El Salvador

After an overnight flight we arrived in El Salvador where we met our guide, Josué, and our driver, Carlos. After the 30 minute ride into San Salvador, we got settled at the Presidente hotel, then set out to have lunch. We visited MARTE, the museum of modern art, and then cooled off with a swim in the hotel's large pool.

On Day 2, we met as a group for the first time. Afer an orientation, we set out with our local guide, Miguel, to tour San Salvador by bus, stopping at the gallery of artist Fernando LLort and then his mosaic installation on the Catedral Metropolitano in the Plaza Barrios. On the way Miguel told us about Oscar Romero, an Archbishop who was assassinated during mass in the cathedral in 1980, touching off a brutal civil war. As we started to leave town, we got a flat tire and had to stop at an "informal" roadside business for a quick change. We didn't even have to get off the bus as our mechanic fixed it with traffic zooming by only inches away.

Back on the road we headed east out of town to visit Joya de Cerén archaeological site. Known as the Pompei of the Americas, the site is famous for preserving a snapshot of life for everday Mayans around 600 AD when it was covered in almost 20 feet of ash from a nearby volcano. Erick, our local expert at Joya de Cerén, showed us around the excavated buildings and talked to us about some of the local trees and plants, including the sacred (and thorny) Ceiba tree and the red-fruited Cashew nut tree.

Our next adventure took us down a steep, winding, gravel road to the volcanic crater lake of Coatepeque. Here we had excellent soup, fish, squash and tortillas for a lakeside lunch. The air was smoky from slash and burn fires, but the view was still impressive. Satisfied, we returned to the highway and continued on towards Honduras. Before long, we crossed into Guatemala and were escorted by armed police (for a small token of appreciation from our guide) due to the prevalence of weapons, gangs, rich land owners, and exteme poverty in this isolated area. Along the way, Josué talked to us about how large tracts of the surrounding agricultural land are owned by a very small elite (almost solely decendents of original european colonists), forcing the large and very poor local population to eke out a living on marginal lands and by clearing forest. Finally, we crossed the border into Honduras and drove to the small town of Copan Ruinas.

Below are some additional pictures from El Salvador: