So, I have now left everything behind in Costa Rica, and am now in El Salvador! Johnny and I took an 18 hour bus from San José, Costa Rica to San Salvador, El Salvador: leaving at 3am on Sunday night/Monday morning (depending on how you see it) and arriving in San Salvador at about 9pm. We spent the night in a niceish hotel in the city, but moved on quickly the next day to Santa Ana, a smaller and more manageable town about an hour's bus ride away from the capital.
The bus ride was pretty entertaining, we even had our own clown, performing interesting (though perhaps not very convincing) magic tricks in return for any tips or donations the passengers were prepared to give. It seems that the best way for street sellers to make money here is on the buses, seller after seller jumps on any bus they can, selling anything from cashew nuts to herbal tea with "magical properties", to spongebob stickers (which of course Johnny bought - the guidebook is now covered in mini spongebobs).
We spent the day yesterday relaxing around Santa Ana, which is quite a pleasant town. After a couple of beers on the rooftop we visited the Cathedral (see below) and then headed in to the central market, which was busy and smelly, but a lot of fun.
Today (Wednesday) we went on a day trip to a local national park, ´Parque Nacional Los Volcanes`, which is a couple of hours bus ride away from Santa Ana. We planned to climb up Volcan Santa Ana, apparently (or so we were told) the nicest of the three volcanoes in the park. Once we arrived we had to wait until 11am for a guided tour to start, as you are not allowed to climb up on your own, due to crime/muggings, etc... In the end we had a guide, and two police escorts! (Unfortunately we had to pay about $8 each instead of about $3 that we were expecting).
The guide was going at quite a pace, so it was a bit difficult to keep up. The whole trip (up and down the volcano) was supposed to last 4 hours, but we did it in about 3! The whole climb was really cloudy, but luckily we could see the crater once we got to the top:
After getting back down and waiting for the bus for about 1h30, we got back to Santa Ana ok in the end! We are currently deciding what to do next, but it looks like tomorrow, we're heading to... Guatemala!!! Will keep you updated, hopefully :)
The bus ride was pretty entertaining, we even had our own clown, performing interesting (though perhaps not very convincing) magic tricks in return for any tips or donations the passengers were prepared to give. It seems that the best way for street sellers to make money here is on the buses, seller after seller jumps on any bus they can, selling anything from cashew nuts to herbal tea with "magical properties", to spongebob stickers (which of course Johnny bought - the guidebook is now covered in mini spongebobs).
We spent the day yesterday relaxing around Santa Ana, which is quite a pleasant town. After a couple of beers on the rooftop we visited the Cathedral (see below) and then headed in to the central market, which was busy and smelly, but a lot of fun.
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| Cathedral in Santa Ana, El Salvador |
Today (Wednesday) we went on a day trip to a local national park, ´Parque Nacional Los Volcanes`, which is a couple of hours bus ride away from Santa Ana. We planned to climb up Volcan Santa Ana, apparently (or so we were told) the nicest of the three volcanoes in the park. Once we arrived we had to wait until 11am for a guided tour to start, as you are not allowed to climb up on your own, due to crime/muggings, etc... In the end we had a guide, and two police escorts! (Unfortunately we had to pay about $8 each instead of about $3 that we were expecting).
The guide was going at quite a pace, so it was a bit difficult to keep up. The whole trip (up and down the volcano) was supposed to last 4 hours, but we did it in about 3! The whole climb was really cloudy, but luckily we could see the crater once we got to the top:
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| Crater of Volcan Santa Ana |
After getting back down and waiting for the bus for about 1h30, we got back to Santa Ana ok in the end! We are currently deciding what to do next, but it looks like tomorrow, we're heading to... Guatemala!!! Will keep you updated, hopefully :)
This trip sounds really great so far! It makes me really miss that side of the World! And for some reason the sponge bob sticker story made me quite notalgic...haha obviously the people over there know what to target at European men :P
ReplyDeleteHope the rest of your trip is amazing.
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Camilla
Really good to read your blog, how did you manage to do it without a laptop and internet? $8 each for a guide and two police escorts sounds like good value! Looking forward to the next one!!
ReplyDeleteDad
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