Suchitoto & vulcanos hikes

Leaving San Salvador, we drove to the charming colonial town of Suchitoto, a place that exceeded our expectations. The tranquility of the settlement, the colonial church and the houses that have remained practically unchanged since the time of the Spanish conquistadors are impressive. After visiting Suchitoto, we headed to Cerro Verde National Park, located in a region with active volcanoes. This national park has excellent, but difficult, hiking trails (volcanic terrain, very steep slopes). From the ranger station on Cerro Verde, where we camped, we walked to the edge of the crater of the Santa Ana volcano and back on the first day, and the next day we tried to reach the crater of the Izalco volcano, but a very strong wind made us turn back, even though we still had about 20-30 minutes to the summit. I must mention that hiking can only be done in organized groups, led by 1-2 rangers, you cannot go "alone". It is interesting to note that on the first day, of the 30 people who signed up for the hike, only about 15 made it to the top of Santa Ana...

If someone were to ask me what the main difference is between the Latin American and Western European worlds, I would tell them a short story... Twice, once in Nicaragua and once in El Salvador, we had to do a small intervention on our car, which took about 10-15 minutes. Both in Nicaragua (a mechanic with overalls stained with engine oil) and in El Salvador (the chief mechanic at the Mercedes dealership) they didn't charge us for the intervention, they even wished us a good trip and were sincerely glad that they could help us. In Switzerland, the employee from the company where we bought the caravan added 60 francs to our bill, because he dismantled our bike rack (4 screws, 3 minutes!). That's the main difference.Leggi altro