Joya de Cerén

The short version of why we were on a ship-sponsored tour instead of a private one is that Oceania changed the amount of time we had in port … not once, but twice. I just didn’t feel comfortable proceeding with the private tour I had organized. By booking a ship’s tour, we were guaranteed that Insignia would still be at her berth if we were delayed — and we were … as were most, if not all, of the other long tours.

Of the various 7-hour tours available, we settled on the “Route to Mayan Civilization.” At $239pp it was expensive … but the funny money known as shipboard credit made it palatable. As did the fact that there were just 25-30 of us on a bus that could accommodate 50 passengers. Overall, I’d have to say that we were pleased with the tour … disappointed only in that we had to rush through lunch.

The tour had three stops — the Mayan ruins of Joya de Cerén (which translates as the Jewel of Cerén) and San Andrés, and the Cerro Verde National Park ... which doubled as our lunch stop. Essentially, this was the private tour I had organized ... with San Andres as a bonus. The downside? The meeting time to exchange our tickets for a group number was 6:45a. Ugh! But at least there were no unnecessary delays and the bus was rolling down the pier shortly after 7:00a.

To get to Joya de Cerén, which is described as the “Pompeii of the Americas,” we had an ~1 hour drive. Because the bus wasn’t full, Mui and I were each able to take two seats to spread out … which made the ride comfortable. The traffic flowed well. The few times we seemed to slow down, we heard police sirens, which our guide explained was a police escort clearing the way for us. Whether they were a constant companion to our bus, I don’t know. Either way, we didn’t need their assistance much.

Both of the ruins we visited were pre-Columbian Mayan farming communities back in the day. Both were covered by layers and layers of ash from multiple volcanic eruptions. I’m not sure about San Andrés, but I clearly remember our guide saying 14 layers of ash at Joya de Cerén, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Here, we followed a paved path to a covered area that protects the compressed clay structures that have been excavated … religious buildings, residences, store houses, a sauna, and more. One thing that makes this site different from Pompeii is that the people who lived at Joya de Cerén were not caught unawares by the eruption and were able to escape the wrath of the volcano. We did a quick walk through the museum to see some of the artifacts that were unearthed during the excavation.

(By the way … it was at this site that we saw the turquoise-browed motmot — aka El Torogoz — the beautiful national bird of El Salvador. I did manage to get a less-than-stellar video of it, but the upload keeps hanging at the video, so I removed it. This link has a photo if you would like to check it out … https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise-browe….)

San Andrés, our second stop was just about 20 minutes from Joya de Cerén. This place was very different. Instead of wattle and daub buildings, we saw pyramids here … because excavations have focused on the political-ceremonial center of the village. Adobe brick, plaster, and gravel were used to construct the pyramids … though the newest one was built with big rocks since by then the tools to work with such rocks were available. The site was lush with green grass covering the pyramids … some of which were partially excavated. Another look-see at the artifacts at the museum, and we were off again.

Our last stop — Cerro Verde National Park … often referred to as the Volcanos National Park — required another hour-long drive. This time, up and up and up we went on a narrow road that wended itself to the top … to around 6,500+ feet. Along the way, we caught glimpses of the crater lake — Coatepeque — that was created when an ancient caldera was filled with water following the eruption of a stratovolcano.

Where the road ended, we walked along a dirt path through the forest to Casa 1800, our lunch stop. A lovely restaurant attached to a boutique hotel. By this time, we were running out of time, so we were told to immediately take a seat at one of the tables prepared for our group … no time to wander and take photos … though I did sneak out to the terrace for a quick look-see and was surprised to find the cinder cone of Volkán Izalco quite close … hidden behind the trees.

Lunch was tasty. We had given our selections to the guide who had called in the order, so there was no delay in serving us. No time for the coffee that was included with the meal, however. Then, we rushed back to the bus.

By the time we left Casa 1800, it was almost 1:00p. It was apparent that we would not be making the 1:30p all aboard for a 2:00p sailaway. No worries … Insignia would be waiting for us. The driver fairly flew down the mountain and sped down the highway. If we had a police escort at this point, I did not hear any sirens. Luckily, we did not get stuck in the traffic jam that delayed a private tour to the point of having to adjust their itinerary.

It was 2:15p, when we rolled to a stop in front of Insignia. We joined the queue of returning tour-goers and embarked the ship. Thirty minutes later, the ship was leaving its berth … 45 minutes behind schedule. But no worries … with two days at sea ahead of us, we won’t have a problem reaching our next port of call.

For dinner, we had a two-top reserved at Toscana. Another great meal. Who can resist the pasta there? Not me. Mui requested a low-salt version of the ossobuco … thanks for accommodating him, Chef Josue … known as Chef David on the ship.

The show tonight featured GRAMMY-nominated Viviana Guzman … a multi-instrumentalist from California (originally from Chile) who has been described as “an imaginative artist” by the New York Times. She was very entertaining, mostly playing the flute … but also some pipes. I later read that she had studied with James Galway and was a graduate of Juilliard. We are looking forward to her second performance in a few days’ time.Read more