Santa Ana

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We decided to take a 3 hour private shuttle from Copan, Honduras to Santa Ana in El Salvador as there are no direct buses and otherwise the trip requires about 5 different buses and takes 9 hours. The shuttle was great as we had loads of space and the borders were super easy as we didn't arrive with loads of other people.

We stayed at an amazing hostel, La Casa Verde. Carlos the owner has set it up really well and thought of pretty much everything from power sockets in the lockers and no bunks in the dorm to having a pool and a well equipped kitchen with sharp knives and a working oven.

It was so nice cooking, baking and relaxing that we hardly left the hostel for three days. One of the exceptions was when the owner Carlos, two of his friends and a few other guests headed out to a local bar. There was a local band playing and a great atmosphere.

On the Saturday we took the local chicken bus with our friend from Norway to Juayua on the Ruta de Flores (Route of Flowers), as they have a weekend food festival. The bus left the bus station roughly on time however it had to pass through the market to get out to the main road which was an extremely slow process. There was a long line of buses and a constant line of sales people getting on the bus through the front door, selling there wares and getting off the back door and onto the next bus. We could of brought nearly any product from the market just sitting on the bus.

We arrived in Juayua and had a look around the market before walking to the nearby waterfalls. It was a short easy walk along quiet roads. The water came out from between the rocks to create the waterfalls and it was possible to swim.

At the waterfalls there was a big group of locals in the water, when we were walking back to Juayua they stopped and offered us a ride. They were very friendly and visiting the area from San Salvador for the weekend.

They dropped us off at the food market and we checked out the different stalls, many of them offered us a small taste of some of what they were cooking. We ordered and sat at a table, within a few minutes it started raining and all the undercover tables became really busy so we had timed it just right.

We enjoyed our lunch before a little more shopping in the markets and catching a chicken bus back to Santa Ana.

Next stop Antigua, Guatamala.

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