This morning we leave Guatemala (the city and the country) to start our first day in El Salvador. Unknowingly, the day before we guessed that the buses at the Terminal in G. City would simply follow the main highway to reach the border and therefore we kind of planned an itinerary thinking Ahuachapan as our start point. But as you might know, making plans and chicken buses always live on different worlds! In fact, here we are on a chicken bus that said “Frontera Las Chimanas” and its going the opposite way toward another border crossing further north. In total, we finally reach a border in the middle of the mountains after 6h of bus. At this point, since its starting to get dark, we have no option but to reach the relatively close town of Santa Ana and find there an accommodation for tonight.
Just entered in El Salvador and we already feel incredibly welcomed! The officers at the border are funny, helpful and they even gift us a very detailed map of the whole country so that we can see where are the nicest part to see. Great! Just the time for a couple of pupusas in a small comedor and we find a bus that for .35$ give us a ride to the city center of Santa Ana. Couldn’t ask for better!
Once in Santa Ana, the city looks way bigger than expected; a couple of bus terminals, a stadium, couple of hospitals, a whole system of urban buses and loads of markets everywhere. Initially we thought about walking around to look for cheap hostels or hotels but overwhelmed by all this, we decide to find a spot with internet and check what our guides, booking or AirBnB have to offer us. After a good 10-blocks walk we reach the main plaza and there we manage to connect to the wi-fi (and have a bite) in one of the many “Pollo” fast foods in the area. Amazingly enough, the prices for a room (a triple now since we’re still traveling with our friend Lucas that we met in Xela) are higher than we could have ever expected. Everything seems to cost between 30-50$/night but at last we manage to find an offer on booking for Casa Vieja at 25$. Still high but lower enough, we decide to give a try and show on the door to see if the owner can make us a better offer and… yes, he agrees on making us pay 21$ for the three of us!!!
Well, without any further detailed descriptions, our stay there end up being simply the B-E-S-T! The place is simply awesome with all the amenities you could ever want, a kitchen to cook and the owner is so knowledgable about his own country that you can spend hours discussing what’s the best route to take or nicest waterfall to visit. Moreover, the atmosphere is simply so welcoming and caring that every time you come back, it feels literally going back to your own house! And that’s why instead of the initial planned 3 days, we stayed a week!
In Santa Ana there are not many touristy attractions such as museums or archaeological sites (although the Santa Ana Theatre & the Cathedral are worth a visit) but the city itself is a very relaxed & safe spot where to take long walks to get a feeling of the real Salvadorian lifestyle. On top of that, Santa Ana is probably the best base, both for costs and location, to visit the majority of western El Salvador.
One of the best excursion to do in the surroundings of the city is visiting the Cerro Verde National Park and climb the Santa Ana or Izalco Volcano. The park can be easily reached from Santa Ana with the only daily bus leaving from La Vencedor Bus Terminal (corner of 11a Calle Poniente & Ave. Fray Felipe de Jesus) at 8am. The bus takes some time to reach the top (2h ca.) also passing very close to the lake Llopango (make sure to have your own transport if you wish to visit) but once on the Plateau of Cerro Verde the views are simply breathtaking!
But here comes the money part… The entrance fee to access the Cerro Verde (National Park) is 3$ per person, if you’re foreigner, and there you can find small comedores, little tiendas and others small shops to eat/drink. From here, should you wish to climb either the Izalco (difficult climb 3hrs ca) or the Santa Ana (40min ca) different additional fees apply. In fact, on top of the fees for the Cerro, in order to climb the Santa Ana you need to pay a symbolical 1$/pp tip to the guides (you cannot do it by yourself) plus 3$/pp more to access the top, totalling 7$/pp for just a short 40min climb (the group can vary from 10 to 200 people). Similarly, in order to climb the Volcano Izalco you need to pay 3$/pp for the guide itself. Hint: Avoid weekends at all costs! While we were there, we didn’t climb to the top of either because our group included 150 people and to us it wouldn’t have felt nice enjoying the top with so many tourists).
View of inside Volcano Santa Ana (Not ours photo!)
During our time there, to make the most of the great location, we agree in renting a car (Car Washing Monza’s in the stadium area has the most affordable rates of all town, just 25$/day including a kind-of-insurance) and looking back, it was the best choice. Although the three of us have always been backpackers, we realised that the car not only meant freedom but also meant to be really efficient and relaxed when visiting particulars town that might not require couple of hours. Consider this, how many small towns can you visit before having to head back because the “last bus to the hostel” is leaving soon?
ARCHAELOGICAL ROUTE
The first day of rent, due to some nasty car rental paperwork (and a bit of our laziness) we only left Santa Ana at around noon and therefore opted for doing the what’s also know as the Archaeological Route. This route involves stopping at three of the major archaeological sites (and possibly the ones worth visiting) present in the country. In the town of Chalchuapa, you can visit a very nice Lenca site called Tazumal (3$/pp) and another similar still within the town boundaries called Casablanca (3$/pp). Both sites complement each other nicely as Tazumal has nicer ruins but Casablanca has a bigger more informative museum.
The second stop is in the town of Joya de Ceren where you can find the only UNESCO site over the whole country: Joya de Ceren (6$ entrance). The site itself its not very large but its the only place in the world where Mayan houses have remained well-preserved (due to a volcanic eruption) and are still visible nowadays. The third (and optional) stop is at San Andres site (6$ entrance); this site is very close (just 15min by car) and in some ways equally fascinating in terms of archaeological complexes, to Joya del Ceren.
Joya de Ceren Houses
You might wander why decided to visit the last two sites from Santa Ana rather than San Salvador… right? Well, from Santa Ana it takes around 1h15min to reach Joya and from San Salvador it takes nearly the same time because of the traffic. Think that (talking from experience) it usually takes half an hour just to exit the capital and reach a main highway, making it way more convenient (and less stressing) to drive all the way from Santa Ana. Lastly, for each of the three stop, expect to spend around 1½ hour to relaxedly wander the place at your own pace and remember that on MONDAY EVERYTHING IS CLOSED!
RUTA DE LAS FLORES
The second day of rent, we decide face the most famous & touristic itinerary for which El Salvador is known globally: the Ruta de Las Flores. This itinerary involves passing through 6 towns (greatly varying in size) all scattered among the lush landscapes of the West. En-route, you’ll enjoy amazing sceneries of valleys & mountain ranges where coffee plantations and acres of cloud forest will be the welcoming party to some of the most traditional and architecturally gorgeous towns of El Salvador. In order not to drive twice on the same road, we drove from Santa Ana to Sonsonate and from there started our itinerary. The name of the town in order are (1) Nahuizalco, (2) Salcoatitan, (3) Juayua, (4) Apaneca, (5) Ataco and (6) Ahuachapan. If you want to read what’s the best of each town, make sure to read our post Ruta de Las Flores!
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