On top of the Volcano (a different one)

Our crossing into El Salvador on Saturday 8th October was the easist we have had so far and we managed to get through immigration, passport control and vehicle check, all in a little over half an hour.  All the officials were unfailingly polite and seemed genuinely pleased that we had come to El Salvador to see their country, a very positive start.

Welcome to El Salvador!

We made our way to the little town of Juayou on the 'Ruta de las Flores' which seemed a good place to base ourselves and checked into a very pleasant little hostel called Casa Mazeta.

The highland scenery in this area is quite dramatic which we discovered whilst driving around on Sunday. We savoured the delights that nearby towns and villages had to offer, including food festivals, street markets, brightly painted buildings and local handicrafts.

Market day at Ataco

Wall painting and dancing puppet

Musicians in the plaza

Vendor at Ataco food festival

On Monday we went on a walk with a local guide, Carlos, plus his nephew, plus the family pack of six dogs.

Carlos, Sue and dogs on the way to the waterfalls

This took us out of the town, through coffee plantations to a series of waterfalls. These form part of a hydro-electric scheme and some of them issue into small containment pools which you can swim in. Not only that but they are connected by tunnels and Alan, being Alan, wanted to go through them.

Alan at the waterfall

Alan in the waterfalls - just before the tunnel

The tunnels were only about three to four feet across and the flow through them was quite fast. There was very little clearance above the water and at one point only about 3 inches so he had to float through holding his breath. Towards the end of the second tunnel the water and the tunnel took a sharp dive downwards towards the turbines. Luckily there was a window on the right out onto a rock ledge that they could get out onto to save them from being scrambled in the turbines.

Needless to say, both Alan and Carlos came out buzzing at the other end and clearly enjoyed the adrenalin rush. Carlos said Alan was 'bueno', Sue said he was a 'poco loco'!

The glow of satisfaction after the tunnels!

We also went in search of the Ceiba de los Pericos, a 600 year old tree which the guide book informed us was home to several hundred parrots. After asking directions from numerous people we finally found it, a very fine tree it was too, but there was not a parrot in sight. Apparently they have all flown to who knows where. Ah well.

On Tuesday we went to the Parque Nacional el Imposible. This involved driving to Tocuba, a town some 30 kilometres away and then arranging for a park guide at the local hostel. Sure enough, after about half an hour a guy came along who said he could take us into the park and we folded him neatly into the tiny back seat of Lucy. This was when we discovered why the park is called 'El Imposible'.

We both agreed that the road into the park was the worst that we have ever experienced. The road down to the Copper Canyon in Mexico was scarier, largely because of the massive drops without any intervening vegetation along the sides of the road, but this road was much, much steeper, much narrower, and much more rocky and Alan finished up driving both up and down in bottom gear, low ratio with the Diff Lock on.

Lucy at the top

After about 45 minutes of this impossible road we reached our guide's parents' house and then set off up the hill through their coffee plantation.

Walking through the coffee plantation

Before too long we reached the top of the mountain with the most stunning 360 degree view right across to the Pacific Coast 45 kilometres away and over to Guatemala and it felt just like we were on top of the world!

Sue on top of the world

We then trotted back down the hill and went to our guide's parents' house where there was a variety of small children, family members, two dogs and a puppy. There was a verandah looking out over the valley and they brought us oranges to eat which were very sweet.

Mother and child

Bath time

Then we set off back down the murderous road by which we had come and although it was no easier on the way back at least we knew what we were in for.

Fellow traveller on the road

Wednesday was a bit of an exploration day in the Cerro Cerde National Park, apparently one of El Salvador's finest natural attractions where there are three volcanoes. We made our way first to Lago de Coatepeque, a huge but quite beautiful crater lake where we had a very nice lunch at a roadside restaurant looking out over the lake. By the time we reached Cerro Verde it was mid afternoon and too late to do much exploring but we found a good place to camp the following day.

Lago de Coatepeque

Lunch overlooking the lake

Car wash, El Salvador style

And that is exactly what we did. We left Juayua on Thursday morning and made our way to Campo Bello on the slopes of Cerro Verde. We pottered around there and went on a little nature trail around the Cerro Verde summit with views across to Santa Ana, El Salvador's highest volcano, and Izalco, a geologically young volcano which only became active in the 17th century.

View of Lago de Coatepeque from Cerro Verde

Campsite at Campo Bello

Alan at Campo Bello with Volcan Izalco in background

One of Alan's arty shots - Campo Bello

On Friday we climbed Santa Ana! We thought we would be going with a guide but, in the event, at least a hundred other people turned up for the trek (most of them in their twenties) and we all trooped up together accompanied by 3 or 4 guides and 2 tourist policemen, complete with stun grenades and 45 calibre colt automatic pistols.

It took us two hours of reasonably steep climbing to get onto the summit where a massively dramatic sight awaited us. Santa Ana is a volcano that has been fairly active recently and it has a wide crater at the bottom of which is an acid green lake composed largely of sulphuric acid. Periodically there were bubblings and gurglings coming up through the surface of the lake. The view from the top was stunning. Not only did we have the caldera with its poisonous lake but turning round in the other direction we had wonderful views of Izalco, Cerro Verde and Lago de Coatepeque.

Sue having a much needed rest at the top of Santa Ana

Acid crater lake, Volcan Santa Ana

Volcan Izalco covered in cloud

View of Lago de Coatepeque from Santa Ana

Arty shot with aloe - on the way back down

We set off from Campo Bello in good order on Saturday morning and made our way to the small town of Suchitito in the north of El Salvador.

On the way we stopped off at a place called Joya de Ceren. This has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the only one in El Salvador, and we found the place fascinating. Basically it is a village of ordinary Mayan people that was buried under about 6 metres of volcanic ash after an eruption about 1500 years ago. It was not covered so quickly that the people didn't have a chance to escape but they didn't take their goods and chattels with them. There are a number of dwellings, storage buildings, kitchens, meeting houses and a sauna, all preserved by the volcanic ash.

Excavated dwelling house, Joya de Ceren, showing mud and wattle building technique

Shaman's house, Joya de Ceren

Excavated dwelling

Suchitoto is an attractive little town with cobbled streets and an intersting church. It sits beside a large reservoir and we are staying at a nice little hotel with a balcony overlooking the lake. Unfortunately, the lake is almost entirely covered in water hyacinth which constantly changes its configuration. Whilst we are told there is wonderful bird life out there, we can't see it because boats cannot get through the stuff.

View of lake from hotel balcony

View of lake showing changed position of water hyacinth

Old saddle carbines, long defunct

We had a rude awakening at five o'clock this morning by very loud music coming from the house next door to us. Apparently it is somebody's birthday and in this part of the world birthdays start very early. So we were treated to a great deal of sentimental El Salvadorian music followed by 'Happy Birthday'.

Cattle grazing on water hyacinth

Farmer feeding cattle on the lakeside

Storm approaching over the lake

Tomorrow is Monday 17th October and we and we will have been on our travels for exactly six months! We will be heading to La Palma, a small town close to the border with Honduras, with the intention of crossing the border on Tuesday morning.

Although we have only been here just over a week we have formed a very positive impression of El Salvador. It is the smallest country in Central America and the most densely populated. It also has the unenviable reputation for having the highest level of violent crime and there has certainly been a large police presence everywhere we have visited. However, all the people we have encountered have been really friendly and helpful and genuinely pleased that we have visited their country.

Lago de Atitlan

Having spent just over a week in Antigua, we departed on Monday 3rd October, happy in the knowledge that Footloose Lucy's problems had finally been sorted.

Our next destination was Lago de Atitlan in the Guatemalan Highlands and the road there definitely put Lucy to the test (which she passed with flying colours). The road was mostly tarmac with pot-holes but we had a long ascent up into the clouds and then we descended via a series of tight hairpin bends into the little village of San Marco on the shore of the lake. The view of the lake from the top would have been stunning had we not been surrounded by mist and cloud!

Lago de Atitlan is a huge volcanic lake and is a truly beautiful place.  Imagine an aquamarine lake about 8km across, an average of 1,000ft deep, surrounded by 8000 ft high volcanoes, with little villages dotted all around the edge which you can only reach by boat. 

View of lakeside village, Lago de Atitlan

Local fisherman

We stayed at a lovely place just outside San Marco which had a few apartments and rooms and a large grassy area for the likes of us. We camped in a lovely spot where we were woken each morning by the reflected light of the rising sun coming up from the waters of the lake. Quite magical!

Campsite, Lago de Atitlan

Dawn: view from the rooftop tent

Lucy at the campsite

The next couple of days were spent pottering around San Marco and San Pedro, the town on the opposite shore of the lake, and we even managed a little kayaking. But mostly we just enjoyed looking out on the beautiful lake and the moutains beyond fading into the mist.

View to the East

Mountains fading into the mist

We left San Marco yesterday and this time we were treated to the wonderful view from the top which we had missed on the way down.

Looking down on San Marco

Last view of the lake

The trip to Lago de Atitlan marks a wonderful end to a wonderful stay in Guatemala. In spite of our time here being blighted by troubles with Lucy, it has not spoiled our enjoyment of this beautiful country and its wonderful people.

We are spending our last day here back in Antigua and tomorrow, Saturday 8th October, we will hopefully be crossing the border into El Salvador. And so a new chapter will begin.

Under the Shadow of the Volcanoes

Following our whirlwind trip back to UK to celebrate Alan's big birthday we returned to Guatemala on 20th September for a rest! Indeed a rest was forced upon us for when we contacted Raymond, our Land Rover contact in Guatemala City, we were informed that whilst the Land Rover mechanic had fixed the problem of the white smoke and flames coming out of the exhaust pipe, he had identified that Lucy was sorely in need of new front brake discs and wheel bearings. So, he was duly instructed to carry out this essential work.

Guatemala City was not somewhere we particularly wanted to be, it's big and dangerous, however we did manage to find a very nice place to stay at a small hotel in Zona 10, reputedly one of the most up market and safest zones.

So, we chilled out for a couple of days and then went to collect Lucy from the mechanic's workshop an Friday afternoon, 23rd September, then reorganised and repacked everything in order to get on the road again the following day.

We set off on Saturday morning for Antigua. Lest anyone thinks we decided to swan off to the Caribbean for a further rest, Antigua is the former capital of Guatemala, abandoned in favour of Guatemala City after a devastating earthquake in 1773.

The 45 km drive from Guatemala City to Antigua was very much up steep hills and down deep valleys and as we breasted the last of the steep hills a great cumulo nimbus came out of the exhaust pipe together with smoke rings and all the other glorious pyrotechnic displays of Lucy in distress. We stopped for a little while and Alan cursed, Sue examined the ceiling but finding no comfort from the cursing or from the ceiling we continued on our way until we arrived in Antigua.

Antigua is a delightful old colonial city surrounded by a number of volcanoes, two of which are still active. The streets are all cobbled and there are lots of marvellous crumbling ruins, relics from previous earthquakes, and rather more gringos than we've seen before.

We arrived in the pouring rain and all the cobbles were wet, the puddles were very splashy and the first couple of hotels we tried were spartan, seedy and not very clean. Having had lunch in a very pleasant little Italian restaurant the world seemed slightly brighter and then we came upon a very nice little hotel called El Antano, a lovely old colonial building with a central courtyard and little garden area at the back. Alan struck a very good rate for the week with Carmen, the hotel manageress who rewarded us with what looked like the bridal suite and also arranged for a fridge to be delivered to our room.

The sun shone for us on Sunday and we spent much of the morning wandering around the Parque Central, which is the square in the centre, and generally familiarising ourselves with this lovely old city. In the afternoon we trotted up  to the Hill of the Cross which is accessed via a very long set of steps that made us puff and brought us out on a promontory with a wonderful view over the city and the volcanoes beyond which were covered in cloud.

Church ruin, Antigua

Colums at Parque Central, Antigua

Street scene with marimbas

Cheeky fountain, Parque Central

Church ruin, Antigua

View of Antigua and Volcan de Agua from Cerro de la Cruz

We need to say a little about the public transport here. In this area of Guatemala the buses are mainly ancient school buses which have been brightly painted in various designs. They are know as 'chicken buses' because they apparently also carry livestock on the top, including pigs as well as chickens! We haven't seen any chickens or pigs so far but we did see one bus laden with market produce.

Chicken bus

Another chicken bus

.... and another!

We got up at 6.30 am on Monday morning to climb Pacaya, one of the active volcanoes overlooking Antigua. This involved meeting up with Alex, our guide, at the trekking centre and then being driven, along with three other hikers, for one and a hour hours to the village of San Franciso where we started our ascent. Here we also met up with our local guide who was introduced to us as Monkey (he earned that name as a child apparently because he was always climbing trees).

To begin with we had a very steep climb up through some vegetation on a path mostly made of volcanic dust which was rather slippery under foot. We were followed by some young lads with ponies just in case anyone found the climb too much and needed a ride! The total trip was only 8 km but we both found it quite challenging and were relieved each time Monkey stopped to show us various herbs and vegetation that were of interest.

Volcan de Agua poking through the clouds

Bored redundant 'taxi' driver, Volcan de Pacaya

On Volcan de Pacaya

One knackered old man, Volcan de Pacaya

Sue toasting marshmallows on lava field

Confused bug on lava field pretending to be a leaf

Pacaya last erupted in 2014 and we climbed up as far as the lava field which it had deposited below the summit. This was like something of a moonscape and the volcanic rock was still very hot to touch in places, apparently the lava is still molten only 10 metres below the surface.  We could see the cone of Pacaya with the various larva flows coming down from the peak of the volcano from the various eruptions over the years. We did start to wonder when the next one is due!

Alex and Monkey brought along a picnic lunch for us which was very well received and also provided us with marshmallows to toast on the hot lava rocks. Then we had the long trek back down but by this time the cloud had come down so we had very little of a view on the way back but, all in all, it was a great day and we got some much needed exercise.

.... and then it rained

Alan managed to make contact with Raymond on Tuesday regarding the ongoing problem of white smoke coming out of Lucy's tailpipe and he put us in touch with Bill, the latest in the line of Land Rover experts we have encountered in Central America, who by a stroke of serendipity runs his business in Antigua. We went along to see Bill who turned out to be a very pleasant Canadian guy with a Guatemalan wife and two children, a boy and a girl. Between them they removed the inlet and the exhaust manifolds and the turbo from Lucy and determined that the problem was seals on the turbo unit, the very same one that was only recently fitted.

We were invited in to have lunch and we sat down with the family and the rest of Bill's team to a very nice meal of pork steaks which bill's wife had cooked. Bill said he would arrange to get new seals fitted to the turbo and his daughter, Alicia, then gave us a lift back to our hotel.

When we got back to the hotel Sue sat down to her first 'one to one' Spanish conversation class with Carmen, the hotel receptionist. Sue had been enquiring about Spanish language schools in Antigua and Carmen, who has been unfailingly helpful in so many ways during our stay, let it be known that she had previously been a language teacher and offered to give Sue some conversation practice in the afternoons.

Sue with Carmen

High school parade, Antigua

The girl with the big bass drum

Fuego, one of the two active volocanoes, started kicking off on Tuesday and several people informed us that they had seen molten lava spewing from the summit. We went up on to the roof top terrace in the evening to have a look but by then the volcano was covered in cloud so we didn't see anything.

Volcan de Fuego spouting steam

As we were without wheels we spent Wednesday walking around this delightful city and very pleasant it was too in the warm sunshine seeing various churches, convents and other archaeological stuff. Most of them are in ruins having been knocked about either by the hand of man trying to pilfer building materials or the hand of God trying to flatten things with earthquakes, of which there have been many in this part of the world.

Arco de Santa Catalina, Antigua

Convent de Santa Teresa

Temple of Santa Rosa showing earthquake damage

Yet another convent!

Nuns' cells within convent

Church ruin showing earthquake damage

Our acquaintance with Antigua continued on Thursday morning as we sat in the Parque Central people watching and, in Alan's case, taking clandestine shots with his telephoto lens. After lunch Alan went with Bill to Guatemala City to collect the turbo which had been reconditioned and had the faulty seals replaced.

Vendor in Parque Central

Local women, Parque Central

Local girl selling her wares

Local girl with her wares

Bird of Paradise flowers

Morning Glory and Golden Shower

We were finally able to collect Lucy on Friday afternoon and were very pleased to find that she appeared to be her old self again. In addition to refurbishing the turbo Bill and his team discovered that a valve in the cyclone was sticking and causing a build up of oil pressure which had caused the clouds of white smoke and also wrecked the turbo seals. This they sorted by replacing the faulty valve.

It was good to be able to get out and about again so we spent most of yesterday, Saturday, exploring a few of the villages around Antigua, some of which were quite pleasant and some scruffy but all giving us a fascinating glimpse of rural Guatemala.

Patchwork fields near Antigua

Public laundry facility, San Juan del Obispo

Detail of public laundry

Village church

Elderly gents in village square

Today is Sunday 2nd October and Sunday means Sunday markets, one of our favourite pastimes! We went to the market at Santa Maria de Jesus which is not a tourist's market, it's a market where the local people come in from the outlying villages and farms and sell their stuff to each other.

Market scene, Santa Maria de Jesus

Market scene, Santa Maria de Jesus

Most of the women were in traditional dress as were most of the little girls. Their skirts are very elaborate, multicoloured with lots of ribbons, lacey bits and embroidered bits, usually worn with a little embroidered jacket or top.

We didn't buy anything but we hugely enjoyed wandering around and, since there were no other gringos there whatsoever, we were a far greater curiosity to the locals than they were to us. Alan took a lot of photographs and nobody was at all camera shy, unlike the people in the mountain villages of Mexico.

Woman selling dried iguanas

Elderly lady, Santa Maria de Jesus

Mother and toddler

New mother with new baby

Young women at market

Suspicious toddler

Mother with toddler

Tomorrow we will be leaving Antigua and making our way to Lago Atitlan.