El Salvador
Río Ishcanelo

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    • Day 109

      Tacuba, El Salvador.

      June 7, 2016 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      How long: 2 nights
      Stayed: Mama y Papa hostel
      Travelling with: Susan

      Long old days travel but also quite enjoyable. El Salvador continues to surprise and impress with its amazingly friendly and helpful people.
      We got the chicken bus from outside Tortufa Verde to San Miguel, everyone we met saying hello and smiling warmly. In San Miguel we asked about our onward bus and were immediately snatched up and hurried to the waiting bus which was about to leave...fastest transfer in history. Reaching San Salvador a few hours later we were besieged by taxi drivers the minute we left the bus but they were not aggressive and when we decided to stop for something to eat one guy led us to a table at a nearby stall and left us with a polite "if you need a taxi later, remember me"
      Lunch was our first (of what was to become many) experience of the local dish "papusa" which is corn tortilla stuffed with local (salty) cheese and beans. Some places have chicken and fish or apoya (a spinachy type green) but cheese and beans is the standard. All served with pickled cabbage and a got tomato sauce. Served piping hot straight from the griddle and eaten with your fingers.....asbestos hands definitely coming in handy here :)
      Our lunch host was a lovely lady called Patti who we (Susan) had a great chat with and we ended up spending hours there chatting and deliberating our onward destination. Finally we decided to head to Ahuachapan which involved getting to one of the other bus stations in San Sal and getting the bus from there. Taxi man had hovered all afternoon and finally thought his luck was in when Patti whipped off her apron and announced she was driving us to the other station. And so she did!!! And came in with us and made sure we got safely on to the next bus....and checked in with us on facebook later to make sure we arrived safely! Such a gem!
      We changed in Ahuachapan and made our way to Tacuba on a very packed chicken bus where we were the center of attention....they don't get any gringos up there! Got off in Tacuba and were wandering a little aimlessly when an arm came out of a doorway and pointed us in the right direction. We arrived at Mama y Papas in the early evening and after a nice chat with mama we headed off to the local papusa place (daughters sent up to the hostel to collect us in case we got lost) and then had an early night ahead of our hike in El Impossible next day.
      Up and breakfasted and on our way mashed into the front of an old pickup by 8am. Eric our driver looked about 12 but apparently had been driving in the national park for 5 years....a fact I was very glad of as we were skidding all over the mountain track in a rain storm a few hours later. He dropped us off after about 30 mins and Avil took over....not a word of English so we were really going to have to test out limited Spanish. For the next 4 hours he walked us through the park through some spectacular countryside and gave us some facinating information on the local plants and their medicinal powers....none of which I can remember now of course. Absolutely stunning scenery but one really bad moment when i took out my camera to find that the lens was smashed! Trauma! And no idea when it happened!!
      After about 4 hours we got to the coffee finca belonging to mama and papa where the pickup would meet us. As we waited there we played with the 4 young kids of the couple who live there...the fifth was in school. Beautiful, well minded kids but they really had nothing. We found out later that the couple were both 26! According to mama there is a very high birth rate among the poor....the fault of which she lays very firmly at the door of the church....which was surprising considering her home was a mini shrine to the virgin Mary.
      After a very hairy journey where I did have visions of us plunging down a ravine in the deluge we got back to mamas and spent the evening watching the rain and the ducks in the back garden. Nice chilled evening and early to bed!
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    • Day 61

      Tacuba

      March 6, 2022 in El Salvador ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Dès notre arrivée nous nous rendons à l'hostel Mama y Papa mais malgré ce petit village, la chambre la moins chère est tout de même à $25 la nuit et surtout le prix annoncé pour parcourir le parc avec un guide est de $40 par personne et il nous serait possible de négocier éventuellement le tarif que le soir. En quête d'une alternative moins coûteuse, nous nous rendons à côté de l'église à l'hôtel Miraflores. Chambres au même tarif et la gérante se renseigne auprès d'un guide. Nous attendons plus de 30minutes, sachant qu'il devait arriver bientôt nous nous absentons 15minutes uniquement pour acheter des en-cas en boulangerie et une fois de retour apprenons qu'il ne viendra pas. Quel peu de sérieux, pas étonnant qu'il n'y ait aucun visiteur. Chambre vite réservée à Santa Ana, nous reprenons les bus en sens inverse, cette fois avec possibilité de s'asseoir. Nous serons restés 2h dans ce petit village.Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Río Ishcanelo, Rio Ishcanelo

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