Thursday morning said bye to Grace who was going to Nicaragua as she flys hme from Costa Rica in 10days n has to travel overland to get there. Me, Freddie and Vicky left in a private car, as it is so difficult to get anywhere from El Tunco, so a local drove us to the hotel 2 hours away in a little town called Juayua. He stopped along the roadside to let us take nice photos too and gave us a lot of information. we arrived midday and wandered around the town. we had taken the rucksacks of 2 people from our hostel in el tunco who were going to same place but no room in the car so they chicken bussed it. they arrived about 5 and we all went out for dinner later and to a bar.
Friday we had arranged a tour of trekking through coffee plantations and to 7 waterfalls. So we left around 9am, and walked through the town with our local guide who works at the hostel where we're staying. He took us to where he lived so he could get a load of rope. i had no idea why we needed rope! i soon found out. So we gained a convoy of 4 dogs as well which were his, and we were on our way. it was so humid and so steep up tiny little edges, where if you slipped, youd probably fall and break a lot of bones. very steep. and it had rained the night before so it was slippy too. We climbed and walked for about an hour before we came to our first waterfall, which we looked at and i tried not to get my feet wet but they did get a little bit. i soon realised this was an impossible task as we continued, as we had to trek through the waterfalls to get to the next track where we were heading. Got absolutely drenched at times. The best part was actually rapelled down a very steep waterfall one by one using only a rope tied to a tree and our guide pointing where we should put our feet, but as the rocks were wet it was so difficult. I did the splits once really wide as my foot slipped! After it got harder and more dangerous especially on the part where the rope ended and i had nothing to hold onto apart from the rocks i was standing on. but i made it, with only 1 knee bash hard against the rocks which i now have a lovely bruise! and some grazes from the trekking too! We came to a waterfall where some of us decided to be mad and stand in the freezing cold water right in the fall! but it was so thrilling. loved it.even though there was nothing dry on me for the rest of the journey.
It was so difficult after about 3.5 hours because i felt my sugar levels drop dramatically. I had to stop for a bit and eat the biscuits id bought with me and rest to stop myself passing out. it worked but then my energy had been zapped and i had nothing left in me. somehow i managed it and we got back to town and walked through 5 hours after we had began. it was quite an accomplishment but remind me never to do a trek again please! Ive done waterfalls and volcanoes now so im happy. I have to throw away my only trainers now, they were a material pair £7.99 from H&M and theyve made it through both my treks but theyre so ruined inside now, even though theyre holding out on the outside its not worth carrying them now.
Got back and chilled then early evening we went for some pupusas, the national dish of El Salvador. They are 2 tortillas filled with whichever filling you choose. i had one with just cheese and another with cheese and chicarrones, which is soft pork scratchings!
So Saturday was the food festival in Juayua. It takes over the whole town. At 11 when it begins all the food vendors are ready and waiting for you to sample different types of meat. There was rabbit and i think i may have tried Kangaroo but im not 100% cus i didnt understand the Spanish word! there wasnt as much there in the way of weird things like snake and croc to eat which i was disappointed about. but in the afternoon we decided to go to a reptile place where you can hold a snake. Me Chloe and Vikki all held 2 huge snakes. 1 was a white cream one and the other a really cool normal coloured beauty of a snake. The second one was 1 year 3 months old so only a baby still and will grow to 9 meters and it was 3 already. It was huge. Both boas. both heavy to hold but i loved it. Wasnt scared at all. I love snakes.
We went to a local bar, really the only bar in town but its ran by the same guy who owned our hotel and he owns it with 3 other guys, all lovely. Cesar the owner of the hotel thanked us for chosing his hotel by giving us a free shot each which was nice. Then there was live music of this girl Amy who i had met before in San Pedro. was good. then me and Nicio stayed there chatting to the owners til about 3am then finally left.
Sunday morning the 5 of us got the chicken bus to santa ana and then from there to Lago Coatepeque. It is incredible, breath taking and stunning. We had a cool hostel called 3er mundo which had a private dock with a slide into the lake. they had 3 jetskis and a canoe and 2 kayaks. The canoe and kayaks were free to use. We were sunbathing and met some really nice people. 1 el salvadorian guy, his ozzie girlfriend and an argentinian man. We got offered by the owner of the hostel to go on the jetskis for free so chloe learnt how to drive it and i got on the back and we went round the lake, having a nosey. the houses are luxury, an ex el sal president has a house there. so that was a fun freebie.
Nowhere to eat there really and not any bars, its a quiet town so we had food in the hostel and chilled out playing pool there and chatting all night. next day same thing, sunbathing by the lake, but this time i took out a kayak and went for a trip. I didnt get far, one arm must be stronger than the other because i seemed to spend a long time travelling in circles! so in the end i gave up once i got far enough out that i could predict it was a long way back in the circular way i was travelling! was funny.
Tuesday morning at 9 am me chloe, vikki and freddie left on the chicken bus for guatemala. no direct buses so we had a series of them. so here goes: Lago - Santa Ana, Santa Ana - Ahuachapan, Ahuachapan - the border Las Chinamas. We took a pickup truck over the border and got our passports stamped which is great because Guate, El Sal, Honduras and Nicaragua use the same visa so you should only ever have 1 stamp at 1 time. But the guy at the border was nice! We crossed in to Guate and got the chicken bus to Guatemala City. When we terminated there we got straight into a taxi to antigua. I bargained a him down half price and he took us all the way there. Because the chicken bus to antigua was in another place across the city and its such a dangerous city to get chicken buses in. So after 8.5 hours on buses from El Sal to Antigua we finally arrived at 5:30. It was a loco day. and none of us had eaten. We all celebrated surviving the buses especially in Guatemala city where they say NEVER get a chicken bus! but we made it.
Antigua was a quick 1 day stop and i left for San Pedro Thursday morning. Interesting shuttle. We drove for an hour and even on the highway then the driver got a call that he had forgotten 2 people so we had to turn back. It was the peoples fault cus they were in our hostel and just did not get on the shuttle when we did. Then waited an hour to notify anyone. Stupid Israelis...
Got back and immediately saw people i know. The bread lady, the tuk tuk driver, my friends. ita good to be back. I went to the school when Francisco was due to finish and we went to play pool in a bar and had a limonada each. Freddie and Vikki arrived last night, late, as their shuttle broke down and they had to wait on the side of the road for ages. but they made it!
Got plans for today, Friday then the locals have told me theres a big day tomorrow, with street parties and all sorts of wonderful things. glad to be back.