Juayua
EL SALVADOR
Exploring Northeast El Salvador
By AARON
Thursday, June 26, 2008
So gaining valuable knowledge from some of the long timers in San Salvador (the Peace Corps people), we found out that for just 50 cents more, we could take an “Especial” bus from San Salvador to Santa Ana, located in Northeast El Salvador. It was well worth it. For the price of 1 1/2 double cheeseburgers on the McDonald’s value menu, we got a great air condiditoned bus, complete with the movie that jumpstarted Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career: Commando.
We had been told that “the best hostel in Central America” resided in the town of Santa Ana, a small place called Casa Frolaz, yet all we had to go on was that it was on 29th Poniente (West 29th St). Luckily enough, my keen eagle eyes (from my recent lasik surgery) caught the street as we passed in the bus, so we got the driver to let us out there. We had no trouble finding the place after that, because apparently when the locals see 2 gringos with backpacks walking along this street, they automatically assume (correctly) that they are looking for Casa Frolaz.
Casa Frolaz is owned and operated by Javier, who although I don’t know what he does for a living, it must pay well because his house was amazing. He basically opened up his house as a hostel, but aside from his master bedroom and bathroom, we have full access to his house. Decked out with beautiful art and artifacts all over, you feel like you are in a museum, not a hostel. The rooms were impeccably clean, and cheap as well ($6 for a dorm room). Javier himself was great. You could always see him with a glass of beer in one hand and a cigarette in another, and while you may get a mental picture of some drunk leaning over a juke box in a dive bar, he pulled it off with that Latin American class that somehow made him look distinguished.
Since there is not much to do in Santa Ana itself, Lyndi and I left early the next morning to Lago de Coatepeque for a relaxing day trip. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there, and for $2US, we got to use the facilities of the local hostel on the lake, i.e. dock, foosball table, hammocks, etc. It was a very relaxing day as we swam, laid in the sun, slept in the hammocks, read, and played foosball. We went on a Friday, and since the lake really fills up on the weekends, it was absolutely dead while we were there, and we had the whole hostel to ourselves. We returned to Casa Frolaz around 5pm, and ended up spending the night eating pupusas, and drinking Regia (beer) around the dining room table with Javier and 3 other travelers.
Next morning, Lyndi and I said our goodbyes to Casa Frolaz, and Javier, who generously gave us directions, and set us up with a reservation at our next destination, Ahuapac Hostel in Juayua.
Juayua is located along the “Ruta de Las Flores” in the mountain range Ilamatepec – Apaneca and has been named the Flower Trail due to the nice crispy weather and amazing floral scenery. The trail will take you through two departments in the western part of El Salvador: Sonsonate and Ahuachapan. We arrived on Saturday, which was great because every weekend, Juayua puts on their food festival, which is exactly like “Taste of (insert your city here)” where all the local eateries set up their own stands and showcase their food. We starved ourselves all day, and went to the festival hot, hungry, and in need of some good food.
The food festival did not disappoint, as Lyndi and I got large plates of food – me settling on a sampler of carne, potatoes, conejo (rabbit), quesadillas, and sausage – all for $5US. Add a $1US beer to the list and I was a happy camper. At the festival, we ended up running into a couple of friends we had made from Santa Ana at Casa Frolaz, so we all decided to head 20min south that night to the town of Nahuizalco, where according to the Lonely Planet guide “the night market at Nahuizalco boasts all sorts of exotic foods ranging from iguana to snake… Completely lit by candles, this is one experience you do not want to miss…” Once again, the Lonely Planet didn’t fail to disappoint, as we arrived to a normal night market selling the usual market stuff: hair gel, super glue, umbrellas, and tortillas. When we asked the locals (again using our wickedly awesome Spanish-speaking skills), they said they’ve never had iguana or snake here at the night market. Bummer. So, trying to make the best of it, Lyndi, Kevin, Nariv, Chris and I drowned our sorrows in fruit smoothies and tacos de conejo (bunny tacos). The night didn’t turn out too bad, as we ended up eating some great food (non-exotic as it may have been), meeting some good people, and Lyndi trying to ride the ferris wheel that was about as tall as a GMC Yukon, and clearly made for midgets, or small children I suppose. We finished the night at the arcade in Nahuizalco, playing Virtual Fighter II with the local kids who must have been wondering why 5 grown adults were in an arcade in the first place.
Just a side note: if you DO want exotic foods, the food festival at Juayua runs every weekend, and according to the locals and Cesar, the owner of Hostel Ahuapac, on Sundays of the festival they serve things such as snake and lizard.
