El Salvador - Independence Long Long Weekend

September 14-18

Hello everyone!

¡Feliz día de la independencia! El Salvador became a nation in its own right on September 15, 1821. The dates are a bit more complicated than that but this is the day which is celebrated by Central America’s smallest country as its birthday.

I would say I'm trying to fit in...but I haven't
seen anyone wearing one of these...

Anyone for tennis?

As with most countries, Independence Day is a national holiday. It landed on a Thursday this year, meaning we had three days on, one day off and one day on for school. Well, that’s what 99% of the population thought. Turns out the man who has the power wanted us all to have a bit more time off…

They became independent from Spain in 1821
but were in a regional federation until 1841

Pupusas: massive part of Salvadorean culture

As we were drinking rather large beers in a bar in San Benito at 6pm, enjoying the fact that we didn’t have to (but probably still would due to our body clocks) wake up quite so early in the morning, a tweet was sent out. The first we heard of it was a WhatsApp message saying that school had seen the tweet and not to jump to conclusions. We did, and school did 10 minutes later. President Bukele had declared Friday a national holiday as well.

This decision was taken at about 6:00pm

Suddenly we had a four day weekend in front of us. With more time to prepare, we could have used that time to go explore, maybe even to a different country. As it was, I spent most of my long weekend in my newly adopted city, getting to know its rhythms a bit better.

I stuck to beer, rather than shooting tequila

This started by doing what I had originally planned to do on the Thursday: run. Every year there is an Independence Day Run on the morning of the big day. Leaving at 7am from Multiplaza, it meant that I didn’t drink too much on the Wednesday and allowed me to see how some locals celebrate their decoupling from Spain. It turns out a lot of them do this with dogs.

Great views in the early stages of the run

This husky overtook me. Three times. It only did 5km though.

The race was free, with the stipulation that you had to wear blue or white. It was an enjoyable enough jaunt around the midpoint between Santa Tecla and San Salvador.

I'm blue, ba-da-bee-ba-da-byeee...

This road is normally packed, so the run allowed me to see sights
 such as the San Salvador Temple more easily

Starting at 7am made this quite hot and tricky towards the end

At the start and end point, there were stalls for the main sponsors. One of these was a running group, which became an important feature later on in the weekend. Another of the sponsors of the event was Michelob, a brewing company. Finishing the race meant you got a free Ultra beer. It didn’t taste nice at 8am, though I’m not sure that particular beer would taste nice at any time of the day.

This group run at unsuitable times for me.
Entre Runners, on the other hand...

That, mis amigos, is a grimace

I spent the rest of Thursday and Friday catching up with elements of work, repeatedly trying to call Ethiopian Airlines (that’s for another blog) and kitting out my house with more things to make it more like a home.

These are from my garden

I also did a bit of research, specifically into running groups. Though not the one I found at the Independence Day race, I found another running group who run each Saturday at 6am. Just like I used to do in Malawi! For this particular weekend, this involved getting an Uber to a new area of town called Santa Elena for the 10km or 15km jog.

Bit different to the old Saturday morning
run - this one has photographers!

I wanted to do the 10km run and practise my Spanish along the way. It’s not as close-knit as my Malawian running group - many people run with headphones, for example - but I did eventually find a man who spoke decent English. I ran with him and his mate for a while until it was time for the distance split.

The man on the left speaks English. The man in the
middle doesn't sweat when running up steep hills.

The English speaker persuaded me to do the 15 with the other man. I soon found out why he didn’t do the longer route. His friend who I ran with taught me a new Spanish word: pendiente. Slope. He should have added ‘very steep’. We went from bottom to top of the city in less than three kilometres.

As usual, race organisers in El Salvador
were optimistic with their measurements

No sooner had I finished my run, avoided having a McDonald’s and returned home, I was heading out again. Out of the city this time, though it was to a place I had been told about before arriving: El Encanto country club.

This is actually in Zaragoza, halfway between Santa
Tecla and the beaches to the south of the country

One of the holes of El Encanto's golf course.
Playing a round without membership is over $100.

This is one of the places where you can play golf. Costing significantly more than it does in Malawi, it isn’t a common hobby here. I wasn’t here for golf, however: national pride was taking over for the weekend.

Tennis' annual version of a World Cup

This big ball stopped me from getting a better view -
to be to the left of the ball, you had to pay $10

El Salvador were playing a Davis Cup tennis match against Denmark. I had not heard of any player from either team. I should have, actually, as El Salvador’s best player is a grand slam doubles champion and ranked sixth in the world. 

Marcelo Arevalo won the 2022 French Open Men's Doubles title

This was a fun experience, with wildly varying weather and quality of play. The person who told me about it had a contact: Marcelo’s brother. I couldn’t get near sitting with them as they were sitting right behind the competitors. However, I still had a pretty good view considering I hadn’t had to buy a ticket for my spot.

You can see my friend from football through the green bars on
the right of this picture. Great view of the action!

After the rain delay, Marcelo wrapped up the first set tie-break and proceeded to blow away his baby-faced opponent in the second set. Though they ended up losing the overall match, it was nice to see that tennis is somewhat supported in the country.

Though they won this match, El Salvador lost the tie 3-2

Amazingly, there was still one day left of this surprisingly long weekend. A group of us spent Sunday exploring a small market called ‘mercado nacional de artesanias’. It translates as National Craft Market, and is a fun, colourful insight into how you could decorate your home.

A colourful map of El Salvador at the mercado nacional de artisanias

I restricted myself to buying sofa covers

So an impromptu long weekend spent exploring locally, rather than further afield. Plenty of time for that, but some interesting experiences along the way. Next year’s Independence Day will be on a Friday so at least we already know that there’ll be a long weekend! Unless the president wants to boost his popularity by giving us the day before as a holiday…

Saturday mornings may once again be tiring

Enjoying our Wednesday night

Same time next year!

Love you all,

Matt

El Salvador - Running through the clouds (and cows)

September 11

Hello everyone!

As I didn’t get to Punta Mango for the long weekend, I decided to explore a little bit closer to home. I went to a place which I had been told about before arriving: Ecoparque El Espino, more commonly known as the Ecoparque.

A running/cycling trail in Ecoparque

Flowers of many colours guide your walk

This, apparently, was where I was going to spend a lot of time running. A large park about five kilometres north of downtown Santa Tecla, it contains numerous trails for running, walking and cycling, not to mention some stunning panoramic views of the cities below.

Ecoparque is actually on the same road as the
one which gets you to the volcano 

With the terrain and the weather, cyclists weren't
going quickly enough to make them a hazard

Locals will know that ‘north’ in reality means ‘up’. Ecoparque is situated on the slope of the volcano which dominates half of the skyline. The entrance is about 1,100 metres above sea level, and at least 100 metres above my house. Getting there means going uphill, quite significantly, in order to find the main entrance. There are two entrances but this one is more easily found and a bit safer. 

Part of a brutal uphill running stretch

The sign for the turn-off (yes they also have paintball!)

Not quite as safe was the route I currently have to take to get there. The path shown on Google Maps isn’t possible, as it is the back entrance into a private residencia called Puerta Real. I thus have to go up a major road and then wind through a couple of backstreets. 

Slightly dodgy and quite a few stray dogs

Less dodgy - to the left is the front entrance to Puerta Real

The land was - possibly still is, I’m not sure - owned by the El Espino Coffee Estate. The main use was to grow coffee, one of the country’s main exports. In 2007 the coop group opened El Espino to offer an outdoor space to the people who lived below.

I think this sign talks about adaptive measures taken to aid the park

Heading towards the northern tip of the park

The park is about 35 hectares in size (about 85 football pitches). Within this, there are wider trails, narrow trails and a lot of impassable ‘routes’. 

The trails. I think I did most of red and a bit of blue.

Not everything is bike friendly, though there are some wooden
ramps which mental riders can use to jump across paths.

I decided to go early to beat the heat. In doing so, I found myself in the clouds. Those panoramic views weren’t at their best…

See the lake over there? No?

Mirador 3: not much to see at 7am

As I looped around the main viewpoints (miradors), the Sun began to weakly break through. As I was leaving the park, I got a glimpse of the spectacular.

Looking south towards Santa Tecla

My run had taken me past one of the more interesting parts of the park: El Infiernillo. This translates as ‘Little Hell’ and is where you will find steam coming out of a geyser. I was right next to a volcano, after all. The nearby equipment helps to measure volcanic activity.

This was donated by the AECI from Spain in 2004

The tranquility was lovely, only occasionally being interrupted by birds…

…cows…

Cows on the blue trail

…and cyclists.

Cyclists at the end of this trail, by Mirador 3

I actually bumped into (not literally) one of my colleagues as I was finishing my run. I joined him and his cycling group for breakfast. Eating three pupusas made me glad I had ran an wildly undulating 12km before seeing him.

A pupusa is essentially a flatbread, usually stuffed with cheese, beans and pork

Aside from the race, my longest run in ES so far

I took an Uber back: I didn’t fancy running those pupusas downhill for another four kilometres. Though mostly cloudy when I was there, I did avoid the heavy rain which hit a couple of hours later…

Waiting for my Uber. As it came up the hill, I realised I'd left my
water bottle and had to sprint back up the hill to retrieve it. Muppet.

Ecoparque El Espino seems to be a lovely spot. Great for active people, apparently great for birdwatchers, and great for people who want a quick escape from urban life for some fresh air. Well, fresh away from the geyser, at least. A rewarding place where I will come many times in the future.

Spider web glistening in the morning at Mirador 3

An eco-friendly day in the Ecoparque!

Love you all,

Matt