We realised as we were driving to the border crossing into El Salvador we knew very little about this country. We knew there had been a civil war back in the 1980’s, it had good surf, and that was about the extent of our knowledge about El Salvador?!

After spending three weeks in this fabulous country we now know a little more about El Salvador:

• It is the smallest country in Central America – about 21,000 square kilometers, which makes it easy to travel from the mountains to the sea in a few hours.
• It is one of the most seismologically active regions on earth. We got to experience this first hand with a minor earthquake while we were at Punta Roca.
• The local currency is the United States Dollar (USD), which surprised us.
• Politics in El Salvador remains a touchy topic. They had a recent election in March which saw a change in government to the Conservative ARENA.
• The roads are the best we have travelled on so far, hardly any topes, or pot holes.
• Their national food is puposa (a fried tortilla filled with cheese, beans and some sort of meat), at three for a $1, they were our staple diet. 
• The Salvadorians are the most friendly hospitable people we have come across so far.
• Mangoes grow everywhere, and are given away readily, we ate our own body weight in fresh juicey mangos – yum!

Our three weeks in El Salvador started in the north just over the border from Guatemala near Ahuachapan.  We stopped for a few days at Aguas Termales de Alicante, hot springs. There were 11 hot pools varying in size and temperature that were surrounded by lots of trees and had views out over the mountains – bliss. The hot pools where open to the public from 8:30qm until 5pm, as we were there during the week, there wasn’t a lot of people. Before 8:30am and after 5pm we had the pools to ourselves, what luxury.

About an hour or so down the road from the hot pools we discovered Malacatiupan Thermal Waterfalls. Rio Caliente (Hot River) is a warm flowing river that feds into the stunning water fall. Glen went for a swim and said it was like having a massive bath.

Santa Ana

Our next stop was the city of Santa Ana, El Salvadors’ second largest city. Not much to say about Santa Ana, it was a big, busy city. We only spent one night (sleeping in our van on the street) to stock up on supplies, eat puposas and then we headed for the hills.

La Route de Las Flores

The El Salvadorian Tourism Board has cleverly come up with a variety of routes throughout the country to keep tourists interested. There is the volcano route, the craft route, the sun and beach route, the archaeological route, the flower route, and a few more. Of course I was keen on the flower route, or La Route de Las Flores. This route is a mountainous route that winds through small villages over about 46km, and has lovely wild flowers growing along the roads.

We stayed a couple of nights in Juayua one of the towns on La Route de Las Flores, and used this as our base to explore the area. Juayua is high up in the Apaneca Sierra, surrounded by coffee plantations (fincas), and volcanoes.

We had been recommended by a German traveller we met in Santa Ana to do the seven waterfalls hike near Juayua. Our tour consisted of a group of eight from all around the world – England, Scotland, Ireland, Morocco, Germany, some Kiwis, and our two El Salvadorian guides. The tour lasted six hours, and involved hiking up through coffee fincas, peoples backyards, along slippery rock faces, rappelling down through waterfalls, and boulder hopping – Glen was in his element! We finished the hike at Los Chorros de la Calera, and had a swim to cool off.

After the swim our guide offered to take us through a couple of under ground tunnels. I was hesitant at first as it involved swimming under a large grate under the water to access the tunnels, but then thought what the hell.  The tunnels were the highlight of the tour, nothing like feel the fear and do it anyway to get the adrenaline going!

Concepcion de Ataco – we decided to take the chicken bus from Juayua to one of the villages along the La Route de las Flores.  The bus took 30 minutes and cost 50 cents each, it was definitely an experience getting the chicken bus. On the way back the driver was driving like a bat out of hell. At one stage Glen thought he might go flying through the front window. We held on tight and made it back to Juayua in one piece.

Ataco is well known for its colourful murals and weekend craft market, so we were keen to check it out. It was my favourite village in El Salvador, lots of colour, lovely cobblestones streets, funky cafes, and friendly locals.

The Pacific Coast – Surf Spots

El Salvador is well known for its surf, and with 300kms of scenic rugged coast Glen was keen to explore as much of it as he could.

Our first stop on the coast was a tiny town called Mizate. We camped on the beach at a one of the local families properties. Glen surfed the right hand point break with a few others for two mornings before we moved on.

Our next stop El Tunco, is the party town of El Salvador. Popular with San Salvadorians in the weekends, as well as backpackers and surfers. Because our backpacker party days are long gone, we camped at the next beach over in Sunzal at Santa Ceclia amongst the shade of the mango trees. We like our sleep too much, and Glen was getting up at 5am to beat the crowds in the surf. Although we did go into El Tunco one Saturday night to check it out.  It had a great party atmosphere, with live bands, Dj’s along the beach front, and some great restaurants.

Down the coast was Punta Roca. Punta Roca was a treat for both of us, for very different reasons. The Pacific Coast is hot, damn hot, and sleeping in the van can get sweaty and uncomfortable. So as a treat,  I booked two nights at the Mandala Eco Village. This small boutique hotel just happens to be located near Punta Roca, which has a world class right hand point break. Glen was stoked to surf this break, and can confirm it is a world class wave if you can sneak one off the 70 strong pack of frothing surfers.

After Punta Roca we headed inland to Lagos Alegria, a sulphur lake that is located in the crater of a live volcano. It was nice to have some fresh mountain air, and get out and walk amongst the trees. The town of Algeria is well know for growing flowers, and peppered along the road are lovely flower and fruit stalls. The advocados here were sensational.

The next morning we drove down the road to Berlin. Nope not a German in sight. This town is known for its colourful old aluminium houses that were built with materials brought from Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the buildings were in a poor state of repair, but it was great to walk around the town and check out the architecture. We finished our walk around the town in the main square where we sat down and ate some watermelon. Two curious boys come up for a look and a chat and were wrapped when we offered them a piece of watermelon. That is them at the top of the page.

We left the hills and drove back down to the coast to Punta Mango. This is known as the second best surf break in El Salvador, but its remoteness means a lot less people surf here (so more waves for Glen). He lucked into some swell and had two days of good surf with half a dozen other surfers about.

We have loved our time in this small, diverse and very friendly country, and will take with us some great memories of El Salvador and its wonderful people.

Our final memory when leaving El Salvador was of an armed guard at the Comfort Inn who offered to help us re pack the van, we declined his offer of help, and started talking to him. His name was Jose Salvador – just like to country he said. Friendly, helpful people from the start to the end of our trip here.

 

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