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Published: July 20th 2006
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Intro to Suchitoto
Suchitoto, 47km north of San Salvador, is a great little town with colonial buildings and cobblestone streets. A cultural capital during the heyday of the indigo trade, it is now experiencing something of an arts revival. Suchitoto overlooks the Embalse Cerron Grande, also known as Lago Suchitlan, a reservior for hydroelectric power made by damming the Rio Lempa. The project displaced thousands of farmers from the fertile banks of the Rio Lempa, many of who became fisherman. A pretty trail leads to the lake, where boat trips are possible. The area is also a bird migration zone: as many as 200 species have been spotted. Thousands of hawks and falcons fill the skies as the seasons change, and birds of all sorts nest in the relative safety of the lake's islands. It is presumed that Yaquis and Pipils settled in the area some thousand years ago. El Salvador's capital was established near here in the early 16th century. More recently, some of the earliest fighting of the civil war began in Suchitoto, accompanied by much destruction and emigration. Visitors today will find the town has rebounded well.
Our Experience
We arrived at the correct bus terminal in San Salvador via taxi, immediately saw the 129 bus heading north to Suchitoto, and hopped on. The trip was fairly uneventful, and we arrived in Suchitoto in the middle of the day. We decided to just walk around with our packs on because the town was small and we didn't plan on staying for long. The town had a nice looking town square with a church on one side, and we found a nice place to have lunch on the other side of said square.
After lunch, we walked through town to a great lookout point for the lake and hills below. Suchitoto is located on the top of a fairly large hill, and this particular side provides a spectacular view. Once we had taken a number of great pictures, we wandered back up to the bus stop and caught the next bus to La Palma.
Intro to La Palma
Surrounded by verdant mountains dotted with bright flowering plants and bathed in fresh mountain air, La Palma may be a long 84 kilometers north of San Salvador, but it's well worth the climb and a must if heading into Honduras via El Poy. Fernando Llort moved to La Palma in 1972 and soon developed an art trend that still represents El Salvador around the world. Llort's childlike images of mountain villages, campesinos or images of Christ are painted in bright colors on anything from seeds to church walls. He taught some residents in La Palma how to create the same images and soon began a cooperative that churned out dozens of painted artifacts, from crosses to key rings to napkin holders. Today 75%!o(MISSING)f the village makes a living by mass-producing this art, none deviating too far from the traditional drawings and colors.
Our Experience
The ride took a while, but we finally arrived. It was fairly late by then, so as soon as we got off the bus we found ourselves a hotel room (our
book didn't provide a map of the town, but fortunately Joe saw the place we wanted to stay from the bus window as we pulled into town). We then grabbed dinner at a quaint country restaurant, and made it back to our room just before the monsoon arrived (and it really did monsoon all night).
Since we didn't get to see much of the town the day we got in, we used our time before we had to check out to walk around. Fortunately, the town isn't very big, and it's mainly known for one thing: the work of painter Francisco Llort. Most of the residents in town actually make their living painting and selling works of art based on his style (they also paint their buildings and walls which makes the town pretty neat to look at).
Once we had see what there was to see, we went back to the hotel, collected our gear, and caught the next bus to the border (the bus actually drops people off at the town of El Poy, about a hundred or so meters from the border). We changed a little US and our remaining Guatemalan Quetzales to Honduran Lempiras,
and walked across the border. We didn't run into any problems, and we soon found ourselves on the way to Copan...
Up Next...
Crossing into Honduras and making our way to Copan! Woohoo!
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