We are so happy we didn’t listen to the US Travel Advisory and skip coming to Central America. The government has made the entire Caribbean including Central America and Jamaica Class 3 (out of 4). We have been in the cities, small towns and everywhere in between and we have not felt uncomfortably even once. There is plenty of police and security everywhere including at all hotels. The people have been friendly and welcoming everywhere we have gone and we haven’t seen any signs of nefarious behavior.
That said, we decided on our first full day to get a driver to take us to the Taminique Waterfalls. This was the perfect way to wash away the winter blues following us from home. The hike to the waterfalls took about an hour and once we arrived we were treated with one tall waterfall and one series of cascading falls both flowing into a river where people were jumping from rocks into the water. There were a bunch of street puppies hanging out down by the water loving all the tourist attention. The hike was a bit steep but doable. From there we headed over to El Tunco Beach. I believe Tunco means pig in Spanish and the town got its name from a giant rock in the ocean that looks like a pig. The town was a laid back surfer town with a cool vibe. We spent a couple of hours there and enjoyed a delicious lunch over looking the ocean. El Salvador is currently trying to put itself on the map as the Central American Surfing Capital because for some reason the water flows different here then anywhere else in area. It refers to itself as Surf City.
On day two we were still feeling the nature vibe and enjoying the mid 80’s temperatures so we decided to do another hike, this time up the Santa Ana Volcano. So we hired a ride and headed out of the city again. The hike took about 2.5 hours to summit and about 1.5 down and was relatively easy. The views from the top were amazing. We got super lucky too because for 2 weeks a year the lake in the caldera at the top of the Volcano turns turquoise blue due to gases being released and we happened to be there for that. Beautiful. Again on this hike we found a street dog at the beginning of the hike and he stayed with us all the way up and down. From the top we could see 5 other volcanos and Coatepeque Lake. We finished the hike and had enough time to enjoy a local lunch lakeside.
Another great thing about El Salvador is it’s insane love of 80″s music. Everywhere you go from plazas to restaurants and taxis its 80’s music all day! Love it.
