO setting and adjusts the aperture and shutter accordingly. Due to the age of the camera, I think it was underexposing this roll by a stop or so. One downside to color positive film is the narrowness of its exposure latitude. This means the exposure needs to be dead on for the image to render properly. Color negative film has a few stops of overexposure latitude, which is very forgiving. Anyways, this is a long-winded explanation as to why the following images look very dark and the colors are off.
After this roll was finished, I switched to a cheap black and white film:
After exploring the city, we stopped by the rainbow slide on our way back to the resort. It was at a very touristy restaurant. 5 bucks for a 10 second slide. Not really worth it if you ask me but hey, it was pretty.
After the rainbow slide, we headed back to the resort for some final beach and pool time before heading back to the states the following morning. Took a few more shots with Retrochrome at the beach. Totally confused as to why one shot came out super warm and all the others have such a muted color scheme. The wonders of super old slide film I suppose.
All in all, it was a very successful trip. We all had such a good time soaking up the sun, and going during off season was so worth it since we had the resort all to ourselves. Would recommend. 10/10.
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