I wasn't on the early afternoon sand of Tesoro Beach more than 15 minutes when I came across a sanddollar, about the size of a cookie--covers the palm. There is a legend about the sanddollar--that the four holes on the corners represent the nail holes of the crucifixion, with the center hole for the spear wound. A little searching and I had a second sanddollar in hand.
The next morning I returned to the beach at 5:00. There were already several shell collectors in operation. Despite the competition from the locals, an accompanying friend found a respectable conch shell. We walked the beach almost two miles when a sharp growl caught our attention--a pack of wild dogs was facing us down. Not wanting to provide these ill-disposed beasts gringo steaks for breakfast, we retreated back to the beachside restaurant for morning tortillas and frijoles. As I left my table place later, a raven perched on my plate to pilfer scraps. El Salvador was a hungry country.