After spending a few extra unplanned days in Antigua recovering from that pool party, I am keen to get back to the coast and get away from the hustle of Antigua and its bustling touristy vibe. El Salvador was next up and unfortunately it has a pretty bad reputation with high murder rates and violence so I decided as a precaution to take advantage of an organised shuttle from Antigua to the coastal town of El Tunco.

Also just to point out, with its bad reputation, I’d be sticking to some of the more known areas, keeping away from border towns, and not walking by myself at night with all my money – all the same precautions I had been taking the whole time. I ended up only spending 2 weeks in this incredible country and I would say I felt completely safe, the locals were extremely friendly and helpful, the food is great, and I would go back in a heart beat. To anyone thinking of exploring Central America – do not skip El Salvador!

It took about 7 hours to arrive in El Tunco, the border crossing was smooth other than getting ripped off changing some money, I don’t know how many times I have read not to change at the border, however I always feel a bit more comfortable having some local currency straight away in case of emergency.

I was questioning my decision to come straight to the coast as the driver had to turn around a couple of times to take an alternative route as the roads were completely flooded. The image of a laid back surfer town was shattered as for the first few days it hardly stopped raining. The shops were all shut up, there was no one around and I was advised strongly to stay out of the water even a few days after the weather had cleared. As the streets were flooded and all washed straight into the ocean so there could be high risk of getting nasty bugs from swimming.

 

In between rain showers I would nip out and grab some Pupusas – El Salvador’s corn, street food delicacy. Think a thick flatbread stuffed with cheese and beans, or garlic and jalapenos, or mushrooms and cheese, or …what ever combination you were feeling. At only 50 cents each they quickly became my favourite street food so far, yes they even rival the Mexican tacos. Closely tied at the top I think.

For 3 days straight it rained but luckily I was in no rush and could hole up in the hostel and catch up on some sleep, watch a couple of movies, read and eat pupusas. I would still venture down to the beach to check out the waves and see if the water was starting to clear. The below photo is the first day I arrived, and then the next photo at the end of the week, so starting to see some better weather come in.

The sun started to come out and the little town came alive. A chance to check out some of the cute little shops, the travellers on the street side selling their handicrafts and of course, getting into the water for a surf. I’d have to say the surf was better in El Paredon as there was still a strong wind and quite the current I was exhausted fairly quickly and only managed to catch a couple of small white water waves. Maybe it was all those pupusas I had been consuming that was slowing me down, can’t say they are the most nutritious of options.

I treated myself to a nice meal (not pupusas) at restaurant that overlooked the beach. I got talking with a lovely lady at the next table who was from Israel, she was in her late 50’s and was on her first solo trip. We talked of our families and compared ways of life and the struggles of travelling alone. We both agreed that the pros definitely outweighed the cons. Caught up in the conversation it was suddenly 3 hours later and  I was breaking my rule of not being out after dark but my hostel was only 100m up the road. I said goodnight and highlighted that if we had been travelling in a group we would never have talked, I truly love the conversations I have with strangers.

After giving surfing another go the next day and still struggling against the big waves I decided to I would pack up and head to Santa Ana. Refusing to pay $25 for a tourist shuttle I was certain I could navigate the local bus to San Salvador which would only cost $1.40 and then another bus to Santa Ana. I was told to catch it out on the main road and then once in San Salvador I need to cross the street to catch the next bus. Easy peasey! However not a great start and missed the first bus as didn’t realise it wasn’t going to stop and it just sailed by. Next one was about 30 minutes later and I managed to flag it down with the help of a lady who was also getting on the bus. I had messaged ahead to the hostel owner Julio (The Poolhouse) that I was on my way and he kindly explained he was going to be in San Salvador so could pick me up.

Santa Ana is the second largest city in El Salvador and is surrounded by lakes and volcanoes. After a day meandering around the local markets and gazing skyward at cathedrals it was time to get into nature. First up Julio kindly drove me and a couple of other people to Lake Coatepeque. He was friends with another hostel owner so we hung out there, had a beer, used their inflatable kayak and jumped off a high tower thing into the water.

The next day I had planned to climb Santa Ana Volcano but I didn’t get up in time to get the right bus. Access to the summit is only granted once per day as you have to have a police escort but Julio said he could drop me at another point to meet up with the group. From there it was only 1.5 hours up and although it was really cloudy and there wasn’t much of a view of the surroundings, there was the incredible view of the blue/green crater lake.

We also went exploring to these waterfalls with a group from the hostel:

Forever grateful for the generous hospitality from Julio, I decided to say goodbye to keep exploring El Salvador and head to the Ruta de las Flores. I had a bit of a wait for the bus but easily passed the time with watching the comings and goings of everyday life, so interesting.

There were no seats on the bus so I stood down the back with the chickens for about an hour to get to Juayua, the main town on the Ruta de las Flores – literal translation Route of the Flowers. It is a windy route of about 30km that goes through colourful colonial towns and coffee plantations. It gets its name from the wildflowers growing on the road edges however only from Nov through to Feb. I had been in contact with Saul from Couchsurfing who had agreed to host me and lived in Juayua. He worked as a teacher at the local school and was just finishing up when I arrived. He introduced me to his family and we went and picked up a different type of street food – not pupusas but yuca in banana leaves and brought it back to eat altogether with his family. So welcoming and generous. Managed to fit in a local basketball game, a visit to his Aunty’s house and some more pupusas of course.

One of the days while Saul worked, I visited a little town on the route called Ataco, famous for its coffee and brightly painted murals. The first 2 recommended coffee shops were shut but there were plenty to choose from. A nice cuppa and some photos of the murals, some more people watching and soon I was waiting for the bus back to Juayua and then onwards back to Santa Ana.

Back in Santa Ana, I picked up some of my extra stuff that I had left at the Poolhouse Hostel and jumped in a shuttle that would take me all the way to La Ceiba, a port town on Caribbean coast of Honduras and the gateway to the Bay Islands – famous for their marine life, dive sites, and parties.