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.