el volcan de izalco

Central America Caribbean » El Salvador
January 19th 2010

Published: January 19th 2010

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Elizabeth Al Sur

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a view of izalco from afar...

whoooeee!!! it's been a while. i've been here almost two weeks, and they have FLOWN by... i feel like i just got here and at the same time like i have been here for years. ive started teaching, which is amazing, and connecting with different organizations, which has also been amazing, and stumbling along with my Spanish, which is hilarious.

i will tell stories about all of the above at some point... he he. but for now, i wanna share the story of my Saturday... i went with a couple other teachers to the Volcan de Izalco. and climbed it. Amazing. it is active, and last erupted in 1966. you can clearly see the black lava fields from that eruption. it is barren and rocky and in high contrast with the surrounding lushness... there are, though, amazingly enough, some plants growing right out of the volcanic rocks/sand...

it was a tough climb, though not that long... and HOT. circled the crater once we got to the top, and felt the hot steam that was pouring out of numerous crevasses in the rocks.

on our way back to san salvador, we realized that we still had some daylight left,

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looking down on lago de cojutepeque (sp??)

so we went up to the volcan de san salvador, which is right next to the city, which i can see from my house, and which serves as my point of reference in an otherwise confusing, and map-less city.

there is a HUGE crater up there, which is called "EL BOQUERON" (the big mouth). it was one of the most impressive things i have ever seen, and impossible for me to capture with a photograph. a HUGE, deep crater, all covered in vegetation, as it is no longer active and has not erupted in many many years.... the sides are super steep and you kinda get vertigo just from standing on the edge. completely magical. and down in the bottom of that huge, gaping crater is a perfectly round pile of rubble, with a perfectly circular ring in it. this is the middle of the crater. it seems like if extraterrestrial life had any desire of communicating with us, this is where we would meet.

incredible. thankful.

yep, great to get outta the super busy, smoggy city this weekend. on sunday i took the bus to la libertad and stuck my toes in the very warm pacific.

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funky topiary at cerro verde, at the izalco trailhead

looked at the fish being pulled up onto the pier, decapitated and sold... and warded off a group of drunken dudes who told me they'd like to marry me. chilled with a woman on the beach who was there with her granddaugter and we ate coconut ice cream together.

sweaty buses, diesel fuel. amazing human beings. humbling, humbling, every minute of it. constantly lost, constantly exploring, tripping over the sidewalk, eating tortillas, eating pupusas, drinking liquados.
....

love to all!!.... e.

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