Anyone reading about El Salvador would get the impression that it is a country plagued by gangs in the aftermath of a bloody civil war. Well we did see a hell of a lot of guns but it is also the most beautiful country with the most friendly people who are so proud to have come out the other side. It´s known as the Land of Volcanoes, but seeing as we´re a bit volcanoed out (for the timebeing anyway), we decided to do everything else. And by everything else, we mean everything else. It literally is a playground where anything goes...

First up was the stunning Ruta de las Flores in the west named after the wild flowers that grow in the area. We checked into a lovely hostel in Juayua and decided to stay a lot longer than originally planned... Such a pretty town with amazing food. Every weekend a massive gastronomic festival sets up in town where everyone just feasts all day long. Our favourite vendor was Big Mama (as we called her for fairly obvious reasons) who was a beast at bashing out delicous pupusas.

After all that food we needed a bit of refreshment with a tour around a coffee finca. It was really interesting to see how the coffee is picked, dried, prepared and roasted before it is shipped off to the rest of the world (with the crap stuff being sold to the ´tight arses´at Starbucks). After about an hour in the ´tasting lab´we felt a bit wired...

Not too wired to get behind the wheel of an ATV buggy though!!! Oh my god the boys were in heaven caning it around dirt roads in a wicked bit of kit. Ash and Ant came up with a way to signal to each other when some good corner action was up ahead. We were caked with dirt and dust by the time we arrived at our destination - a series of hot thermal pools to relax those muscles in...

The next day we went on the hike to the Seven Cascadas where we waded through and rapelled down beautiful waterfalls and pools. We ended up at a swimming hole with lots of scary pitch black tunnels to wade through. Not for the claustrophobic.

And if that wasn´t enough, we then ventured further west to the town of Tacuba on the edge of the Parque Nacional Imposible. And it´s not called the Impossible Park for no reason... It´s a beautiful bit of forest with amazing high ridges looking out over Guatemala and the Pacific. But more importantly, it´s the home of Mama y Papa and their crazy son Manolo who runs the Impossible Tour! A day of hiking and canyoning - or jumping off stupidly high rocks over waterfalls into not very deep pools! Oh now this was why we invested in that travel insurance... I´m not usually the one to hurl myself down 10m waterfalls but I couldn´t be shown up in front of the boys now could I? My heart was absolutely pumping all day but the guys were great with the encouragement, Manolo´s boys put on a great day and I loved it so much I did the last jump 3 times! And to slow the heartrate down again, we had the home comforts of Mama´s cooking and their crazy Colombian relatives to go back to.

Such an amazing place!