That's how you pronounce the name of Juayua, a small town which was our first port of call in El Salvador. We got up stupidly early to catch a shuttle back to Antigua, thankfully this part of the trip passed in a daze as I managed to sleep for most of the way, then we transferred to another shuttle which took us over the border before dropping us off at the side of the highway to wait for a local 'chicken bus' which thankfully wasn't too long in arriving. The chicken buses are pretty much the only form of public transport available in El Salvador, they don't have a working rail network and taxis are expensive so the buses tend to be cheap (our trip cost just $0.35 US per person) but very busy. We just about squeezed on with our big backpacks amidst the locals and sat tight for an hour until we got to Sansonate where we changed for another local bus to take us down the Ruta del Flores to Juayua. Eventually after about twelve total hours of cramped travel we arrived at our hostel for the next two nights, a lovely place owned and run by locals with locally painted murals on all the walls and a great courtyard for chilling out in, ditched our bags and set out to find some food.

We were in luck as Juayua is renowned for its weekend food market, and we just happened to arrive on a Saturday afternoon - clever planning by Sophie! We ambled around the various market stalls, mostly unable to identify the various foods on offer (and well aware that local delicacies include frog, snake and guinea pig) before settling for a plate featuring chorizo, which looked safe and delicious. That plate and a couple of beers came to $4, reason enough to celebrate with a few more beers in the main plaza, watching the locals and generally just taking it all in. The rest of the day was spent doing admin (Soph) and snoozing (moi), before heading out for dinner. Not wanting to turn this into a food blog but the meal we had that night at R&R Restaurant was absolutely fantastic - incredibly tasty tenderloin, perfectly cooked with sides that could have featured as a main meal in their own right, along with a passable bottle of wine, all for an absolute steal. We retired to bed, tired, well-fed and happy.

The next day we went to check out the main local attraction, a series of waterfalls north of the main village. A tuk-tuk dropped us off and we followed the path to the waterfalls, which were fun to see and photograph and very refreshing once you got in the water. It was so hot that even Sophie braved the cool water! While we were there a local struck up conversation and it turned out he'd just been to South Africa a few months previously, had a great time and was full of praise for the place, the people and of course, Mandela. We had a good chat before going our separate ways. We decided to walk back to the village so that we'd earned the beer by the time we arrived back in the market square. We bumped into the same local and got chatting again about our plans. As soon as he learnt we were to be passing through the capital city of San Salvador, his home, he immediately offered to have us stay at his house as his guests and promised to show us around his city. What a nice guy, it would have been great to take him up on it but unfortunately we aren't going to be there overnight. We weighed up the options for dinner and decided that going anywhere other than back to R&R would be a travesty, so back we went. The chef seemed unsurprised to see us back so soon, I think the repeat visit must happen often!

The next morning we were booked on a coffee tour. We met Cesar, the owner of a coffee plantation who took us to see his coffee plants high on the side of an old volcano and explained all about the various effects that altitude, sun, shade, soil and the various processing methods have on flavours and acidity of the bean. We saw how he dries the beans in the sun until they reach the correct humidity and then were taken to his coffee studio where he took us through the roasting process, finally making us various coffees to show how the taste differs depending on the grind and the brew method. It was fascinating for me to see the whole plant-to-cup process from start to finish and Cesar was a really interesting guy to talk to and learn from. Coffee isn't the cash crop that it's supposed to be and he supplements the coffee farming with money from these tours as well as with income generated from the hostel we stayed in, which he also owns. We learned that in many cases the FairTrade scheme actually hinders small producers like him, and also that companies like Illy and Nestle actually buy very poor quality coffee when compared to what is actually available.

Not too much to say about El Salvador yet except that (as in everywhere we've been to so far) the people are really friendly and welcoming. I think they're mostly a bit shy of foreigners, as there aren't loads of tourists around but once you say hello you get a big smile and a greeting back in return. Also, I really wish we knew Spanish!

Hasta luego!
KL