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If you are into volcano climbing, you can challenge the impossible. Three (yes, 3) volcanoes in one hike!
You need to go to Cerro Verde in Sonsonate, you can get in car all to the top, you ask a policeman or any travel guide in the city, to join you and your group to climb the volcano, and they serve as guides. So, the route is... go down the Cerro Verde, go up the Izalco volcano (rock, sand and soil only, perfect cone-shape volcanoe), go down Izalco in a snowboarding style, go up Santa Ana volcano, go down Santa Ana, and go up Cerro Verde again, all in one day!!!
Or you can minimize the trip by just doing Izalco volcanoe. It is nice to check out... from the top of the volcano, you can watch the enormous sea, the border and volcanos in Guatemala and the border of Honduras, the different cities and lakes in the country. Amazing view! Leave a Comment
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What I found in El Salvador that many people were poor! But people were full of JOY and made you feel that way too. I have to say that if after such a war people still had so much to give maybe we are missing something they have! Each OTHER! Leave a Comment
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Santa Ana is the main city in westren El Salvador, the second largest city in El Salvador and the capital of Santa Ana department. Originally named Cihuatehuacan which means something like "place of woman prietesses." I found it to be a pleasant city that is cheaper than San Salvador and a good base for exploring the surrounding country. It has a population of around 275,000 with no area really seeming to be too crowded. The northern portion of the city is the part of town with the old important buildings such as the cathedral and theatre. While the westren part is where there is a lot of markets and the bus stops are located. The south part is where the newer places like the Metrocentro are located. From here you can catch a direct bus to Guatemala city. Two days here is a good time to take in the main sights at a leisurely pace. True story, my taxi cab caught on fire in Santa Ana while I was in the back seat. Leave a Comment Directions: 64 west of San Salvador and fairly close to the Guatemalan border.
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Its a nice park there you can climb the Santa Ana or Izalco volcanos wich is both active. We climbed Santa Ana and it was really tough. First of all you need to have a guide and then depending of how big your group is 2-3 policemen comes along. They do this everyday wich means that they start off in a high tempo.
The treck is supposed to take 4 hours (up & down) and to manage that and still have chance to enjoy the sumit and the view from the top means that you really have to walk on.
You start with going down a couple of hundred meters from the park office and then your at about 1400 m above sea level. Then you start climbing the cone up to the topp att 2400 m which means that you walk 1000 m almost straigt up on very slippery dust paths. But at least you get your rewards for half an hour at the top wich has magnificent view (on a clear day you can see the pacific) and a moonlike landskape. You also look down in the crater which has a small lake and smoke coming upp from the bottom.
Getting down is a little bit easier but still very slippery. It took us about 2 hours up, 30 min. at the top and 1,5 hours down. But as I said there was not much time for a rest.
By the way the guide ( a young boy about 13 yars old) cost you 5 US$ and he did not say a word, the police escort was free and they did the guiding. The guide is probably there because your not allowed to pay the police??? Leave a Comment
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A visit to the national park and hiking to the cloud forest. At one point on the tip of the mountain El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras meet, the iste is marked and the view is breathtaking! Lot's of wild animals and plants including many birds and orchids. Leave a Comment Directions: Afte r the town of Metapan
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If you have been travelling around Central America for a while and have done a couple of the main Mayan sites then San Andres will seem pretty ho-hum. If you are going to be in El Salvador only than these are not a bad site to check out. There are a couple of pyramids to walk around which were last used in between the years of 900 and 1200. When I was there the site was under some renovations but I don't know what they were trying to accomplish. San Andres fell to the way preserving Mayan buildings by encasing them in cement which gives everything sharp features but doesn't really look authentic. There is a pretty good museum here but it is all in Spanish. They do have a restaurant and some souvenir vendors hanging out here. It costs a couple of bucks to enter and is located about half way in between San Salvador and Santa Ana along the main highway. Leave a Comment
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Pupusas are the national food of El Salvador!
Generally they are safe to eat even at roadside stands like this one because of the heat used in cooking them. They are essentially a stuffed tortilla. This place is located just south of San Salvador coming from the Airport. It's airconditioned, believe it or not, and the food was great
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There are a good number of must see activities. Starting in San Salvador I've already mentioned the National Museum.
Downtown San Salvador is an interesting and 'exotic' place. It's overwhelming with activity, people, noise, etc. The City Hall has been doing a lot of efforts to try to clean up the area and have been somewhat succesfull. A lot of work still remains to be done. If you decide to visit the 'old' San Salvador, visit the National Palace (a jewel of 'tropical' neoclassical architecture, the National Theatre (undergoing renovation after the 2001 earthquake), the cathedral (modern), Iglesia del Calvario, La Basilica, Iglesia Don Rua, Mercado Cuartel (for local handicrafts- very interesting). In downtown San Salvador keep your eyes open since there are beautiful 19th century buildings that haven't been restored but offer a good idea of what the place must have looked like some 100 years ago, visit La Casa de la Cultura del Centro where they usually host different kinds of exhibits, musical presentations, theatre, literature, poetry readings, and a small cafe. I found a good website containing some excellent pictures of downtown San Salvador at www.asa2000.org.sv.
A great place to visit while in San Salvador is Punto Literario in Zona Rosa. They have a small cafe (good food and tropical fruit juices in a courtyard-garden), a book store with excellent books about El Salvador and a wonderful art gallery that showcases salvadorean artists.
The Botanical Gardens of La Laguna are a must see in San Salvador. They are located in the crater of an extinct volcano and sourrounded by a small tropical forest. They are impeccably kept and offer a relaxing day trip to learn about the rich flora and fauna of this beautiful country.
Another great place is the Teleferico San Jacinto, an amusement park on top of a mountain. There is a wonderful view of San Salvador on one side and lake Ilopango on the other side. You go up by way of a cable car, which in itself is worth the trip for the amazing views.
The nearby archeological site of Joya de Ceren is part of UNESCO's World Heritage since it's the only example of a Mayan village preserved by the eruption of nearby Volcano Caldera (called the Pompeii of Central America) it's a truly interesting site with guided tours for a small fee - given the nature of the place it's worth it to take the guided tour to really know what you're looking at. They also have a samll museum with pieces coming from the site. Their web site is: http://ceren.colorado.edu/ Nearby the ceremonial center of San Andres with it's small but well presented museum completes the visit. This is a truly exceptional site and worthwhile to visit. Don't expect to find the soaring pyramids of Guatemala but instead an insight into Mayan daily life.
A unique place to visit when in El Salvador is the Cerro Verde National Park. The view from the spectacular Hotel de Montaña on to the Izalco Volcano is one you will never forget. The Cloud forest around the hotel is very beautiful and there are clearly marked pathways leading to amazing vistas of Coatepeque lake, Santa Ana Volcano, etc. If you like mountain and volcano climbing this is a good place both for beginners and pros. Leave a Comment Other Contact: Other suggestions are : the Col
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Although it is a mall chain in El Salvador owned by Grupo Roble, this one in San Salvador is the largest mall in Central America. I am not a mall rat but it was nice of having the convience of all the things a modern mall has to offer once in a while. It is very clean, many levels, a movie thearte, an outdoor area with shops and all the other standard mall things. It is located at the southern end of Boulevard de Los Heroes and extends eastwards. There is a post office located here on the second level of the outdoor area which was helpful even though it did take a long time. I know this should probaly be in the shopping section but oh well. Leave a Comment
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San Salvador is the capital of El Salvador with a metropolitan population of 2,200,000 which is around 1/3 of the country's population. It is the second largest city in Central America. Roughly centrally located, chances are you will come through here if travelling across El Salvador. I found this city to be very comfortable. We got stuck here for a little bit. The city center region is like most Central American cities. Congested with traffic, people and markets. It is mostly rundowned and grungy with a few exceptions. The rest of the city that I saw was fairly clean and some really nice modern areas especially Zona Rosa. I felt quite safe here as I walked across large part of the city with no problems. Also I walked around a fair bit after it got dark with no problems. A couple of things against the city is the difference between the people who have money and those who don't. Another is that there is no real old buildings due to multiple earthquakes that like to hit the city. For me, Panama City and San Salvador were my favourite Central American capital cities (I visited all the CA capitals). Leave a Comment
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