El Salvador - Lost Around a Lush Lake

March 22-23

Hello everyone!

What a difference a year makes…

2025: Clean Coatepeque

2024: Not Clean Coatepeque

Just under a year ago, we visited Lake Coatepeque with my parents. The water in the lake was…filthy. This was the culmination of over a century of neglect and misuse, leading to a layer of grime sitting atop the water. 

The grime is connected to sewage and cyanobacteria

It has improved a lot in the last 12 months!

Shortly after visiting, the government announced the closure of the area until the water could be cleaned. I’m not sure how strictly this was enforced, but social media has suggested that a big project was undertaken with the view to clean the lake and restore it to its former glistening beauty.

The State of Emergency aimed to acquire
equipment to clean and maintain the lake

A $6.7M investment has led to 60 ultrasonic buoys being installed

I returned last weekend to find a much bluer lake. With the sun shining overhead and the surrounding land rising around it, it was an alluring sight once more.

Many restaurants have stunning views of the lake from up high

Dusk at the lake

We were here to run in an organised event on the Sunday morning. The pre-race fuel of beer and pupusas was going to take me on a 15 km route up and around the surrounds of the lake. We had seen a sign pointing the way up a very steep hill on the drive down. This was good to know, as we hadn’t received much information about the run up to that point.

Carb loading

That doesn't look steep. Then you turn the corner...

The run was due to begin at 6am from a petrol station. At 5:50am, an announcement was made that the police needed people who had parked their car along the road near the petrol station - so everyone - to move their car. These were moved to a more secure location, a football field close by, but it meant that we were never going to start on time.

Run. Sponsored by cheese company. Naturally.

Post car-movement, getting ready to run

We found the sign and started running, then trudging, then slowly walking up the daunting hill. It lasted for about 3 kilometres, with almost 500 metres of climbing happening in that time. Stopping allowed breaths to be taken whilst having breath taken away by looking out at the enticing, sparkling lake.

Not many people tried to run far!

Taking in the early morning views

The hill

At the top of the hill there were multiple paths. I saw a marshal and asked for the direction for 15 km. She pointed me the correct way. Unfortunately, she didn’t tell the friend I was running with, who was running the 10 km route, that he shouldn’t follow me…

Getting towards the top of the hill

Flatter territory: bliss

A slightly precarious downhill slope later, we were jogging along through a beautiful stretch of palm-fringed countryside. For a while. We eventually caught up with a group of three runners who were in discussion with an older gentleman at a junction. We all agreed that we had gone wrong somewhere - no idea where, as none of us had seen a marker, sign or marshal - and that we should turn so that we were heading back towards the lake.

This was a particularly dodgy downhill stretch

Views for days

After pounding the dusty path - and occasionally having to pull up a mask to prevent dust being fired into my face from passing vehicles - I started seeing other 15 km runners. Runners who I seemed significantly quicker than. They obviously had gone the right way! At this point I knew I was at least back on the right track. Comparing watches with one of them, I realised I had inadvertently ran an extra four kilometres. That 15 was going to become 19…

Our fellow runners-who-got-lost

Views of the lake, which has an area of about 70 sq km

The path we were taking was lovely, reminding me of running off-road in Malawi with the dust juxtaposed with vibrant colour of flora or glimpses of Lake Coatepeque. It wound back to the main road, leading to a three kilometre downhill stroll to the finish.

Meandering down this road to the finish

Almost the final stretch...but you then turn into the petrol station
and run up a metre or two. Which isn't what your body wants.

The extrinsic reward was a plastic medal, a weird combination of cream cheese and fruit, and a lot of liquid. Intrinsically, it was a sense of achievement and enjoyment. I had been treating this as a run rather than a race, which was probably a good thing; undoubtedly I would have been frustrated if I had been aiming for a time or position and done an extra 4 kilometres.

2 of the 5 of us did the correct distance

The real reward

The real reward was returning to base and jumping into a clean, calm lake. It’s nice to see the country trying to preserve and reinvigorate one of its many areas of natural beauty.

Hopefully it stays clean!

Lake Coatepeque

I do love this place

Love you all,

Matt

Guatemala - Sticking to the Safe Zones

 February 17-18

Hello everyone!

Still without a car and not wanting to spend a lot of money, I pondered what to do during a week-long February vacation. Without flying, options were limited. With that in mind, I decided to go old school and book myself on a bus to Guatemala City for two nights. 

In front of Palacio Nacional

My mango man near the main plaza

Why visit Guatemala’s capital? I wondered the same question, so asked a few of my colleagues for their advice. Those who had been to ‘Guate’ recommended…shopping malls. Not my usual reason for visiting a place, particularly one that does have history - it’s been the capital city since 1776, almost 50 years before Guatemala gained independence from the Spanish Empire.

One of many, many malls

Oakland Mall is actually quite nice, with lots of
greenery, bowling alleys and trampoline parks

I did a bit of research during the bus ride from San Salvador. Getting to the bus station on time relied on waiting over 20 minutes for an Uber biker and then relying on that man’s weaving skills to navigate the intense morning traffic. 

This was the 'economico' bus - my return bus, a
'diamante', was purple and really comfortable

The bus is scheduled to take five hours. This became six due to a hold-up for one of our passengers at the El Salvador border. 

The Chinamas border crossing

Though I’d read a little bit about Guatemala City before arriving, I asked a few people in the hostel what they had done whilst in the city. “Nothing,” was the common reply. Most people in the hostel were ending their Guatemala travels in the capital, solely so they could go to the airport.

Most visitors won't see the Torre del Reformador, a Guate
version of the Eiffel Tower which straddles a major road

That airport is incredibly close to the city. I’ve stayed in airport hotels which are further away from the terminal than this hostel, which is very much in one of the city’s safer zones.

This dual carriageway, Avenida Las Americas,
is only 200 metres or so from the airport

Mentioning ‘safe zones’ gives you an idea of why many avoid the capital. The fact that the hostel workers immediately told me that its surrounding area, Zone 10, is safe for walking suggested that many of the 21 zones were not safe for this pastime.

Plaza España

This image, created by another blogger, suggests which zones
are safe (green), not safe (orange) and downright dangerous (red)

This is a shame as the traffic, much like San Salvador, is ridiculously bad. Not wanting to spend my 36 hours or so sitting in traffic jams, I worked out a safe route to the places I wanted to visit, put on my trainers, and got walking.

Bumper to bumper

Yep, I made it up to 46,000 steps on that day

My first stop, an approximately 3 km walk from the hostel, was the bohemian area of Zone 4. This is one of Guate’s up-and-coming neighbourhoods, described as its equivalent to Brooklyn in New York City. It has a lot of graffiti and a large number of coffee shops.

Being quite early in the morning, most places were closed

A mural of indigenous people

From there it was another three kilometres or so to the capital’s Centro Historico. A lot of this was down a pedestrianised street called 6th Avenue: Avenida Sexta. Being mid-morning on a Tuesday, it was quieter than I imagine it would be on a busting Saturday or Sunday.

There are some government buildings on this street

This was the residence of Mariano Beltranena
y Llanos, who signed the Act of Independence

There are many similarities with San Salvador, and Guatemala City’s main plaza is certainly not unique. It has an old cathedral, an ornate palace…and a square which is heavily populated by pigeons. One thing that was different was seeing a man being arrested by Guatemalan police. Not sure why.

The library is also somewhat different. The story behind it is a window into the country’s troubled history of the past century. The building project was started by President Juan Jose Arevalo. After surviving 25 coup attempts, he was deposed and the project was abandoned. A later, successful, USA-backed coup was led by Colonel Castillo Armas. He restarted the building of the library. He never saw it opened, however; he was assassinated two months before its inauguration. 

I think this building was opened in 1959 

This is a sort of protest - it is missing a leg

Like San Salvador, this area is surrounded by markets of varying quality. Guate’s Mercado Central is surprisingly clean and well-organised, with souvenirs on the higher floor and foodstuffs in the basement. I tried a sweet which had something resembling marzipan as a top layer and zapote (like fig) on the bottom. That experiment doesn’t need to be repeated.

Lots of colourful handicrafts

Sweets in the basement

Further north (a little over 2 km, if you’re counting) is one of the city’s quirkier sights: a relief map of the country. This map of Guatemala’s physical topography has recently been refurbished, and shows the country’s numerous volcanoes, lakes and coastlines.

View from one of the towers beside the map

View from 'sea level' - this is the Pacific side

What makes this pretty special is that it was created well over a century ago, in 1904-5 - a long time before cartographical technology would have made this an easier task. It was made with over 60,000 bricks and enough cement to equate to the weight of four elephants.

The brown splodges are the settlements
of Guatemala City and Antigua

The perimeter of the surrounding wall is 215 metres

The country’s history spans far further back than the beginning of the twentieth century, of course. This timeline can be traced in the Popol Vuh Museum. I’d never heard of Popol Vuh until researching what to see and do in Guate. Essentially, it’s a book that told the stories of the K'iche people, one of the predominant Maya tribes in Guatemala. A replica of the text is in the museum, as well as many interesting artefacts.

It roughly translates to 'Book of the Community'

The text was probably written around 1550

The reason for the museum’s existence is also intriguing. A married couple, Jorge and Ella Castillo, had spent years collecting pre-Columbian and Colonial art. In 1978, they decided to leave their collection to one of the city’s universities. This has blossomed to include a wide variety of artefacts, all of which help to explain and visualise elements written about in the Popol Vuh.

Jaguars are commonly seen in Maya art due to
their connection with power and the underworld

The delightfully-named 'Grotesque Head'
has indigenous writing on the skull

Of course, San Salvador has its own version of this museum: MUNA. It struck me how similar these places were: terrible traffic, an overt Americanisation of brands and interests like shopping malls, similar historical elements. I guess it makes sense, both being capital cities in a region whose countries are often lumped together. I did find some different things, the main one being a delightful Greek restaurant.

Iglesia Yurrita, a pretty Gothic church

Greek lomito pizza at Del Griego - sublime

No car? Well, not ‘no problem’. It did lead me to visiting a little-seen and intriguing nearby capital, at least. I understand why people skip Guatemala City when travelling around Central America, but it does have enough to interest and occupy a visitor for a day or so.

Enjoying the Relief Map from up high

I wouldn't describe my feelings about Guate as
'love', but I am happy I visited

Love you all,

Matt