El Salvador
Departamento de Sonsonate

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    • Day 43

      Sonsonate vs. San Miguel

      February 8, 2017 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

      The whole idea started with Andrew who wanted to watch a soccer match in Sonsonate. The game was at night but as there wouldn't be any bus to go back to Los Cobanos from Sonsonate he tried to find someone to take him there. That's how he met Charly the owner of a Tienda/Comedor close to our hostel. Charly offered to take him there and when we all suddenly got really excited and wanted to join he got his friend driving all of us in his mini van.
      The game was Sonsonate vs. San Miguel and apparently it was a really big game for the country.
      The stadium was pretty small but everybody there got really excited about us. Some guy showed up and kept on buying us drinks and all kind of food they were selling in the stadium. He made sure we didn't feel bad about him spending money on us by showing us a huge stack of dollars from his pocket.
      He asked us lots of questions about germany and if we could help him go there. When he asked Sebastian to take something for him to Germany we figured it's best to not speak spanish anymore.
      The first half of the game we watched from our "seats" on the steps close to Charly and our other new friend. But when the second half started we decided we want some more action and joined the crowed singing and dancing right behind the goalpost.
      We had a lot of fun there and I guess we made our way in a lot of selfies by the local soccer fans.
      Unfortunately Sonsonate lost and this made people leave even before the game was over. But we stayed till the very end.
      After the game our new friend asked us to join everybody for one beer in a bar close by. We decided one beer couldn't hurt and followed these guys out of the stadium. This is when it got a little weird. To enter the bar you had to knock on the door. Before they would open they always checked the street. People in the bar were really friendly (when I almost used the wrong bathroom the whole bar started pointing me to the female bathroom - which was in the kitchen). But when our new friend invited us to his home and we declined everybody became really pushy about us going with him. Only Freddy said that it was probably better to go home. So we decided not to push our luck and just get out of there. Now they all got really pushy. People followed us out of the bar and even tried to convince our driver to take us to the house of our new friend. So we were pretty happy when we were all sitting in the van heading back to Los Cobanos. We asked Charly about the guy but the only thing he said was that he is a friend but it's not a good idea to go with this people when everybody is really drunk.
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    • Day 43

      Los Cobanos

      February 8, 2017 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

      After over 3 weeks I was finally back at the beach!
      Los Cobanos was a really quiet place with not a lot of tourists. It was one of these places that might fill up with locals heading from the city to the beaches on weekends but as we got there during the week we kind of had it to ourselves. We stayed at Casa Garrobo which seemed to be the only place that had guests at all. It was right at the beach and except for hanging out there and wander along the beach to watch the locals prepare freshly caught fish or check out one of the many empty restaurants there was not much more to do.Read more

    • Day 40

      Juayúa

      February 5, 2017 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      Juayúa was our first stop along the Rutas de las Flores.
      I never quite figured why it's called Rutas de las Flores. Other than expected there are not a lot of flowers. It's just a few brightly colored colonial towns along a winding road - but maybe these picturesque towns are supposed to be the flowers.
      Juayúa was the biggest of the 3 towns we visited with a population of 10,000. It is famous for it's weekend "feria gastronomica" with a lot of stands selling lots of good food. We spend the afternoon there trying different things. I had mashed yuca with some toppings and a whole pineapple filled with fresh juice and rum. ☺
      The next morning we took a little hike up to "Los Chorros de Calera" - a series of waterfalls. The fascinating thing here was that the water just seemed to be coming out of the fractured cliff wall and not from a river or something.
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    • Day 117

      Juayúa, El Salvador

      June 15, 2016 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      How long: 4 Nights
      Stayed: Casa Mazeta
      Travelling with: Solo and Tom

      Beautiful trip along the coast to Sonsonate. So many stunning beaches. Easy change in Sonsonate and on to Juayua on the hottest chicken bus in the world. Mashed in beside a poor little old man who I was sweating all over. Great chats and he offered to take me out driving following day and show me the countryside. Asked if I had friends in Juayua and when I said no that I was alone, I corrected me and said I had him as he was now my friend. So nice :)
      Arrived at Casa Mazeta early evening and met the only two other guests...Erin who I had shared a dorm with in El Tunco, and Kane...both Aussies. Lovely homely hostel....just like a cosy house share. Cooked for the first time in weeks (months) and spent the evening watching movies with my housemates. Kane was planning to do the waterfall tour next day so decided to jump in with him ....despite the lingering cold.
      Set off at 8am with Kane and our guide Elmer and Billie the dog from the hostel. Picked up out second guide Jose and 2 more dogs at his house and off we went. What a wonderful day! Hiking through coffee finca first and then through stunning rain forest to the first of the 7 waterfalls I the day. Elemer was very informative about the landscape and particularly the coffee finca. He's been guiding for 12 years....despite looking like he was still 12. For the next 5 hours we walked through stunning hills and waterfalls and even got to grapple down one which was great fun. At the last one the boys made us a delicious lunch and then we headed for home. Probably one of the most enjoyable hikes of my trip so far!!
      Flaked on the couch after a little walk around town to check out Juayua. My cold definitely catching up with me. Was still on the couch when Tom arrived a few hours later. Had a little wander with him and then back to the hostel to cook and slob some more.
      Next day headed off on the chicken bus with Tom to check out more of the towns on the Ruta. Beautiful drive through the countryside, unfortunately the flowers that give this route it's name are not in bloom at the moment. It's still very beautiful but i'd say when they are in bloom it is something else. First stop was Ataco. Beautiful little town about 30 mins from Juayua. Much more touristy but like so much of El Sal there were no gringos in sight...apart from us of course. We spent the next few hours wandering around and checking out all the beautiful murals. Small cobbled streets and colourful houses abound. Had lunch in a little garden place that I think was Italian and was bizarrely playing Christmas songs in Italian...Andrea Bottelli Christmas compilation is my guess. Very funny. Bit more wandering and souvenir buying and then jumped back on the chicken bus and made our way to Apanece.
      Much smaller and less cute than Ataco but still nice. Not much to attract the tourists so it was quiet. Had a quick lap of the town and then back on the bus for home. Juayua was bustling and people set up for the weekend food festival. Back to the hostel and the evening bus deposited 3 Irish (Eoin, Majella & Eilis) to Casa Mazeta. Yay...people to watch the match with :)
      Up at 7 next morning to watch poor Ireland getting hammered by Belgium. 4 very subdued Irish on the couch by the end. Then onto the rugby...more disappointment . Had planned to move to suchitoto but really couldn't manage to drag myself away from the home comforts of Casa Mazeta so decided to stay another night. Went to check out the food festival with the Irish and Tom in the afternoon and later that night roused ourselves from our laziness and headed out with Susanna (who jointly owns the hostel) and some of her friends. Live music and good company led to a fun night and of course bitter end Roche stayed on with the two local boys when the others very sensibly went home(the Irish were hiking next day so they called it a night at a very sensible hour). Had great Spanglish chats with Cesar and his brother Diego and then they walked me back to the hostel after we had exhausted all options to find some Bachata....me of course.
      Needless to say my plan to be up and out by 8am for the long trip to Suchitoto went out the window next morning. Finally got on the road by 10....long day and 5 chicken busses ahead.
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    • Day 247

      Ruta de Las Flores

      April 5, 2016 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      As is often the case, our intended route to Santa Ana changed in the colourful town of Ahuachapan where we were convinced that the longer hillier Routa de las Flores was worth the effort. We passed some heavily loaded firewood carts as we climbed the first hill, had a lunch/juggling break in Apaneca's nice central park, and rolled on towards more beautiful volcanos adorned with patchwork forests of coffee and shelter trees. As we started into the last big hill of the day we came to a coffee processing facility where the smell of coffee drew us in for a sample, but the giant map of coffee farms and little roads around the volcanoes really caught our interest as it looked like there was a way to circumnavigate Volcan Santa Ana on dirt roads through coffee plantations. We reluctantly got back on our bikes and started up again, enjoying beautiful views over the valley as we climbed. We camped at a church outside of Los Naranjos and had to stake our tents well for the first windy night in a long while - at least it made for a comfortable sleeping temperature!Read more

    • Day 611

      Los Cobanos

      September 1, 2021 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      Somewhere deep inside an all inclusive luxury resort.

      I arrived in Los Cobanos with about 20 dollars of cash left in my pocket. Google maps showed me an ATM 3 kilometers outside the little town. I didn’t completely trust this search result since tonnes of banks and ATMs shown on google maps are just not where it shows which is a very annoying google maps phenomena. Nevertheless I needed cash so I walked towards this ATM. The last 2 kilometers belonged to a crazy huge luxury resort. I just sneaked into this resort and walked to the very beginning of it where as it happens an ATM was found.

      After a beautiful sunset and an uncomfortable night, due to the dirty mattress and bed sheets I had to use my sleeping bag which made me sweating like a pig, I made my way further along the cost towards Guatemala. But before I Frises the border to Guatemala I decide to stay one more night in El Salvador.
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    • Day 56

      Playa en Pescado

      June 29, 2009 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      We zouden eigenlijk gisteren naar Los Cobanos gaan, maar het werd een dagje uitstel omdat er een feest was in onze nieuwe hostel...en dus geen kamers vrij. Of we wel schoon linnengoed mee wilden nemen van Casa Mazeta.....doen we. Beetje raar verhaal zo...kleine uitleg. Bij aankomst in Juayua waren we op zoek naar een hostel genaamd Hotel Anagua...dit bleek vol te zijn. We werden doorverwezen naar een nieuwe hostel, Casa Mazeta, wat van dezelfde eigenaar bleek te zijn. De eigenaar is getrouwd met een jonge Deense ......en haar ouders hebben een huis aan zee in Los Cobanos...waar we nu een paar daagjes heen gaan.De busreis ging voorspoedig...40 minuten naar Sonsonate en overstappen op de bus naar Los Cobanos....wederom een minuut of 40....totale kosten zijn $ 0,95 p.p..
      Bij aankomst moesten we wel even zoeken. Alex had een kleine tekening gemaakt als handleiding....maar het dorpje bleek toch iets groter te zijn.....en inderdaad.....aan het einde van de werelds op een verlaten strand vonden we onze Casa. Twee appartementjes....zwembadje voorde deur....hekje door...en een schitterend koraalstrand met mooie grillige rotsen....en zeewater zo warm...of er 100 school kindertjes in hebben zitten plassen. Nee, zonder dollen...ik heb nog nooit in zo warm zeewater gezeten....het leek wel badwater (en ik houd van een heet bad!).
      We hebben gezwommen...voor het eerst van onze reis op een natuurlijk strand....het was heerlijk.´s Avonds hebben we vis gegeten...echte vis....zoals iedere avond.
      De tijd staat hier nog steeds stil.....er is bijna niets te krijgen.....de mensen kiezen voor een boot i.p.v. een auto....en er is na 18.00 uur niets te beleven.
      Vandaag gingen we op pad naar een mogelijkheid om te internetten. We overwegen een vlucht van San Salvador naar Managua te nemen.....we willen weten of het kan, en wat het kost......en of we toch niet met de bus zullen gaan...enfin, we komen uit op een schitterend waterpark met restaurants aan de zee....met een enorm villapark met veel lege huizen....we zijn het hele park overgelopen naar de lobby....en ik zit nu in een internetcafé met airco even snel een berichtje te typen. We gaan zo nog wat eten in één van de restaurantjes...en dan de bush weer in....wat een contrast. Uit verveling heb ik vanmorgen muggenbulten zitten tellen....rechterbeen 39.....links meer dan 40.
      De foto´s volgen later!
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    • Day 53

      Hiking 7 watervallen

      June 26, 2009 in El Salvador ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      De nieuwe latin mobiel maakte een tering herrie....nog geen tijd gehad om het volume aan te passen...zo druk, hahahahaha. Enfin, het is 7.30 (we hebben vakantie...) en om 8 uur moeten we gereed zijn. Gelukkig waren net op tijd onze kleren gewassen en weer retour zodat we een vers setje aan konden trekken. Wat gaan we doen vandaag....we gaan voor een hike langs 7 watervallen. Waarom zo vroeg.....omdat het vanaf een uur of 2 hier hard regent.
      Bij het boeken van de hike gistermiddag hadden we gevraagd of er nog bijzonderheden waren zoals heftig klimmen of dalen, speciale kleding en zo.....n.v.t.
      De keuze viel op een Wolletje uit New Zealand, een koele sneldrogende afritsbroek, sneakers (Heleen sandalen), sokken en Deet tegen de muggen. Verder een rugzakje met water zwemspullen en de camera.....de lunch was included. Verwachtte reistijd (aangekondigd door Mario onze private guide) 6 uur. Mario was stipt om 8 uur op de hostel en parkeerde zijn fiets achter de balie....wat inhield dat de hike bij onze hostel begon.
      We liepen het dorp uit de jungle in en stopten bij de Casa van Mario waar zijn broer al klaar stond en moeder lief de laatste hand legde aan de rugzak van Mario. Beide broers namen een groot kapmes mee en een grote bos touw en we vertrokken....gevolgd door vier honden. Al snel daalden we af het eerste dal in met uitzicht over de koffieplantages. Wie nog werk zoekt....het plukken begint in oktober en je krijgt $1 USA (= volgens de Rabo 75 euri centen) voor tien kilo bonen...plukken met de hand. De jungle was dicht begroeid en de paden waren heel smal. Doordat er geen zon bij de aarde kwam was het vaak steil en spekglad....in het eerste uur waren we al een paar keer op ons bek gegaan. Mario liep echter op een stel goedkope plastic slippertjes (herinner me een uitspraak van Steven...)...we konden hem niet bijhouden. Tevens was ik de langste van het gezelschap waardoor ik alle spinnenwebben kreeg.
      Onderweg kregen we uitleg over allerlei bloemen, planten, boomsoorten en stopten we om tarantula's (je weet wel, die mega spinnen) te bekijken, vogels te spotten en te genieten van alle uitzichten. We waren blij dat we van tevoren goed gesmeerd hadden!!
      De toch ging verder met klunen, over stenen onder de watervallen door, door de blubber.....we zagen er werkelijk niet uit en waren zeiknat.....maar gaaf was het!!
      Op een bepaald punt moesten we onder de waterval door.....over de rotsen naar beneden....ik schat een 30 meter. Hiervoor werd een dubbel touw aan de boom geknoopt en ging de grote broer als eerste naar beneden. Vervolgens konden we om de beurt onder begeleiding naar beneden....we waren doorweekt!
      Een eindje verderop, onder het gekletter van een waterval, hielden we pauze voor de lunch. Uit de rugzak van Mario kwamen echte borden, tomaten, komkommers, een ui, twee gekookte eieren, een ananas, zacht broodjes, twee avocado's en peper en zout. Alles werd gesneden en gewassen in het water.....en we hebben in een streepje zon op een droge steen zitten pummelen....heerlijk. Al zittend was ik de tijd aan het omrekenen en kwam tot de conclusie dat jullie boodschappen voor het weekend aan het halen waren bij AH.....Gaaf toch!!
      Nadat we de honden de restjes hadden gevoerd gingen we verder met de tocht en heb ik geen tijd meer gehad om aan Holland te denken.....het was hard werken, oppassen waar je liep, glibberen en glijden....en klimmen.....maar wel kicken!
      Ik had gistermiddag Sopa de Pollo gemaakt....zodat we bij thuiskomst wat lekkers hadden...Mario, de eigenaar van de hostel en de schoonmaakster hebben ook meegegeten.
      Tijd voor een hete douche...en een kleine Siesta!

      Ik hoop dat jullie ook lekkere boodschappen hebben gehad voor het weekend....oohhhh mergpijpjes, drop, of zo'n dikke groene reep AH chocolade met hazelnoten....
      ik krijg last van een klein watervalletje......
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    • Day 12

      Salinitas, El Salvador

      March 25, 2019 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

      Private, gated resort in El Salvador near Sosonate called the Royal Decameron. The first pic is the wire from my room over the pool looking at the Pacific Ocean. Then a couple beach shot, including a couple white egrets.Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Departamento de Sonsonate, Sonsonate

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