Fri 2123 can hardly believe it has been two weeks. not sure in which direction - maybe time has flown, but it feels like it has been longer really. But things feel quite nice actually, I seem to have done an awful lot and it still feels like j have a decent amount of time to go.
But finally bed!
Sat 0806 didn't sleep all that well. On lower terrace waiting for free coffee to warm up. Hostel owner woman Caro has given me some l advice on Laguna Verde and I may chance it in a bit.
My usual hostel in Santa Ana is not showing on booking but I could probably contact them. The lake hostel has availability but it seems more expensive whatver days I pick than when douglas was showing me a few days ago. Affordable but expensive at 40-50 a night for a queen room.
Core plan for today is to "see" the food market and do the night market and ideally put an hours wandering in in salcoatitlan, then I will have seen all the towns. That said, I may well try to put a morning/early afternoon in trying for laguna verde and if I fail it isn't the end of the world as long as I am not bitten. I suspect the recommended road may not be too isolates but then it may be.
FWIW last night walking back to hostel there were dogs barking all round but it wasn't bothering me much in a slightly surprising way, perhaps because I am in town and feel I know this area a little.
As I say I wasn't sleeping great despite early bed and no alcohol. I did wake on my vibratey sunrise alarm but I really didn't feel like getting up. There is no reason to believe it is unusually spectacular here and I did look through curtains from my bed (which happens to have a window facing sunrise) at points when I was awake and saw some nice coloured sky etc but nothing absolutely out of this world. If I'd slept better and woke up naturally or something maybe it would have been worth going up to terrace.
Caro just offered to bring me coffee which is excessively nice. I asked and the food market is sort of 10-4. My gut feeling is that if I am going to take a punt on Laguna Verde I should leave in the next hour or ideally less, one way or another I am likely to be back here for 2ish and that will give me a chance to see the market and eat something if I want, and push comes to shove I could also see it at eg 10am tomorrow (checkout is 11 and I am sure they would look after my bag anyway) before moving on. And once I have tried Laguna Verde I will have a better idea how feel about moving on. I am wondering if I should do a night at lake hostel *before* going back to santa Ana and trying to do volcano but not sure, there is some vague "it might work better if I need to stay a second night to try volcano again" though in my head but I am not sure this really works. Mixed with some idea that if I do the volcano second and am thus going on to get somewhere east of san Salvador afterwards, I start that possible multi bus jounrye from santa ana instead of maybe having to add an extra bus from lake to santa ana. But really not sure.
Having the orange slices with spice I bought at supermarket other day for pseudo breakfast.
0920 finally at bus stop waiting for bus to APANECA. Bit edgy re dogs ETc but I will have a go at least, no specific reason to expect problema. Cora did say last night when I mentioned it dogs are a potential issue in general and it isn't just me being irrational but maybe she was just being nice.
Feeling semi chilled and semi rushed. I could extend a day if I had to but it is probably pushing it. I must say that the structure of ruta towns means the whole idea of having a base and travelling out from there works really well, not the only time it has worked well for me but definitely one of the better examples of doing it. (In some places the bus journeys out and back feel so long the ckncep t is maybe better than constantly changing accom but still a bit crap.)
0925 on bus. I am actually starting to recognise one or two of the buses.
I have both phones with me today. I feel the risk of mugging or other loss is relatively low and the chance of eg wanting gmaps or (the main point) a desperate (even if apparently unlikely to be successful) attempt to get an uber back if I eg make it to Laguna but feel nervous about walking back down justify bringing both.
1211 At Entre Cielo & Tierra just above Laguna Verde. Got dropped off by bus at vus stop north side of Apaneco and walked up no fuss at all, about 40-50 mins. I took a detour into possibly private (big gate but pedestrian access via a sort of bendy stile/tunnel) Montecristo estate to go to a crwter viewpoint shown on OM but maybe it was overgrouwn or I didn't quite expkore enough. No dog problems at all, touch wood it will be same on walks down. Getting personal pizza and a coffee here, perhaps lardy but sod it. Had two small packet of Taquitos chile toreado from small kiosk by lake after I walked round it. The lake is lovely. Really glad I came. Asked for a voluntary contribution when I turned up by the were super low pressure and didn't even give me a suggestion, I sug out maybe a dollar worth of change from back pocket and they seemed happy with that, and this gets rid of some of my shrapnel. I gave them all the change I had, had I had eg some dollar coins might have been different.
I stood by lake enoying it after circuit, I think I struck a good balanxe between enjoying it and milking it. Probably about an hour around the lake. Plan is to eat this lightish (just a personal pizza) meal, walk down and probably be back in juayua for 2ish if not earlier, probably drop a06 off at hostel for a top up, while I visit food market (perhaps for snakcy stuff, we will see) then pick a06 up and head off to saltoatitlan for abrief look and then naz... For a daytime look and will camp out there until it gets darks, then come back to hostel.
I will probably WA the usual hostel in Santa Ana later to ask if they have a bed for sun and mon nights but not rushing.
I have this place to myself. The walk round the lake was mostly solo, a couple of local families living round there, one of them said hi, also met three soldiers walking round opposite way to me and said Buenos to them, all very amicable. More people by the entrance part of theake but only in a pleasantly busy way, it was still quiet and peaceful where I was standing for my pseudo meditative bit.
It is sunny and really nice but in shade or by lake where there is a breeze (the lake is small in a nice kind of way) I was an am glad I brought the fleece.
Turned transformer llm off on keyboard and turned on some auto assistance settings which were off without me realising it. Superficially this feels way better. May turn transformer llm back on later but yea this is much better, if still not as good as a real keyboard.
To be clear I cannot ser the lake from the terrace here at the restaurant but the view is very cool, just different. Looking at OM, I think the town I can see is Ahuachapan.
I lost data connectivity at the lake (not that I needed it, but I got text messages) because my phone connected to Guatemala masts and I don't want to risk roaming even on my local sim.
It really feels touch wood like this is a near idyllically perfect travel day so far. The lake, the walk, the not expensive and deserted restaurant with the nice terrace and views.
I think I can see lago el espino. Mana Muelle de san blas playing. Very nice.
1242 pizza very good. Just took a photo of a cloud that looks a bit like a cat. It is that kind of day. :-)
Don't want to rush and not haring off but also need to not milk it. Will finish coffee, pay and see if I can use the toilet then head down.
1509 l just finished carne asada at food festival thing. Long tent with lots of tables and food carts. Less pretentiously foody than I expected. Bit crappy eating steak with a plastic knife and fork and I am a bit stuffed after eating this on top of pizza (and crisp things) earlier but it was good at and 6 plus 1 for a bottle of Fresca not bad value. Street dogs hanging round but they are not (except for one small fight between a couple of then) aggressive, and they don't jump up on the tables or anything. I haven't fed them anything as I ate it all myself and I suspect it is frowned on. To be fair they are not too bad looking and I suspect they do OK overall.
1514 just had a very old guy with a lot of missing teeth who I could mostly not understand come up to me. I wonder if he was begging of course but while I semi resent even this not very threatening "aggressive" begging, he also seemed kind of dignified and it wasn't 100% obvious he was begging and there was a tiny part of me that was tempted to give him something but didn't want to insult him. So a weird mix of the two thongs. I was however polite to him, shook his hand when I got up after he had talked to me for a minute or two, etc.
Glad I came. Am walking back to hostel slowlyish, hope the a06 will have charged and will grab it and the fleece which I left there and head out for a possibly slightly long (bit not that long I guess) bit of touristing in salcoatitan and naz...
Do feel a bit bloated but just I think this side of being sick...
2146 back at hostel. All ok. Got laundry, 3 USD. Brief chat with callum, Brian and the other guy from last night in dorm. Caro advises me there is a 9am bus direct to Santa Ana which I think I am going to feel compelled to take, despite having hoped for a more leisurely morning. There is theoretically a middya direct bus but she says it is not running.
Went to Salcoatitan for a flying visit a dog growled at me from middle of street as I wandered randomly away from centre and I turned back. Centre nice enough and there we a brass-ish band playing and I went into the small printing museum which was sort of cool and they had a nice and probably pregnant cat
Waited ages for bus to Nahuizalco so it was busy when it turned up. It also drops you a fair way outside town so I trigger in, not a huge deal. Night market was quite cool in its way, there were some people singing and I wandered round and had a coffee frappe and a licuado de leche con zapote and used the toilet in the market where the grumpy woman on the desk urged me to gk through without giving me change for my dollar coin (0.25 to use toilet) and pulled a face like I'd asked her to do something unreasonable when I asked for my change.
I wandered round a bit and watched a possibly drunk but possibly just friendly tiny old woman chatting with people and dancing and maybe begging but k didn't actually are anyone give her money. I tried not to milk it and probably didn't. Was vaguely tempted to eat but I really didn't feel it was smart after so much food earlier.
Got an iber back no real trouble, driver asked me if I wanted to go to the park in Juayua when I got in (err, no, that is why I booked to my hostel and why it says that on your phone) but it was all OK. A whisker over USD 5.
Feel vaguely jealous/left out wr those three guys from dorm apparently hitting it off and hanging out all the time,but tbh I probably wouldn't want to be that full time hanging out with someone. Ben told me there is a great taco place in Santa Ana in a car wash, which sounds odd and maybe worth checking out just for the hell of it, volcano permitting.
Fwiw callum is going to Suchitoto tomorrow and is in a honestay as all the dorms were booked up, and I half wonder if there is some overlap here with the apparent lack of a dorm option at Captain Morgan when I was looking the other night.
I reserved for two nights at usual hostel in Santa Ana via WA while at night market. Fingers crossed volcano is doable Tuesday. Plan for tomorrow is to finally swim at Sihuatehuacan 2pmish, assuming j get there with plenty of time, which if I am on the 9am bus I probably will be.
2216 just done a sort of rough lack. I think I somehow put a water bottle in bag without top properly sealed after cleaning teeth and have wet inside of daypack and the floor by my bed but can't be helped I guess.
I am just about to go to bed I guess, so let me send this first.
But finally bed!
Sat 0806 didn't sleep all that well. On lower terrace waiting for free coffee to warm up. Hostel owner woman Caro has given me some l advice on Laguna Verde and I may chance it in a bit.
My usual hostel in Santa Ana is not showing on booking but I could probably contact them. The lake hostel has availability but it seems more expensive whatver days I pick than when douglas was showing me a few days ago. Affordable but expensive at 40-50 a night for a queen room.
Core plan for today is to "see" the food market and do the night market and ideally put an hours wandering in in salcoatitlan, then I will have seen all the towns. That said, I may well try to put a morning/early afternoon in trying for laguna verde and if I fail it isn't the end of the world as long as I am not bitten. I suspect the recommended road may not be too isolates but then it may be.
FWIW last night walking back to hostel there were dogs barking all round but it wasn't bothering me much in a slightly surprising way, perhaps because I am in town and feel I know this area a little.
As I say I wasn't sleeping great despite early bed and no alcohol. I did wake on my vibratey sunrise alarm but I really didn't feel like getting up. There is no reason to believe it is unusually spectacular here and I did look through curtains from my bed (which happens to have a window facing sunrise) at points when I was awake and saw some nice coloured sky etc but nothing absolutely out of this world. If I'd slept better and woke up naturally or something maybe it would have been worth going up to terrace.
Caro just offered to bring me coffee which is excessively nice. I asked and the food market is sort of 10-4. My gut feeling is that if I am going to take a punt on Laguna Verde I should leave in the next hour or ideally less, one way or another I am likely to be back here for 2ish and that will give me a chance to see the market and eat something if I want, and push comes to shove I could also see it at eg 10am tomorrow (checkout is 11 and I am sure they would look after my bag anyway) before moving on. And once I have tried Laguna Verde I will have a better idea how feel about moving on. I am wondering if I should do a night at lake hostel *before* going back to santa Ana and trying to do volcano but not sure, there is some vague "it might work better if I need to stay a second night to try volcano again" though in my head but I am not sure this really works. Mixed with some idea that if I do the volcano second and am thus going on to get somewhere east of san Salvador afterwards, I start that possible multi bus jounrye from santa ana instead of maybe having to add an extra bus from lake to santa ana. But really not sure.
Having the orange slices with spice I bought at supermarket other day for pseudo breakfast.
0920 finally at bus stop waiting for bus to APANECA. Bit edgy re dogs ETc but I will have a go at least, no specific reason to expect problema. Cora did say last night when I mentioned it dogs are a potential issue in general and it isn't just me being irrational but maybe she was just being nice.
Feeling semi chilled and semi rushed. I could extend a day if I had to but it is probably pushing it. I must say that the structure of ruta towns means the whole idea of having a base and travelling out from there works really well, not the only time it has worked well for me but definitely one of the better examples of doing it. (In some places the bus journeys out and back feel so long the ckncep t is maybe better than constantly changing accom but still a bit crap.)
0925 on bus. I am actually starting to recognise one or two of the buses.
I have both phones with me today. I feel the risk of mugging or other loss is relatively low and the chance of eg wanting gmaps or (the main point) a desperate (even if apparently unlikely to be successful) attempt to get an uber back if I eg make it to Laguna but feel nervous about walking back down justify bringing both.
1211 At Entre Cielo & Tierra just above Laguna Verde. Got dropped off by bus at vus stop north side of Apaneco and walked up no fuss at all, about 40-50 mins. I took a detour into possibly private (big gate but pedestrian access via a sort of bendy stile/tunnel) Montecristo estate to go to a crwter viewpoint shown on OM but maybe it was overgrouwn or I didn't quite expkore enough. No dog problems at all, touch wood it will be same on walks down. Getting personal pizza and a coffee here, perhaps lardy but sod it. Had two small packet of Taquitos chile toreado from small kiosk by lake after I walked round it. The lake is lovely. Really glad I came. Asked for a voluntary contribution when I turned up by the were super low pressure and didn't even give me a suggestion, I sug out maybe a dollar worth of change from back pocket and they seemed happy with that, and this gets rid of some of my shrapnel. I gave them all the change I had, had I had eg some dollar coins might have been different.
I stood by lake enoying it after circuit, I think I struck a good balanxe between enjoying it and milking it. Probably about an hour around the lake. Plan is to eat this lightish (just a personal pizza) meal, walk down and probably be back in juayua for 2ish if not earlier, probably drop a06 off at hostel for a top up, while I visit food market (perhaps for snakcy stuff, we will see) then pick a06 up and head off to saltoatitlan for abrief look and then naz... For a daytime look and will camp out there until it gets darks, then come back to hostel.
I will probably WA the usual hostel in Santa Ana later to ask if they have a bed for sun and mon nights but not rushing.
I have this place to myself. The walk round the lake was mostly solo, a couple of local families living round there, one of them said hi, also met three soldiers walking round opposite way to me and said Buenos to them, all very amicable. More people by the entrance part of theake but only in a pleasantly busy way, it was still quiet and peaceful where I was standing for my pseudo meditative bit.
It is sunny and really nice but in shade or by lake where there is a breeze (the lake is small in a nice kind of way) I was an am glad I brought the fleece.
Turned transformer llm off on keyboard and turned on some auto assistance settings which were off without me realising it. Superficially this feels way better. May turn transformer llm back on later but yea this is much better, if still not as good as a real keyboard.
To be clear I cannot ser the lake from the terrace here at the restaurant but the view is very cool, just different. Looking at OM, I think the town I can see is Ahuachapan.
I lost data connectivity at the lake (not that I needed it, but I got text messages) because my phone connected to Guatemala masts and I don't want to risk roaming even on my local sim.
It really feels touch wood like this is a near idyllically perfect travel day so far. The lake, the walk, the not expensive and deserted restaurant with the nice terrace and views.
I think I can see lago el espino. Mana Muelle de san blas playing. Very nice.
1242 pizza very good. Just took a photo of a cloud that looks a bit like a cat. It is that kind of day. :-)
Don't want to rush and not haring off but also need to not milk it. Will finish coffee, pay and see if I can use the toilet then head down.
1509 l just finished carne asada at food festival thing. Long tent with lots of tables and food carts. Less pretentiously foody than I expected. Bit crappy eating steak with a plastic knife and fork and I am a bit stuffed after eating this on top of pizza (and crisp things) earlier but it was good at and 6 plus 1 for a bottle of Fresca not bad value. Street dogs hanging round but they are not (except for one small fight between a couple of then) aggressive, and they don't jump up on the tables or anything. I haven't fed them anything as I ate it all myself and I suspect it is frowned on. To be fair they are not too bad looking and I suspect they do OK overall.
1514 just had a very old guy with a lot of missing teeth who I could mostly not understand come up to me. I wonder if he was begging of course but while I semi resent even this not very threatening "aggressive" begging, he also seemed kind of dignified and it wasn't 100% obvious he was begging and there was a tiny part of me that was tempted to give him something but didn't want to insult him. So a weird mix of the two thongs. I was however polite to him, shook his hand when I got up after he had talked to me for a minute or two, etc.
Glad I came. Am walking back to hostel slowlyish, hope the a06 will have charged and will grab it and the fleece which I left there and head out for a possibly slightly long (bit not that long I guess) bit of touristing in salcoatitan and naz...
Do feel a bit bloated but just I think this side of being sick...
2146 back at hostel. All ok. Got laundry, 3 USD. Brief chat with callum, Brian and the other guy from last night in dorm. Caro advises me there is a 9am bus direct to Santa Ana which I think I am going to feel compelled to take, despite having hoped for a more leisurely morning. There is theoretically a middya direct bus but she says it is not running.
Went to Salcoatitan for a flying visit a dog growled at me from middle of street as I wandered randomly away from centre and I turned back. Centre nice enough and there we a brass-ish band playing and I went into the small printing museum which was sort of cool and they had a nice and probably pregnant cat
Waited ages for bus to Nahuizalco so it was busy when it turned up. It also drops you a fair way outside town so I trigger in, not a huge deal. Night market was quite cool in its way, there were some people singing and I wandered round and had a coffee frappe and a licuado de leche con zapote and used the toilet in the market where the grumpy woman on the desk urged me to gk through without giving me change for my dollar coin (0.25 to use toilet) and pulled a face like I'd asked her to do something unreasonable when I asked for my change.
I wandered round a bit and watched a possibly drunk but possibly just friendly tiny old woman chatting with people and dancing and maybe begging but k didn't actually are anyone give her money. I tried not to milk it and probably didn't. Was vaguely tempted to eat but I really didn't feel it was smart after so much food earlier.
Got an iber back no real trouble, driver asked me if I wanted to go to the park in Juayua when I got in (err, no, that is why I booked to my hostel and why it says that on your phone) but it was all OK. A whisker over USD 5.
Feel vaguely jealous/left out wr those three guys from dorm apparently hitting it off and hanging out all the time,but tbh I probably wouldn't want to be that full time hanging out with someone. Ben told me there is a great taco place in Santa Ana in a car wash, which sounds odd and maybe worth checking out just for the hell of it, volcano permitting.
Fwiw callum is going to Suchitoto tomorrow and is in a honestay as all the dorms were booked up, and I half wonder if there is some overlap here with the apparent lack of a dorm option at Captain Morgan when I was looking the other night.
I reserved for two nights at usual hostel in Santa Ana via WA while at night market. Fingers crossed volcano is doable Tuesday. Plan for tomorrow is to finally swim at Sihuatehuacan 2pmish, assuming j get there with plenty of time, which if I am on the 9am bus I probably will be.
2216 just done a sort of rough lack. I think I somehow put a water bottle in bag without top properly sealed after cleaning teeth and have wet inside of daypack and the floor by my bed but can't be helped I guess.
I am just about to go to bed I guess, so let me send this first.
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