Santa Ana

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Our Arrival

The bus dropped us off by the markets on 14a Avenue Sur and 15a Calle Poniente. We turned right through the market down 15a Calle Poniente, past a bus terminal and turned left up 10a Avenue Sur. 4 1/2 blocks up we reached out hotel.



Where We Stayed

Hotel Livingston - $15 for a massive double room with bathroom, cable TV, table and chairs and a sofa. Doors to the hotel lock at 10pm and open at 6am.



Where We Ate

There are places selling pupusas all around town and in the market. If you are after fast food head to the stalls in Parque Libertad. There are plenty of supermarkets around.



What We Did

Looked at the Cathedral and churches.

CLIMBED SANTA ANA VOLCANO

To get there head to the terminal la Vencedora. This is on Avenue Fray Felipe de Jesus Moraga and 11a Cale Poniente. The building is a peachy/pinky colour. Inside buy tickets at the counter for the 7:40am bus number 248 for 90 cents and wait in the waiting room. (On the next avenue over 14a is a depository. We were trying to break $20 to get more change for the park and get another bottle of water but the garages and supermarkets weren't open. At the depository they sold us a 1.5 litre bottle for 75 cents and gave us our change all in $1 bills which was handy). When they announce the bus walk through the doors to the car park and give your ticket as you go through the door. If you sit on the right hand side of the bus you can see glimpses of Lake Coatepeque. The route is very hilly and the bus was struggling and stopped frequently to top up with water. It made it to within about 1km of the park before breaking down at 9:35am. A couple of nice Americans drove past in a pick up and gave everyone on the bus a lift the rest of the way to the park.

There is a $3 entrance fee to enter the park. The guided walks up the volcanoes leave at 11am so we had some breakfast in the cafe there ($1.50) whilst we waited. At 10:45am the groups form in the car park for the different volcanoes. We picked Santa Ana for the views and aparently the other one is harder as it is walking on scree. You pay $1 for the guide and a police escort. Before we set off there was a talk from the guide and the police. Unfortunately it was in Spanish and we could only pick out a few words. My quote of the day: Tourist #1 "What did the policeman say was dangerous?" Tourist #2 "I don't know. I only heard that something was dangerous I didn't catch what." How dangerous can climbing a volcano in El Salvador be? So off we went. Another $1 fee for crossing through private property and $6 for park entrance to the volcano.

The walk started with a long downhill stretch which our guide went down at a rapid pace. There was one policeman who went ahead at the front and one stayed at the back. The return walk back up this initial downhill stretch turned out to be the hardest part of the whole walk. There is then an easy walk uphill through the forest and a slightly harder climb to the crater. Overall the climb is fairly easy with nice views of the other volcano. At the top you can see Lake Coatepeque and a turqoise crater lake. The group split up along the way to faster and slower groups and the first group got to spend about 50 mins at the top. Whilst we were there a small landslide happened and the guide calmly told us that it was an earthquake. We walked back down and were back to the park entrance at 2:45pm.

We were informed that there was only 1 bus that went to and from the park and if the bus that dropped us off wasn't fixed we would have to hike down to the road. The bus was due to arrive at 3pm and leave at 4pm. It turned 3 o clock and no bus had arrived. The American couple let us get a ride in their pickup back down to the road to try and catch another bus (they were headed back to San Salvador). The 248 bus did actually pass us on the way to the park so they did get it fixed, however we caught a 209 bus from the road at 3:20pm which cost 60 cents and got us back to Santa Ana by 4:30pm.



VISITED TAZUMAL

To get there catch the 218 bus. It travels South down Avenue Fray Felipe de Jesus Moraga and stops just after the supermarket and also near the Uno garage. We caught it at 12:50 and it cost 30 cents. Incidently this is the first time catching chicken buses around Central America that there was actually a chicken on the bus. Well two chickens and I was sat right next to them hoping they didn't get freaked out when we went over a bump and peck my arm. We arrived in Chalchuapa and after driving a bit through the town turned left. The conductor then shouted "Tazumal" so we got off the bus at 1:20pm. The big sign to Tazumal, next to the cemetery, appeared to have peeled off but turn left and walk past the market stalls for a few mins and the site is on your right. Entrance is $3 and it is open Tue-Sun 9-4pm. It is a small site with a Spanish language museum with some artifacts. We caught the bus back from the cemetary at 2pm. On arriving back in the city the bus does a loop around the City down 31a Calle Oriente, turning up 4a Avenue Sur and left down 9a Calle Poniente.



Where We Went Next

Tomorrow we try to head to Guatemala.

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