Hacienda Concepción

How long: 3 nights
Stayed:
Travelling with: Solo

The multiple buses to Suchitoto actually didn't take half as long as expected and so arrived into Suchitoto mid afternoon. I immediately liked it. Bus dropped me near the central square and I set off to find my hostel. Lovely colonial little town with a really nice friendly ambience. Like a lot of towns in El Salvador its on a grid so not too hard to find your way around so found my hostel pretty quickly and checked in to the dorm to see only other person staying and although they were not there I recognised the stuff and laid a bet with myself that it was Wei.
Just dropped my bag and headed out for a wander in this lovely little town. Although the guidebooks had said weekends were busy in Suchitoto I was struck by how quiet it was....even in the main square. There were some stalls out and a few people strolling around but all in all very quiet. Beautiful Cathedral overlooking the main square...which seems to be the template for most Central American towns and cities.
Was wandering through the square and lo and behold met Quan....El Salvador really is a small country. He was with an an El Salvadorian girl who he had appeared to be driving him around the country! Another example of the amazing El Salvadorian hospitality...she wanted to make sure he enjoyed the country and had easy travel so she drove to one town to pick him up and drive him to another! Wish I had made a friend like that!! I do also think she fancied him quite a lot tho! :) So spent a lovely afternoon wandering with them and had a beer in the afternoon sun beside the cathedral. Went back to the hostel later to find that my roommate was indeed Wei.....and that we were only people staying there! Relaxed for a while and then went back to meet Quan for a beer and a pupusa.
Next day headed off with the two guys to check out the lake. Ended up going down a random track to explore which brought us on a lovely trail down to the lake through woods ans maize fields. Stunning views and not a person in sight apart from a very helpful, friendly farmer. Walked for a few hours and then decided we wanted to try and get to the other side of the lake which was looking impossible until we spotted a fisherman in his boat who brought us across...and tried to sell us some fish which unfortunately we couldn't buy as no bag to put it in. Kept walking and then came to a group of shacks beside the lake which were restaurants so we stopped for lunch and had one of the best fish meals ever! So fresh and from a snack in the middle of a field!. Wandered home very happy with ourselves buying some more fresh fish on the way that we cooked up a storm with that night. On the walk home I noticed a lot of the houses had a stencil in different colours on the outside wall. It had a picture of the national bird and the words..."En esta casa queremos una vida libre de violencia hasia las mujeres" ....in this house we want a life free of violence against women. Great to see this initiative but very sad that it's necessary.
Next day went to see the waterfall outside of town...which we needed a police escort for. These boys weren't taking any chances...three heavily armed police and army guys drove us out there and walked down to the waterfall with us. Unfortunately the waterfall was dry but there's an amazing rock formation there that reminded me very much of the Giants Causeway....more a vertical giants causeway. Very interesting...especially with our machine gun toting guides :)
Next day I decided to move on to Las Palmas which would be a stop off on the way to La Frontera and Honduras. Quan heading same way so we decided to travel togetherRead more