Santa Ana (El Salvador)

After our chicken bus ride from Ta Cuba to Auachapan, we then caught a second bus to Santa Ana, all in all about 4.5 hours. Santa Ana is the 3rd largest town in the northern part of El Salvador and would be our base for us to explore the surrounding countryside. We stayed in a lovely hostel that was very well setup. It makes you appreciate a nice hostel, when you have stayed in some bad ones.

The afternoon we arrived, we mooched round Santa Ana to see the sites. We had done in about 2 hours, but that was still good to do. A lot of the cities are set up on a grid system like in northern America, so after wandering around for a time it all looks the same. That said, Santa Ana had a nice cathedral and town square with old colonial style buildings.

The main reason for coming here though was Volcanoes! Now I don't know what the excitement is, but the thought of climbing a live volcano is pretty cool. I say "live", it last erupted in 2005, but still not exactly dormant.

The day started out with a chicken bus ride to the national park. It was a 2 hour ride and luckily we avoided the usual run through of people selling stuff, as this was an early bus straight from the garage. After arriving at the national park we had to wait a while until the park opened, but soon after got a guide and 2 armed security guards (they were there just incase, as there had been historic robberies along the walk - eek!)

The walk started with a trek trek through the lower lying forest, then a steady climb up to the alpine desert of the upper levels. When we got to the top it was an amazing view, again the pictures here are only a snap shot of what we saw. Te hardest part is to try and convey the size and depth of the inner crater and lake, they were just massive.

Volcan Izacol

Also from the top we were able to look down and across to a 'new' volcano called Volcan Izacol, that was formed only about 200 years ago. After a blustery stay at the top, we then worked our way back down to the start and waited for our bus ride home. We had a small group from the same hostel and that made a nice difference as we could enjoy the trip with other people. There was a couple from Detroit and 2 guys from LA. 

That night we rewarded ourselves with a nice meal out at a "proper restaurant", not something we had done that often, but after scaling and surviving a volcano, why not.

Chicken Bus

Chicken Bus [noun] - a local bus to get you from a to b in the fastest time humanly possible.

Now I know that we would be travelling by chicken bus in central America and that they would be an experience. All in all so far they have been fun.

In El Salvador the chicken buses have mainly been old USA school buses; you know the yellow ones. They are painted random colours, pimped with stereos and plastered with stickers. It is quite amazing that they are still running, as they must have had a good life in their first use, but driven at a much slower pace.

So the typical bus journey here will cost you about 50 cents to $1, now that could be a few hour journey.

If you're catching the bus at the side of the road, it will screech up, you jump on and then it will be speeding off, just as your foot leaves the pavement. However if you catch the bus at a bus terminal, then it is mad scramble to get on. The key we have found is to get on at the back, stash our massive rucsacs and then sit close to them. What I wasn't prepared for, is that when sitting at the terminal waiting to depart, you have the cast of Oliver vs Only Fools and Horses coming through, from front to back, trying to sell you things. You could by a whole array of food, drink, snacks, socks, newspapers, marker pens, prescription drugs. You name it, I'm sure of you sat there long enough you could get it. It is a little annoying though when the 13 year old kid comes through for the 4th time.

Now the name the "chicken bus", there are a few theories. Some would say it is because that the person who may sit next to you literally has a few chickens on her lap (feet tied together) ready to take home for dinner. More likely though because they squeeze you in like chickens.

It has been a good way to travel and you do see some funny sights, although I don't think it will catch on in down town Frimley Green.

A map to help you find your way

Hello

Just thought that i would add a little map to help you all find your way and follow our travels in Central America. As you know we started out in El Salvador and headed north to Santa Ana.

From here we crossed in to Honduras and towards Santa Rosa de Copan. 

I am in the process of updating the blog with our recent adventures, but so you can get an idea, after Santa Rosa de Copan, we headed NE to San Pedro Sula, then to La Ceiba (on the coast)

We visited the Bay Islands (not labelled) but these are the three little islands just off the coast of La Ceiba. Next to the writing "Gulf of Honduras". The middle island is called Roatan where we stayed.

After here we will be heading back the same way and then then the long journey south, through Honduras down into Nicaragua, destination Leon.

Route De Flores

Church in Juayua's Main Square

Our next port of call would be along the Route de Floras a scenic drive in to the west of the country. Here there are a series of smaller, rural, hill towns that are in the middle of the coffee region. We first stayed in a lovely little town called Juayua (i still to this day struggle to say this name in Spanish).

The hostel here was lovely and the town also a lot more sedate and nicer than the bustle of Le Libertad. The hostel had a little pleasant surprise for us also - a hot shower !!
We arrived on the Friday and had been told to look out on the weekend for the festival of food. This was more a free for all of food stalls on the street, situated around the main square. We tried some of the local foods and enjoyed the extra buzz about the town. However there was a moment when Kip stopped talking to me. This was shortly after a lady had offered us both a little cocktail stick of the local meat to try. Obviously wanting to enter the spirit of the festival i tired it. I have to say it was lovely & tender and tasted rather nice. It wasn't though until i translated the meaning of the word Conejo, that i realised i have just eaten Rabbit. Hey ho, in for a penny....

After a little while Kip started talking to me again and we took a short trip in the afternoon to another local little village called Ataco. We had heard that this little town was famed along the Route de Floras for the various murals painted on the walls of the houses. It was lovely to see and the town was nice and quiet, which gave us the feeling of having the place to ourselves. (You'd have like the paintings mum !)

We strolled the streets of Ataco for a few hours and popped in to some of the local bric-a-brac shops, then continued strolling round looking at the murals.

Spot the Kipper in the water

The next day, back in Juayua, we took a morning tour to the local waterfalls. Now these were waterfalls, but not as we had seen before. The water was more seaping out of the rock face, along a single seam of rock, which did give lovely walls of water. The locals over time had dammed some of the falls to create little pools to swim in. It was a good swim, if not chuffing "fresh".

The following day we took one of the local "Chicken Buses" (more about these later!) to a coffee planation near to Ataco. This would be the first time of putting our spanish to the test, as the bus driver and our guide at the coffee planatation spoke no English....with phrase book in hand, we were off. Luckily at the start of our tour there was a little video (in English) to show us the process so we had some idea of what to expect.

The tour was excellent and with just Kip and myself we spent a good few hours walking through the entire factory looking at the process from beginning to end. We walked up ladders, round the machinery, past the rotating driers and to the stores where they sort the beans. The harvest had been in October and November, but still there were the beans laid out to dry on the terraces, as they have done for years.

We managed to sample some of the local brew and were nicely rewarded with some really fresh and lovely coffee. This also gave us a boost to get back on the chicken bus and experience another fast trip back to our hostel.

After 3 days in Juayua, we caught the first of 2 local buses north for our next destination along the Route de Floras, an even smaller town called TaCuba. The intention of heading here was to access the Park de El Impossible a sort of national park where there was supposed to be some good hikes. We stayed in TaCuba in a random little hostel, that was more someone's house than hostel, but none the less it was comfy (ish).

We embarked on our walk in to the National Park and picked up our local guide Jose. He was a diddy little man (as most Salvadorian's appear to be), but a great guide. Again his English was non existant, but this gave us chance to practice our Spanish and thumb our phrasebook. Jose took us on a 6 hour hike through the coffee Fincas (plantations), pointing out wild life, plants and the amazing sites and scenes when we reached the top of the hills. The walk was steep and tough, but rewarding. We had been used to doing a lot of walks in New Zealand and had taken a rest for the past 2 weeks, but we survived. We managed to see snakes, butterflies, armadillos and a whole host of other bugs.

The drive to and from the start point of our walk was about half and hour, but along some seriously steep and bumpy roads. I had to sit in the back of the truck, but this seems to be the way to travel in El Salvador. We arrived back in one piece and chilled out.

The next day we were again on the move, this time heading for the 3rd largest city called Santa Ana.

Hola El Salvador

We made it....after over 40 hours of the same journey, we touched down in El Salvador, collected outbags and got our transfer to our hostel. Luckily it was only a short half an hour drive and no sooner had we arrived, we hit the sack. We awoke quite a few hours later and struggled to wake up.

Cold shower anyone...?

We were staying in a basic hostel close to the beach and run by a lovely English guy with his Salvadorian wife. The place was basic but it suited our needs for our first few days in Central America. When i say basic, i am talking cold showers and that was the luxury, but this is El Salvador....!

We had booked to take some Spanish lessons for the first 5 days and would start those in a few days time. Meanwhile we were keen to recover and get over the jet lag.

We explored the local small port town of Le Libertad, a bustling little town with a thriving fishing pier. The place was a world away from New Zealand! The fish market was rather in your face and the skinning and frantic chopping of stingray was unexpected. We declined the offer of trying the fresh samples whilst passing each stall. I'd like to keep my lunch thank you !



The beach was a short 5 minute stroll from our hostel and we enjoyed the long, open beach and warm sea. Something that we had last felt in Thailand!

On the Sunday we met our Spanish tutor, a little fella by the name of Hanibal (pronounced without the 'h', as you do in Spanish). We would be taking a 4 hour class every morning for the next 5 days. What were we thinking!? The first few days were tough, as the tutor had to start from scratch, but after this we managed to get to grips with the basics. In the afternoons and evenings the locals who worked in the hostel gave us good guinea pigs to test out our pigeon Spanish. They were very patient and repeated stuff a lot.

The days were spent with the classes in the morning followed by lunging around in the afternoon, be it in the hammocks dotted around the grounds or in the pool. After a week here and over our jet lag we set off to explore the rest of El Salvador. Luckily the owner of the hostel and his wife were heading the same way as us for a short trip, so we managed to jump in with them.

Our Hostel "El Roble"

  

Back To The Future

Now as a kid it was a great idea to travel back in time, but today was to be my lucky day. [Cue music from back to the future].

We left New Zealand bound for Los Angeles at 19:15 on the 19th January 2012. We arrived in Los Angeles International at 10:30am on the same day. That's right we had travelled back in time. Ok now that I have let the kid in me out, I'll continue with the trip.

So we arrived bleary eyed after being on the go since leaving Akaroa the day before. We had a total of 14 hours to kill in LA, great!

Due to the joyous USA security there were no lockers or luggage storage at the airport. So after speaking to some locals, we boarded a bus and headed to the nearby hotels, who may be able to store them. After some sweet taking at the reception of the local Marriott hotel, I persuaded them to take our bags for the day, so we didnt have to lug them round - genius!

We took the local bus in to downtown Santa Monica, a short 40 min bus ride away. We had decided to stay away from the proper downtown LA, as there was soo much to see, but little time to do it and it all being spread out. Not also for the fact that we didn't want to rent a car or pay stupid taxi fares for one day. We had also heard of the infamous LA traffic, which would not be a good idea whilst trying to get back to the airport that evening.

We hit Santa Monica and found a nice little eatery for a proper American breakfast. I am still unsure about the whole maple syrup on eggs and bacon, but hey it was the closest thing to golden syrup so I gave it a whirl. (to be honest I'd eat most things if covered in golden syrup).

After this we headed for the beach and strolled along the pier overlooking the stereo-typical American beach. All really picturesque and just nice not to be stuck in the airport terminal for an eternity.

Little fact for you; The pier is the official end of Route 66, that runs from Chicago to Santa Monica.


 


Coffee & Shopping LA Style !



We strolled on the beach and felt rather odd at being in America, when we were only in new Zealand the day before. Also I think the lack of sleep had started to kick in. It was also strange to have the sun setting at about 4:30pm, where in NZ we had been used to long evening. So with that we headed for the shops and get a coffee to perk us up. We also opted to buy a Spanish phrase book, as at this point we still had the grand total of zero Spanish between us.



Santa Monica was a lovely place and a great place to travel to for the day if you ever have time to kill at LAX. We got a bus back toward LAX, collected out bags and went to catch the last of our 3 flights. We did encounter some minor problems at check in and had to use our Spanish phrase book (whilst in the USA!). But they were all sorted and we checked through security to go to our gate. The flight was at 00:35, so the last part of the wait felt like an age. We were both really tired but knew that we had a few more hours yet, before we could conk out on the plane. Needless to say as soon as we were on board and before we had taken off, we we're both away with th fairies.



Next stop....El Salvador



The Last Leg

Seals and their cubs, near Kaikora

With the end in sight we started to head south towards Christchurch, for the last leg of our journey here in New Zealand. We have a few days left and on route down from Blenheim to Christchurch we decided to take the coast road to Kaikora. This is a little seaside village on the east coast that is famed for it's sea life. Especially the numerous trips available to see dolphins and whales.  However the thought of spending a whole day on the big blue ocean made me reminisce about the previous boat journeys that ended with me feeding the fish, so we decided to skip that tour.

Our next stop would be the hillside town of Hanmer Springs. This is a small town situated inland and we would spend 2 nights here enjoying the peace and quiet. A nice hostel with a great feature...free ice cream! Hanmer Springs has a series of large thermal pools, so we decided to check them out in the afternoon.

Views from Hanmer Springs walk

We enjoyed a few local walks round the surrounding hills, these were some steep tracks, but again worth it for the views.

After this brief stop we were finally heading south towards Christchurch, our last few days ahead of us and we were already starting to get sad about leaving. We went to Christchurch and went to the iSite to see what we could and couldn't access (due to earthqauke damage). We had seen the paper that morning and it had a shocking headline about Christchurch. Since the initial major earthquake in September 2010, it has been 500 days and 9,500 earthquakes. That's just hard to comprehend.

We walked towards the centre of town towards the "red zone" an area completely cordoned off to the public and where buildings are still being assessed as to whether they are fit for use or have to be pulled down. Even outside this zone, there was obvious large scale projects of building works, demolitions or salvage works. The most impressive were where they were trying the salvage the older building facades and features. A hard task!

We then walked to an area that I absolutely loved, a local project called Restart. This was an urban regeneration area to give the locals a place to go to and see that life is still possible, even though the heart of the city has gone. The project is a series of shipping containers that have been assembled to create a shopping area, from coffee shops, to banks and shoe shops. A great idea, nicely executed.





We headed into the main park and gardens, only a short walk, but a world away from the devastated downtown. We met up with Joe & Emilie, who we had previously travelled with, who lived in Christchurch, but were leaving the next day back for the UK. It was nice to catch up with them and see some familiar faces.

After saying our goodbyes to Joe, Emilie and to Christchurch we drove about 1.5 hours to Akaroa. This was one of the first places that we stayed in the south island (all those weeks ago), but loved it so much we decided to spend out last few nights in the mighty New Zealand there.



We stayed in the centre of Akaroa this time, where before we had been on the surrounding bays. We filled our last day enjoying the quaint little village of Akaroa and took in some more views via a 2 hour walk in the surrounding hillside.

And then it came....the dreaded alarm clock waking us up on the last morning in New Zealand. The bags had been painstakingly packed the night before, not to mention the astonishing amount of crap that we had accumulated in the hire car over the past 6 weeks. It was a wonder how we managed to fit it in to our 2 main rucksacks. So with our last goodbyes said to Akaroa, we took the leisurely 2 hour drive to Christchurch airport and dropped off the hire car.



Before we knew it we were checked in for our first of 3 flights in the coming few days. Our first, a small internal flight from Christchurch to Auckland, then the longest flight of our trip; Auckland to Los Angeles.

What can I say, thank you New Zealand, it's been emotional.

PS - we'll be back, don't you worry!!

"Packhorse Kipper" carrying BOTH our bags !