Santa Ana revisit- week 3 in El Salvador -
1. Street Snaps of Santa Ana.
Santa Ana is such a charming town, as I mentioned in my previous blog. The buses navigate through narrow streets lined with colonial houses, and the old water pump still stands, adding a touch of nostalgia to the town’s design. All the windows and doors are protected by grills, even in shops, which means we have to buy items through them. I think it’s a smart security measure. Many bars and pubs have small signs out front, making them hidden gems.
2. Santa Teresa Hot Springs.
This place became to one of my favorites, various kinds of hot springs, Spa and restraints are available and we could spend our whole afternoon. I love soaking in hot bath because of my Japanese culture. There was one with high temperature like Japanese standard so I felt so comfortable and didn't want to get out! While wearing swim suits, we, Japanese, are in naked in hot springs because it is a place to clean our bodies the cultural differences are always fascinating to me.
At the spa area, we first applied mud all over our faces and bodies. Then, we spent five minutes in the sauna before soaking in the mineral hot springs. Check out our pictures below! Someone described us as Japanese opera performers called Nohgaku because of the white masks we wore, but I felt more like a Geisha or Geiko with the white makeup. Hahaha! Our skin became so smooth; we looked ten years younger!
While having lunch, a large lizard appeared near our table, and I jumped up onto my chair. My partner whispered, “Don’t move.” It was quite a surprise to see a big boy of about 60 cm long wandering into the human world! The security personnel arrived to handle the situation, but my partner quickly grabbed the lizard with his shirt and tossed it into the bushes behind the restaurant. It was such an unexpected action that everyone, including me, was taken aback. Afterward, he mentioned that the safety guy had given him a thumbs up with his body language, saying, “Good job!” Well, that was your job, right, mate?
3. Las Siete Cascadas.
It’s said that there are ten waterfalls in this area, and you can climb up with ropes to make your way back to the entrance. We enjoyed three of them, which offered a grand and dynamic landscape. The trail leading to the waterfalls was quite slippery and sandy, taking about 20 minutes to descend. We met a couple of young travelers at the entrance and assisted each other along the way. No tour guides accompanied us most of the time, which added to the adventure. One of the boys climbed a rock wall without ropes. When he spotted his fellow travelers, he warned them, "Don’t go up without ropes. It’s dangerous and could cause accidents." He was absolutely right.
Yipeee! We made it! Hi-five!!!
In the bottom left photo, you can see my partner pushing me against the rock wall! I exclaimed, "Noooo!" But he assured me, "There’s a gap between the waterfall and the rock wall like an air pocket!"
The landscape from the mountain when hending to the waterfall.
This site is one of the oldest settlements in El Salvador, dating back to 1200 BC. The ruins related to the Mayan civilization have been excavated here. What amazed me the most was the building structure! I felt that the technique of creating an inner load-bearing structure using rocks, then rendering the surface to resemble solid stone, shares the same concept as modern construction. If you want to learn more about this place, please click the link in the title.
5. Lake Ciatepeque.
We cruised around the lake looking for a swimming spot, but we found that all the surrounding areas were private—restaurants, hotels, and residences. The only place we discovered that was public was a park where we enjoyed some soda to refresh ourselves before hopping back on our bikes. According to Google, there was supposed to be hot springs nearby, but when we arrived, we only found a bush. So, we returned to the road and stumbled upon a local Mexican restaurant, where we decided to have lunch. The burrito we had was delicious, and we had a great view of the Santa Ana Volcano from there...not lake view..
6. Food of the week.
This week, we enjoyed Pupusas, Papas Fritas, pizza, and Mister Donuts. We tried both local dishes and Western food, but we rarely encountered Asian cuisine—perhaps there were some options we just didn’t know about. The pupuseria we visited was bustling with locals and the food was phenomenal. We observed and copied how locals eat Pupusas, adding pickled cabbage and chili sauce before enjoying them with our hands. It was so tasty! The large kitchen was visible through a window, allowing us to see the cooking process.
The bottom left is called Papa Fritas, fried chips with cheese and ketchup sauce, this was so quick cheep snacky food and there was a long queue to buy it.
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