YOLO from Antigua to Cerro Verde and Santa Ana, El Salvador June 2023

A big, beautiful ripe mango with some big pink spots on it.  Yummy.

Sonny arrived in the compoung again and he and Jason got to work trying to fix something on his door and window.  Talk about backyard mechanics!

A hammer and chisel were the tools of the day for this job.

I lazed in the hammock and read, keeping my ears tuned for shouts of injury.  Luckily, none came.

Karen in the hammock in Antigua.  The dog Malachi belonged to a French couple from Canada who were parked in front of us.

Jason at Hector's Bistro in Antigua.  We traded paperback books for beers here.

 We finally tore ourselves away from the Tourist Police compound in Antigua after giving them our old coffee maker as another 'thank you' for letting us stay there.  We drove to a lane next to a church near the border and this was our view of the lake.  Note the dugout canoes, still very much in use.

Looking back from the lakeside to our parking space for the night.  Huge mango trees dropped fruit that littered the lane up by the main road and we grabbed a few to eat.

Barra de Santiago Beach wasn't being very friendly just after we crossed the border into El Salvador.  Surfers like the waves but we didn't.  Didn't get a great vibe from this dead beach town and left to find a better place to spend the night. The dogs here were the mangiest we'd seen in a long while. 

The malecon at Barra de Santiago.  Looks more cheerful than anyone we met there.

We traveled as far as a Uno gas station/truck stop.  The big yard behind the gas station was free to stay and they had water and free showers so we stayed the night.  These ripening mangoes were growing next to our spot.  Hadn't really seen purple mangoes yet up close.  Purple means they aren't yet ripe.  They need to start turning yellow-orange to be ripe enough to be sweet eating.  The fruit bats couldn't wait and nibbled bits out of the lower one.

A huge mango grove grew down the hill behind the station.  Dump trucks hauled dirt out all day long and we asked the driver of one who came over to talk what was happening.  The workers in this mango grove explained about the mangoes (in Spanish) and gave us our choice of the ones they'd picked.  They were so good!

The dump truck driver encouraged us to walk the kilometer to check it out.  They are building a little picnic area in the middle of a tiny lake they're digging out.  You need to take a little boat to the gazebo on the island, where they'll have lunch facilities.  The digger/excavator pulls the dirt out of the ground and ground water fills it up.  There is a tilapia fish farm next to the mango farm here, too. We're only a few miles from the ocean here.

Women washing their clothes at a washing station alongside the mountain road.  Jason gets a kick out of these scenes and thinks I should join them in doing our laundry.  Not likely..

We found our way to the hot water river and falls of Salto de Malacatiupan.  The water is geothermally heated from a spring upriver and the water in the river is warm as it falls over the rock cliff here.  Below, the water gyres the trash into a cove cut into the overhang.

Karen standing at the top of the falls.

Looking down from Karen's vantage point over the falls.

The warm river water about to go over the falls.  We thought we'd be in for a Jacuzzi-like experience, but the falls were about 40 feet tall and no way to safely get down to the bottom. 

Looking upriver at the warm water heading for the falls.

This drunken/high local bothered us from the time we got down the trail to the river.  He wouldn't leave us alone or shut up and slipped and fell a couple of times.  He then wanted to get into a fight so we left him and his stuporous friend sitting on a rock. Not really what we'd expected.

A pretty white church in Atiquizaya, the town we went to to spend the night.

We parked along the central square park and wandered the town.  This shredded, fried yucca was worth the dollar to try.  Like french fries.  We ate a full meal of stewed beef, pupusas, veges/salad and pop, too.  A local lady who sells drinks from a street cart wanted to talk to us and insisted that I come get a free drink from her in the morning.

The big letters of the town, since I can't remember one from the next these days.  It was a freindly little town with free water in the park.

We wanted to hike the Santa Ana Volcano to see the crater lake.  This old crater lake, Lake Coatepeque, is now surrounded by expensive homes and can only be seen by stopping at a business along the road up to the volcano park.

Once in the park, we found a spot to stay for a few days at the end of a dark shady road.....perfect for us.

The road into the park is lined with fancy topiary trees.  You can tell we're in a cloud forest.

The cloud moved in and the scene was filmed in fog.  This bird on a nest was one of many animals carved into the shrubbery.

We think this was meant to be a sloth.

Jason pretending to be short to get in for a discount.  Didn't workl

There were several topiary tunnels in the park, too.

A cute one for photos.

Karen at Cerro Verde, the park where we started the climb to the Santa Ana Volcano.  These two parks butt up against each other and you have to pay for both of them as you hike up to the volcano.  We got into the volcano park for free as seniors.

Jason framed to show the volcano Izobal behind him.

Izobal volcano in the thinning fog.

Part of our large volcano hiking group.  There were about 30 of us this morning, a big group.

This is where I quit, my lungs and head giving out in the thinning air.  Jason did reach the top, where he got faint-headed and had some colorful hallucenations.  Gotta watch the altitudes.

The crater lake in the Santa Ana volcano caldera.  Yes, that is really the color of it!

Jason selfie at the top of Santa Ana volcano

The group that made it to the top.

Jason at the top of Santa Ana.

You can actually climb up into the center of some of the topiary trees.

Jason up inside on of the park topiary trees.

Lots of fog here and it was a welcomed cool down.

We went on a Forest Walk with Kevin, our guide from the volcano hike the day before.  We were the only ones doing the walk this day so we had a private tour.  Such a clear view is not normal.  In the background you can actually see the volcanoes Fuega and Acotenango in Guatemala!

A clear view of Izobal volcano just outside the Cerro Verde park where we stayed.  Climbing it is brutal we were told.

A brilliant orange butterfly in the greenery at the park.

Jason and Karen on the forest tour at the lookout point.

Pointing to the volcanoes in Guatemala.

Hugging one of the biggest, oldest trees in the park, an ancient growth tree that is huge at these altitudes.

Looking down at Lake Coatepeque, an older crater lake now 'gentrified' and out of reach for many locals to live.

Karen and Jason on the forest walk at a swing overlook.

Facing out to enjoy the view.

Lover tree.  Two different trees have joined together as one--very different.  But you can't control love.

Our guide, Kevin.  He spoke good English and we helped him improve when we could.

We stayed in the park for three nights and enjoyed the cooler weather before moving on,