El Salvador - Feeling Fresca

February 18-20

Hello everyone!

To get people exploring more of the country, El Salvador’s tourist authorities seem to have devised a system of different ‘routes’. Having explored places such as Apaneca and Ataco Ruta de las Flores in October, this was the time for something new: Ruta Fresca.

View from the top of El Pital

Our little hikers!

The ‘fresh route’ was devised in 2011 and encourages you to visit the northern frontiers of the country. It is comprised of three villages (I don’t think they’re large enough to be called towns): La Palma, San Ignacio and Citalá.

The Ruta Fresca can be found in the north-central part of El Salvador

A wall mural in Citala

We visited two of these places on our return. Firstly Citalá, which is pretty much on the border with Honduras. The little square, with its neoclassical church sitting in front of a looming mountain range behind, is picturesque. As with many places on Ruta de las Flores, walls have been transformed into fantastic and vivid murals to give the place a splash of vibrancy.

The name is from Mayan,
meaning 'River of the Stars'

The colonial village was apparently one of the
main areas of resistance against the conquistadors

We also stopped in La Palma, which is renowned across the country for its connection to El Salvador’s most famous artist: Fernando Llort. His distinctive style of combining bold colours, dark lines and religious symbols has been transported across the country. 

Llort was actually born in San Salvador
but moved to and set up an art community
in La Palma in the 1970s

His art is ubiquitous: this is inside a coffee shop

Llort moved due to the Civil War, which is the other notable aspect of La Palma. This is where negotiations were first initiated between the government and FMLN rebels, which ended with the Peace Accords being signed in Mexico in 1992. This is less obviously seen in La Palma, which I would otherwise describe as a mildly busy mountain village.

Negotiations happened here in 1984...
the accords were signed in 1992.

I imagine the main park is a lot busier than
it was on this particular Monday morning

We didn’t stop in the other location on Ruta Fresca, instead driving through San Ignacio to get to a camping spot called Allá Arriba. Waze, the more commonly used navigation app in El Salvador, took us the very long way round from San Ignacio, which at least allowed us to enjoy some beautiful views.

We both noted that the country's dry season was
far more visible up here than in Santa Tecla

Views for days!

We had camped at Conchagua before but this was a little bit more traditional. The campsite itself didn’t have much - and had even less after our gas cylinder and cooking pot, which were in a plastic bag, were ‘taken by a dog’ overnight on our second night according to the owners - which meant we spent more time exploring.

Mini played chief guard. Well, when
she wasn't shivering from the cold...

Many flowers such as hydrangeas are
grown in the gardens of Alla Arriba

The basement of the main building was very eclectic
- on the left there is a jukebox machine!

Our main adventure was scaling the ‘highest peak in El Salvador’. It is called El Pital, and has a height of about 2,730 metres above sea level. 

It's quite a steep incline from Rio Chiquito 

I had five layers on at this point, showing
you that it wasn't the warmest ascent...

You may be wondering why I’ve put that statement inside quote marks. You see, GPS trackers suggested otherwise at the top…

To the left of the line is Honduras.
To the right of the line is El Salvador.

A cabin near the peak...but in which country is it? 

That blue dot, us, is very much in Honduran territory. Where exactly the ‘border’ is, I’m not sure. 

Probably wouldn't have seen a border anyway with the mist!

At the 'peak area' of El Pital

We definitely started in El Salvador, hiking with Mini and Maxi from the village of Rio Chiquito along a lovely, easy trail. 

A collection of jams and preserves. The lady also sold
large, yellow granadillas, which tasted phenomenal.

Enjoying being in nature

After a reasonable walk - I’m amazed the dogs did it with minimal fuss - we reached what I would call the ‘peak area’. There didn’t really seem to be one peak; rather, there were clumps of trees on less accessible areas slightly above a grassy knoll. The number of cafes and restaurants reflect the fact that this is a popular excursion for Salvadoreans, though it seemed that many had driven rather than hiked up.

Dogs: knackered

There was a boy rolling down this hill

A cheaper method of transport

These photos may give you an idea of how the weather changed throughout the day. Someone had tried to sell us woolly hats in Rio Chiquito. I found it fascinating to discover that this is the only place where snow has been recorded in El Salvador: on one day in 2004.

Also the snow was in April! April!

Thankfully, the grey sky cleared just as we had decided to start our descent. The result were these spectacular vistas.

Whichever country we were in at this point,
that is El Salvador in the distance

This view made our trip worthwhile. The Ruta Fresca is cool in many ways, and worth a wander around if you have a lot of time in El Salvador.

A mural in Citala

Near the top of El Pital

An incredible view

Love you all,

Matt