We visit the sleepy town of Sochatito and, across the city, the Museum of Art of El Salvador. On our fourth day in San Salvador we catch the No. 205 chicken bus to Sonsonato, then the No. 249 through the much publicised Route De Flores. The bus meanders through the lush, tranquil hills of an upland region that, in November and December, is bursting with wild flowers. Now, in February, it’s just lush.

We step off the bus in the village of Apaneca, where, because of the altitude, it’s an English summer’s day. I have no plans to ‘do the Route De Flores’ and my decision is validated when we check into a cottage set in a beautiful garden of flowering subtropical plants. I have some writing to catch up on and a bottle of La Bodeguita El Salvador rum (US$10), fresh ice, fruit and vegetables. There’s no call to venture very far.


The following morning, the conditions for walking are perfect; warm sunshine and a gentle breeze, and Jo has invented an eight mile walk on ‘maps.me’ that I will call the three craters walk. At a roadside dwelling I borrow a bamboo pole to ward off any inquisitive dogs and we follow a tarmac road out of Apaneca that deteriorates into a rocky, sandy lane ascending into an ancient forest. Where the track levels out there’s a low concrete wall overlooking a water and reed choked volcanic crater. To the west of this is a narrow path that follows the crater in an arc, at times disappearing into the dense undergrowth, forcing us to backtrack to find it again. The path eventually opens out onto mule and vehicle tracks used to access the now plentiful coffee plantations. We continue climbing to where the map indicates a second crater which we find with some difficulty. This one is smaller than the first, very steep sided and densely tree covered – here the track narrows again and runs precariously along its edge. Having been overwhelmed by water and vegetation, none of these craters subscribe to the classic idea we have of a volcanic crater. Finally, the track morphs into another tarmac road leading to a small pond crater, a popular destination for tourists on quad bikes. Nearby, on the terrace of a small restaurant with panoramic views over the surrounding hills, we eat pizza and drink ice cold beers before taking the direct route home along the dusty quad bike road. It has been an adventurous, almost trailblazing ramble along the route de tres craters – dogs encountered on the route, one, people, none, distance 8.4 miles.




A couple of busy chicken bus rides and we’re in El Salvador’s second city, Santa Ana, from which, on the first morning of our stay, we take another chicken bus and a standing room only pickup truck to Joya de Ceren. Here are the remains of a Mayan village that was overwhelmed by volcanic ash in AD600. The restoration and preservation is impressive, it’s Pompeii but without the stiffs. We see what we want to (the museum is best with lots of interesting artefacts) in forty five minutes, so unfortunately the outing fails on the ratio of travel time versus destination time (four hours vs forty five minutes).
Today I’m going to test my lungs and legs on the ascent of El Salvador’s biggest tourist attraction, the volcanic crater of Volcan Santa Ana. After a 7am start and a two hour bus ride we join the crowds for the three hour walk up to the rim of the green sulphurous, water filled crater.


The rock strewn path to the summit at 2,300 metres is fairly steep and, after about two hours, devoid of any shade. I’m using this walk to gauge my fitness for the ascent of Acatenango volcano in Guatemala next month, which is a trek of over five hours to an altitude of about 4,000 metres. The signs aren’t good – after ninety minutes I’m very short of breath, my leg muscles are not performing at all well and I stumble several times. I know you’re not supposed to necessarily enjoy these treks so much as endure them but this is miserably slow and painful and a blow to my esteem. I’m cursing a lot and I wave dismissively at Jo when she stops to wait for me. Fuck it, I’ll not climb Acatenango.

At the summit we just have time for boiled eggs and apples before we’re ushered back to base camp where we hang about at the side of the road for a couple of hours for the return bus to Santa Ana. It’s remarkable, the amount of hanging about one endures without anxiety or complaint. We’re now easily accustomed to waiting around for several hours for a bus to turn up, or for a queue of stationery traffic to shuffle along, or for somebody to turn up with a key. Today we fill some of the time sitting in the shade of a roadside BBQ eatery, sampling tough spiced sausage and drinking cold Pilsener beers.

Our final bus outing from Santa Ana is to Coatepeake lake, a vast water filled crater less than an hour by bus from the city. There must be as many craters in El Salvador as on regions of the moon. We’re not sure what to expect or how we’ll experience this beautiful sunny day; only 500 metres of lakeside is accessible to the public, the remainder is private, or hotel owned.
On the early outbound bus is Dan, originally from Chicago and latterly Manhattan beach California, who’s heading to Captain Morgan’s hostel/bar/restaurant for the day so we tag along. Dan speaks to a taxi driver who’s not that interested in the fare so he stops a private vehicle driven by Frederico, asking him if he’ll take us to Captain Morgans. Frederico obliges, he’s an older guy who speaks English well having been, in his youth, a roofer in Wichita, Kansas. He and Dan have an amusing chat about the legendary drinking prowess of Wichita roofers.
Captain Morgan’a is a splendid place in which to while away a hot day on Lago Coatepeake. The open deck of the lakeside bar has a panoramic view of the wooded circumference of the crater. The food’s pretty good and the beer’s inexpensive. Want to cool down? Jump off the deck into the clear crater waters.


For the next stage of our Central American trip please visit Rio Dulce and Livingston, Guatemala.