- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Day 408
- Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 2:00 PM
- ☀️ 26 °C
- Altitude: 1,035 m
El SalvadorJuayúa13°50’36” N 89°44’47” W
Rutas de flores

Day 408.
Back in Central America meant the return of brightly coloured chicken buses, and boy were we pleased to see them. Contrary to Mexican buses these are super organised, all cost less than a dollar, and are much more fun albeit a little tight on the legroom..
This also meant the return of the onboard sellers, hopping on the bus while it's still moving and all hoping to make a quick buck. From bible bashers to medicine sellers, mini fruit and veg stalls to all your local carb favourites plus chille - you can get anything on a bus ride here. Our ride to Juayua was therefore no different, this time we grabbed ourselves a $1 bag of lychees, and wasted no time munching through all 30 of them.
Its rare we're caught without cash but El Salvadorian atms are certainly not plentiful, nor often functioning. As a result we were travelling half the country with a mere 3 dollars in hand (less the $1 impulsive lychee buy). On the plus side we were bad targets for a robbery, on the downside we might not have been able to afford the next bus. Fortune was on our side however and we rolled into the picturesque mountain village of Juayua in tact and with a grand total of 50 cent to our name.
Juayua is one of the villages known as Rutas de flores, a series of mountainous villages surronded by volcanoes on all sides and covered in blossoming colorful flowers. Few tourists make it here and therefore it was a great chance to see and experience local life. Upon our arrival the town was building up to the coming weekend - the weekly gastronomical festival that brings local villagers and salvadorian tourists together to feast, drink, feast a little more and dance! It has to be said this was also a significant part of the reason we were here - and we couldn't wait.
After a cosy night in, getting to know the hostel owner as well as a lively Canadian couple we headed out of town to explore the nearby village of Ataco. Here we couldn't resit a local coffee plantation tour (this was our first private tour in spanish and we understood it all - pat on the back for us). It wasn't the only thing we couldn't resist however, one thing led to another and my backpack is now one large coffee sack heavier...
The coffee was great, and the factory ships out to lots of big names, Starbucks, illy etc - and seeing the process although interesting really makes you start to doubt if that £3.95 is really worth it! Back in town the gastronomy festival was in full gear - we dined on langostines, fresh bbq steak and chicken with all the trimmings. Its a real wonder where all this food disappears to in the week when it's strictly only Pupusas and chips available!
The atmosphere didn't die down when the food stopped either, the Xmas songs in the square went on until late and the children didn't stop dancing around the tree. Not offput by the sheer quantity of food we ate for dinner we made sure we headed to the best Pupuseria in town that night, enjoyed the local ensalada bebida and downed a couple of tubs of tomato salsa, at least limbster did anyway - couldn't believe my eyes.
It's easy to see after a few days here why everyone is so chubby, significantly more than anywhere we've been to date. Carbs feature highly on the menu, as does anything that can be fried - which is most things. That plus washing everything down with $0.35 cent coca cola and you quickly get the picture. That diet post mexico hasn't started strongly and I worry soon we'll be jumping over the bus turnstiles like the others who can't quite fit through..
Come our final day here we decided to stay put in town, a quick stroll to the local waterfall was certainly rewarding, we also happened to be the only swimmers - it seems El Salvadorians don't take to water it so we had quite the audience as well. Later that afternoon we decided to get involved with another national passion - football, grabbing tickets to the local teams semi final, which was certainly an eventful choice for limbsters first ever game of football. Not a bad view from the stand either - just 4 volcanoes as a backdrop! The only white people in a 1000 strong crowd also meant we stood out like a sore thumb, but even at a rowdy football game we were walmy welcomed by everyone we met.
Exhausted, and feeling slightly glutenous we retired to our hammocks for the afternoon, reflecting on what a surprise these villages had been, let alone the country itself. After a rather exciting visit to a normal supermarket (I don't exaggerate, something as simple as this truly is exciting when you haven't seen anything resembling a tesco in 13 months, and Limbster could barely contain her excitement) we stocked up on meals and got ready to head to the lake.
Our stay wasn't quite complete however without limbster chasing the local lychee pick up truck down the street for a block or two. This might sound unusual but a pick up truck, with a few megaphones attached driving around town with a boot full of something to is fairly commonplace this side of the world - and this time it happened to be Lychees and we weren't missing out. Run Limbster run!Read more