Post Festive Cruising

Christmas spent on the beach was a wonderful time. We surfed twice a day, hammocked hard and caught up with as much family and friends as we could get hold of. Another van living couple spent a few days there too so we were able to share the celebrations and made good friends for it. The beach camp treated us well and most the staff or family there laughed and smiled and hola’ed to us but Boxing Day we moved on. Since then we have had a pretty busy time but we’ve also been absolutely loving El Salvador!

We left inland, excited to start seeing the rest of the country, into the mountains to a small attractive village called Alegria, perched on the side of a hill overlooking the fresh territory North to explore. The final stretch to camp was up a bumpy cobblestoned 3km but left us in awe as we dropped into the bowl of a volcano crater that had a small sulphur lake, ring road, sheer cliffs and an abandoned football pitch, perfect for camping. It was a wonderful night in the cool air at 1300m and a fantastic place to wake up to, no one else around but birds swooping around the cliffs as the sun slowly made its way over the rim.

After a morning hike up and around the ridge for a full view of the crater and a lovely morning hanging out, we went back into the village to check the small Christmas craft and local produce market, buying mountain wine, honey and street food snacks. On to the next town following the road that hugged the edge of the mountain, giving great views for the whole 10kms, we came to the slightly bigger town of Berlin with slightly more going on but still a quiet mountain town. We grabbed a coffee on the central plaza then wondered the streets, checking out viewpoints and local coffee merchants until an Irishman ran down the road after us for a chat! Living there, promoting BitCoin (strangely a national currency) he doesn’t see many travellers come through, so being Irish he was keen for a cheerful chin wag.

An evening meal at a restaurant with valley views that was going to let us camp in the compound for the night but after eating and hanging out they closed up and told us no one would be able to open the gates before 10am, so a last minute bail was necessary, back up to a road side viewpoint for a noisy night but an early start regardless.

Out of the mountains in the morning it was time to make some distance through El Sal as we were still very much in the east. A 3hr drive, quick pitstop on the way in a crazy market town for supplies and on towards the oldest colonial town in the country. Suchitoto was a quaint old town with very narrow cobbled streets, a beautiful church and colourfully painted buildings. Now an artist hang out and set on a hill overlooking the nearby lake, it was a very pretty place!

We got drinks in a café with the best views in town, toured the home and amazing gardens of the most famous artist and local legend, and wondered the streets. The evening we parked up at a viewpoint out of town with lovely lake views, only to be overwhelmed by boom boxes and suspicious antics as the night set in. So again, a last minute bail back to park at the very nice community art centre/ café in town who served up a mean breakfast the next day.

After more aimless wondering we skipped out through lovely countryside lanes to our first Archaeological site of many more to come as we were beginning to head closer to the Mayan world. A simple but well maintained and well preserved grounds gave a good glimpse into one of the biggest cities this far South with a well preserved main pyramid and an interesting museum about the peoples and connections with the rest of the Mayans.

That evening we had no plan for camp as we were in relative no-mans-lands for tourism but still we cruised the back roads as the sun cooled. Half way to nowhere we saw a perfect grass garden in a sports complex come water park. The guard sent Jelly to the boss who happily let us in for the night. A nice level camp, grass under foot, the treat of toilets and showers, and grassroots football I was able to get involved with. A good, peaceful night after a couple of rogue ones and even front row seats to some competitive football over dinner!

Leaving camp in the morning we realised we had done particularly well with our nights stay as the rest of the road to the next city had very little options and became busier and busier. We bypassed Santa Ana this time and shot out for the next town for Jelly to get stuck into some more Maya history while it was fresh. Another pyramid but very different feel, this had a town now built right around it and was a big feature to the local environment. A large pyramid that had been expanded on top of itself five times, now extensively uncovered and reconstructed, the second largest governance of the old world of El Salvador. For the full package we had yucca for lunch. A long root vegetable that resembles potato and has been

eaten in this part of the world for thousands of years. Still hits the spot for me, fried with salad and spicy salsa on top!

It was time again to find some nature and we had heard about a rare site not far away. The road was not great, a dried river bed, but it got us there and absolutely worth it. We pulled off the riverbed road down an even worse 500m track to pull up at an old half fallen bridge over a river. But not any river, a large and perfectly hot one. It split the small canyon with a couple of small waterfalls and made a great blue swimming pool of 40’c. It was a wonderful sensation to be in such a big hot river, just cool enough to swim in! The locals were hanging out were a small cold river joined so you could blend your own temps. We made friends with locals, swum all afternoon and parked up on the bridge for the night. Tacos and beers of the roof for dinner, the hot river running below and a starlit sky above. The usual possie of youths and firecrackers came by but gave no trouble other than a total racket!

In the morning I went back down for a swim, it was just me as I slipped into the pool with a perfect layer of stream drifting over the surface! Before we left, we followed the river down to the big waterfall and main attraction. A wide 8m falls into a perfect bowl and through a tight high sided canyon, still running at 40’c, totally crazy and so beautiful. After well cleansing ourselves in these healing volcanic rivers we were ready for the big New Year's eve send… to the city!