The wind howled all night long, but things had moderated by this morning. Even so, I don't think anyone will be ascending to Santa Ana's rim today either. We enjoyed a final stunning view of Lago de Coatapeque with breakfast, then it was time to move on.
Jana and Lago de Coatepeque
Before leaving the area, we stopped by Cementerio el Pacun, a colorful cemetery which by now we'd driven by several times. Graveyards needn't be all dull and boring. This one seemed darn near festive!
Cementerio el Pacun
La Ruta de Las Flores is a 40-kilometer, winding road lined with wildflowers, fields of sugarcane, and offering outstanding views of countless coffee fields and an overdose of volcanoes. It also passes through some colorful mountain towns with fun things to see and do.
Volcans Izalco, Cerro Verde, and Santa Ana
Along La Ruta de Las Flores
Volcanoes everywhere!
We spent the better part of the day at Cafe Albania in Apaneca, a mountainside snack bar turned tourist attraction offering a range of thrilling diversions. You can pay $40 to do each activity one time or pay various amounts to choose activities a la carte. We decided to hit the highlights. For us, that was El Salvador's famous rainbow slide and an exhilarating bicycle zipline.
Cafe Albania Thrill Park
Built on a mountainside
Choices, choices...
First, the rainbow slide. It was long and very steep, and when we got to the bottom, there was an unexpected second slide we didn't even know about! The ride down was surprisingly fast and on the verge of out of control. There were little wheels all along the slide's surface to make you go faster. It was a scream!
Rainbow slide
Jana on the second slide. Whee! (Video)
After quite a long hike back to the top of the park, we then made our way over to the bicycle zipline. Tom and I have done lots of ziplines, in several different countries, but we'd never seen anything quite like this. I told Tom before we arrived that I bet they weren't even running it today because of the wind, but they sure as heck were, and the swinging line made for a much more white-knuckle experience! This place is great.
Strapped into the bicycle zipline
Crazy! (Video)
Another group on the bicycle zipline (Video)
Lodging: Bourbon Hostal in Juayua. Don't let the “hostal” fool you. This is a very nice boutique hotel. We had an exceptionally clean, modern room, with secure parking, and there was a rooftop bar with an excellent view. The one small glitch was a lack of running water in our room when we checked in, but it turned out there was a water main issue, and the whole town was affected. Thankfully, the situation was resolved after a few hours. We'll be here two nights.
View from the rooftop bar
Tuk-tuk with a serious spoiler
Juayua is a colorful small town centrally located along La Ruta de Las Floras. It was just a short walk from our hotel to the town's Parque Central and the picturesque Iglesia Santa Lucia. Juayua was lively on this Friday night.
Jana in Juayua
Parque Central
Fuzzy flora
For dinner tonight, we finally had pupusas, a Salvadoran specialty. We'd tried them in Nicaragua a year ago and had been wanting more ever since. A pupusa is basically a thick tortilla stuffed with all manner of different fillings and served with a red sauce and a spicy cabbage slaw. It is the national dish of El Salvador, and there are pupusarias everywhere.
After perusing the Google reviews, we chose to eat at Pupusas y Panes Rellenos Sugey. This place was BUSY. It took 45 minutes to get our food, but it was cheap and good, and we left stuffed. We had four pupusas – two stuffed with beans and cheese, one with jalapenos, and one with garlic – and two bottles of water, and it came to a grand total of $7. What a deal!
Pupusaria Sugey
Preparing pupusas
Iglesia Santa Lucia