In week 8, I shared with you my first impressions on my stay in El Salvador (https://wanderluststeffy.com/2019/08/12/week-8-my-first-week-in-el-salvador/) , and I can only say, that I still enjoy El Salvador and the people, the welcoming and warm-hearted culture. It does not matter whether you go to a Pupusaria, a bakery or you just walk in the street. The people are always super friendly, small-talking with you, wishing you a good day, smiling at you. And seeing people smile just makes me smile back and makes me feel happy.
Volunteering as an English teacher (Teachingyou.org)
At school, I learned a lot more about the background of some girls, and the difficulties go far beyond poverty and child labour. But still, the school is the area where the girls can finally be kids. Some girls do not only hug me to say hello or goodbye but keep hugging me for several minutes. Sometimes they just stand up, come to me and start hugging me while I am teaching. I have the feeling they really need to feel in that moment that they are being loved and cared about, so I hug them back while trying to teach the rest of the class. One girl also suddenly started to caress my belly when hugging me. I just thought at that moment: “ no girl, there is no baby in my belly” – guess that was a sign that I should lose weight 😛
Of course, there are always some kids in the classroom who make teaching difficult, but overall the kids are adorable. On my first day one girl gave me a pen and a ruler as present, though she needs them much more than I do or they share candies or fruits with me. In the break it is playtime. My 3rd graders always want to play basketball with me, while the 2nd graders like rope skipping. So you don`t need to go to the gym – the girls keep you active.
Santa Ana and the Volcano
I spent one weekend in Santa Ana, a city in the north of El Salvador. From there you can visit many beautiful places, like the National Park Cerro Verde with many volcanoes, for example, the Santa Ana Volcano (also called Ilamatepec ), which is the highest volcano in El Salvador with 2.381m above sea level.
Santa Ana has many lovely buildings in the city. My favourite is the “old art school”, which reminds me a little bit of Roman architecture. In the city centre you find again a local market, where you can buy fresh fruits and juice. Around the park “ Parque Libertad” you find some beautiful buildings, like the theatre of Santa Ana. If you like theatres it is worth to check the programme. Around the park you won`t find pupuserias, but lots of street food with French fries, Yuga, Hot Dogs and Hamburgers. The French fries are not made the usual way; they will be served with ketchup, mayonnaise and cheese. It seems to be a specialty in this area. When I took the Chickenbus from San Salvador around noon on Friday the bus stopped at the highway close to Santa Ana and a guy entered the bus selling exactly these French fries. I should not be surprised anymore about all the weird stuff you can buy on buses in Central America, but I still am. There is no need to go to the supermarket or a restaurant when you take the bus😊
On my second day, I went to the volcano. You have to take the bus early (see information below) to make the hike. There is a regulation in place in El Salvador stating that in the national parks, you need to be accompanied by a guide and police. Santa Ana / the volcano is safe, but this is a precaution taken by the government due to issues in other national parks in the country. So when you take the bus ask the driver to tell you when to get off. The best place to get off is 50m before the hostel “El Tibet”. In case you miss to get out in time, don`t worry, the bus will pass here again after 20min as this street is the only way back. You can now either go to El Tibet hostel, get a guide there (usually 1USD) or you walk a little bit up the hill to Casa Cristal (entry 1 USD, guide 1USD) (just follow the signs).
When I get off the bus, there were 3 more tourists, and we were told by locals, that we do not need a guide or wait until 11 o`clock, so we just went directly to the entrance of the park, where the park rangers stopped us and explained, that we have to wait for the big crowd. It seems that before 8 am or after 2 pm, the park is not supervised and you can go by yourself, but during these hours you can only do the hike at 11 am. The hike starts in the hostels like El Tibet at 11 am, so at the park entrance we had to wait until ca. 11:30 am, but there are two kiosks and toilets and many benches to sit down. Since it was a Saturday it became terribly crowded after 11 am. I think there were approx. 200 people standing around in the entrance area buying the entrance ticket (for foreigners 6USD) and waiting for the police. The police were late, and we were finally allowed to start the hike without the police. It turned out “the police” consisted actually of just one officer, who was already on the top and we waited at the entrance for nothing… Luckily, I was one of the first to enter the national park and one of the first on top of the volcano so that I could enjoy the view. When I sat down for my lunch break, more and more people arrived, and I was suddenly surrounded.
The path starts quite easy with a walk through the forest. When the forest ended, I felt the sun burning. On the top it is, however, a little bit freeze due to the wind. So it is best to bring a light jacket. Half of the path is full of stones, so you need to ensure you are not stepping on a loose stone, but walk a little bit careful. It took me approx. 75minutes from the entrance to the top (if you start at the hostel it will be approx. 15min more). The hike is not too steep, so with some endurance it should be feasible to do it, just take your time. The path is 4km long (one way). The park entrance is at about 1.800meters above sea level, and you have to get up to approx. 2.300m. The view is stunning and definitely worth it. You can see the “black” volcano Izalco and the lake Coatepeque.
From Santa Ana you can also explore the lake “Coatepeque” or you can go Chalchuapa and visit the Maya site “Tazumal”. The Ruta de las Flores (Route of the flowers) is also not far away. You can start this route either in Sonsonate or Ahuachapan.
How to get to Santa Ana and the Volcano
From San Salvador (Terminal de Occidente) you can take bus 201 to Santa Ana. In Santa Tecla, this bus has several stops (e.g. 3 Calle Poniente with a stop just before the Mercado Dueñas). (see Centrocoasting.com for more detailed information).
To go to the volcano, you have to take the bus 248 at 7:45 at the Vencedora Bus station in Santa Ana (check again when in Santa Ana, the departure time seems to change every few months). The bus takes the 11 Calle Oriente to the 25 Avenida Sur. So you can also wait at any bus stop on 11 Calle. I got on the bus next to the gas station “Texaco” on the “Diagonal David Grandino” between 11 Calle and 25 Avenida Sur. You have to take this bus if you want to make the hike at 11 am. You will have to wait a little bit, but with the next bus (10 am) you will probably arrive too late.
The bus stop to go back to Santa Ana is just on the other side of the street from where you got off. It is not clear to me when the bus leaves. I was told that there is on at 3 pm and one at 4 pm. I was at the bus stop at 3:10 pm (probably just missing one bus) and my bus only came at 4:30 pm. The bus goes back the same way it came with one exception it takes 9 Calle Oriente instead of 11 Calle in Santa Ana.
In Santa Ana you can also take UBER to get around if you don’t want to walk.
Wanderlust 