Central America - El Salvador

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After Guatemala it was on to Santa Ana in El Salvador. I travelled with Theresa who I met at Arcas and her friend Steph. We arrived in the afternoon and found a fiesta going on in the plaza with traditional dances. I discovered later that this was for the anniversary of the theatre. Fiestas are always a good time to visit! After visiting the white gothic style cathedral we went back to the hostal to make a spaghetti meal and some pina colada with fresh pineapple! The following day we hiked up the volcano of Santa Ana. It was a hard climb as it was dusty at the beginning of the walk and there wasn´t much shade around the top. However there were lovely views of the lake (Lago de Coatepeque) and the surrounding countryside. It was a beautiful turquoise blue inside the volcano and there was a man selling ice lollies at the summit too! it must have been an even harder climb for him with a heavy box but looks like it was worth it as he had good trade. At the national park entrance we tried the local dish "pupusas" which are tortillas sealed with different fillings. Back at the hostal we had a relaxing swim in the pool and had some dinner. We then played a drinking game with a drink called "Agua del Chaman" (water of the shaman) whilst watching one of the Magic Mike films. Theresa and Steph went back to Antigua after that and I stayed longer in Santa Ana. I went to Lago de Coatepeque and then to the Ruta de las Flores. The Ruta de las Flores is the route of flowers named after the flowering coffee plants I think. I got local buses with Laura and Jeff from the hostal to various villages nestled amongst lush rolling hills. Quite a few of them had colourful murals particularly the last village. We stopped for coffee and cake in "El rincon de los postres". The coffee theme continued when we got the bus back as a sack of coffee beans split and spilt over everyone on the bus! The local buses here seemed to be the most pimped up in Central America so far. They were previously old Bluebird US schoolbuses but now have chrome, paint, stylised lettering, decorations and stickers (mostly around the theme of Jesus and football). There also seem to be more vendors on the buses than elsewhere. People get on the bus selling not just food and drink but random stuff like socks and medicine. As in other countries they also play music so journeys are always colourful, musical and you can do your shopping from the relative comfort of your bus seat! I only stayed in Santa Ana so not sure what other cities are like but people were very friendly there. They didn´t have so many tourists there so maybe they were extra helpful. When I went to the supermarket the man behind me in the queue told me that I needed to weigh my fruit and veg. When I came back he waved to tell me that the lady behind him had saved my place in the queue but I didn´t want to push in front of people as it was really busy. Anyway I thought I´d particularly like to mention that everyday scenario as El Salvador has a reputation for violence and crime in certain places. My last night was spent watching the film Paddington with fellow Brit Kate and a few others. That was a bit nostalgic for me as there were lots of scenes of London.

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