El Salvador - Stairway to the Sky

Hello everyone!

May 19-21

Running is a big thing in El Salvador, with events and races happening most weekends. One I had spied for a while was a trail run in the north of the country, in a town called Ataco.

Not a Stairway to Heaven!

Ataco in Google Translate is 'attack',
making this the 'Ultra Attack' race...

Sitting towards the northern end of the Ruta de las Flores (Flower Route), Ataco is a lovely spot which I have visited once before. Ultrataco, as the run is called, takes in the cobbled streets of its town centre before sending a runner out into the lush, green surroundings. 

A bit longer than two hours in Friday afternoon traffic

Bougainvillea on the run

Sounds alright so far, doesn’t it? A nice weekend away in a slightly cooler climate (Ataco is about 300 metres higher in altitude than Santa Tecla) and an exploratory run. 

View from our lovely AirBnB - thankfully, we
didn't have to run in those mountains

Ataco seems to have adopted cats as their logo...and
Ataco has 'cat' written backwards in its name!

This possibly explains the relative lack of training I did in the weeks leading up to Ultrataco. I was running a 15 kilometre route, and I know I can do that. Hannah and I actually did a half-marathon in the city at the end of March. 

Most of this half-marathon was on the hard shoulder of a main road

The race was called 'Carrera de los Heroes',
which raised awareness of and funds to fight child cancer

This run was going to be different, though. It’s a trail run. Mostly off-road, undulating, and cutting across terrain you wouldn’t usually see if you visited Ataco.

Easy to roll your ankle when running on this 

Views to west gave sights of the 'Impossible' national park

We had picked the 15 km option, rather than something ridiculous like the 33 km or 55 (!) km runs. Other friends were coming up to either do the 15 km or 6 km run. As the run was on Sunday, we spent Saturday not really moving much aside from walking the dogs.

I bought this shirt, which I had seen in October and
had non-buyer's remorse about ever since

The dogs couldn't solve a Sherlock Holmes mystery
with the rest of us, so contented themselves with dozing

Pizza is always a good carb-loading, delicious choice

Our run was to start at 6:30am. The temperature wasn’t too hot at this point, though I was already feeling sympathy for the 55 km runners who had only started at 5am. They would be finishing in the middle of the day in very hot conditions.

The six of us before starting our runs

The only ambition I had for this was to finish and enjoy the route. It started nicely, with a gentle upward slope on the cobbled streets taking us south through the town. Lots of people were running this distance, meaning it was quite cramped at the start.

The starting point - it did start on time!

Bottleneck

The number of people thinned out as the route started going uphill as we left the town. Already some people were walking, which was going to result in their race taking quite a long time. Running alongside coffee fields and through farms took us into beautiful, peaceful hills.

The road out of Ataco

A wide variety of colourful foliage brightened parts of the route

The mention of hills is pointed. I knew that the distance was 15 km…and also knew that there was a significant amount of climbing that would happen during that time. Over 600 metres, to be precise. I had also been warned specifically about the second severe incline, known as ‘Escalera al Cielo’: ladder to the sky.

The bottom section shows you the three
main inclines that needed to be passed

Escalera al Cielo

Hill one on that chart above was the side of a valley which we first had to get down. That part was interesting enough, needing to use a rope to parlay your way down a very steep, dusty hill before skipping over a stream. The man before me - sorry, the man who had pushed his way in front of me, almost knocking me over - half-slid down using the rope, meaning that it moved away from me when I stretched to grab it. I just about managed to cling on in order to slide down.

This could have been fatal if it had been raining

You can just about see the rope - I couldn't get a better
picture as I would have been wiped out by other runners coming down!

The incline on the other side? Steep. I part-ran, part-walked. It felt like my walking was faster than my running at one point, particularly when it got to a more open section of the hill which was exposed to the ever-strengthening Sun.

The start of the first hill

Running between the first two major inclines

A little bit more up-and-down took me to the sign below. At this point my legs were already burning, so I was very thankful to be turning right. Until I saw the slope. The start of Escalera al Cielo. A 700 metre path which has a vertical rise of 137 metres. An almost 20% gradient.

I'm sure the 55 km runners had plenty of other challenges to tackle

Ready to reach for the sky!

I’d told a friend that I would run up the whole thing so I started…and quickly stopped. I think I ran for ten metres, then had to walk. Even walking up was tremendously difficult. It speaks volumes that there was a busy refuelling point at the top, where I spent some time eating and drinking whilst mentally preparing to go on. Mind over matter at this point, my legs were jelly.

No one else I saw ran this part

Watermelon and a banana dipped in salt have never tasted so good

That quickly changed as the route - still lovely with incredible views - slalomed mostly down from this point. I was taken by surprise when I rounded a corner and saw a cobbled street leading into the town. Two short streets later and I was finished.

By this point I had switched to using a bandana to
stop sweat dripping from my hair into my eyes

This section included the 'third hill',
which I was able to run most of

All of our group finished reasonably close to one another. After grabbing a quick shower and making sure the dogs hadn’t destroyed anything, we returned to see the award ceremony. Unsurprisingly, none of the 55 km participants had finished. The winning time in my run was about 1 hour 18 minutes. Insane. I liked the trophies, which were a heavy wooden cat.

They wouldn't have wanted to run

Our friend Stephane came third in his category.
For a while, they said he was first...until
they realised he wasn't a female...

It was a lovely weekend away with great people, and one which we’re tempted to repeat when Ultrataco happens next year. Maybe I’ll be able to run up more than ten metres of the ladder to the sky that time…

The speed at which some people were
hurtling down slopes was quite scary

I don't know what happened to my face in this picture!

Faster than I thought I would be

Love you all,

Matt

El Salvador - ¡Cuatro!

April 14, May 14

Hello everyone!

It doesn’t translate as it’s a homophone (it’s four, not fore), but the picture below may make the point…

Armed and, which is dangerous

El Encanto country club

If you follow this blog, you’ll know that I started to play golf a few years ago when in Malawi. Well, I try to play. Still learning. Forever learning…

We used to play every Friday after work at Lilongwe Golf Club

Zebras watching on at Game Haven in southern Malawi

Golf courses like the ones above are a distant memory - it would be another blog entirely if a dazzle of zebras rock up in the wild in El Salvador. Golf does exist here. For some…

The course at Club Salvadoreño

Golf is an expensive pastime. You're about to see how expensive in El Salvador...

I made enquiries before arriving in Central America, finding that the small country which would become my home has three golf courses. With golf being seen as a British colonial export, it’s not surprising to me to find more courses in southern Africa than in Central America. What was flabbergasting, however, was the cost…

The three red circles show the locations of (left-to-right) El Encanto, Club Campestre and Lake Ilopango

Palm trees line a hole at Club Salvadoreño

Yes, there’s a caveat that most things were cheaper in Malawi. Yes, there’s a caveat that golf is often seen as a ‘rich person’s game’. But there are a few thousand reasons why it’s not a common hobby. Each club with a course charges a joining fee, then a monthly amount. Many places around the world do that. The WhatsApp excerpt below may explain…

This thread shows the cost of joining...and my reaction

If anyone has a spare $15k lying around, let me know!

So yes, that’s a $15,000 joining fee. It is for life, admittedly, so it could be worthwhile if I stay for…over 100 years. Oh, then there’s the minimum spend of $100 a month. Every month. How they expect any expat - those who are possibly more likely to join - to agree to that is beyond me.

It probably helps to explain why no one else was playing

Though it looks close on a map, this club can be up to a 2 hour drive away depending on traffic

One of the clubs did suggest another option when I explained my situation. Their offer was a joining fee of a mere $4000, which would last for three years. Big maths will help you realise that this equates to $111 a month, which wouldn’t be terrible if you used it…most days. Oh, but then you have to pay $275 a month. Every month. Even months when you are away.

To make that worthwhile, you would probably need to play twice a week...which isn't possible with traffic

It's not just golf places - this club, CDI, doesn't have golf but is a cool $22,000 to join

So joining a club with a golf course is out of the question. So why is there a blog with pictures of Hannah and I frolicking about on Salvadoran golf courses? Part luck, part niceness of friends, and part of me being slightly unprofessional.

A teaching colleague with whom I work closely has a family membership to one of the clubs, called Club Salvadoreño. They have two locations, one of which is on Lake Ilopango, a crater lake on the very eastern edge of San Salvador. It is a stunning setting.

This picture is from a visit in February - it was much clearer then

Ilopango is the second biggest lake in the country

My colleague and I needed to visit to do a risk assessment for an upcoming school trip. Well as we were going to be there…

Hannah's parents were also in town

A flame tree offering shade on a fairway

Being a guest, you simply pay for your round. And the obligatory caddy. And the tip for the caddy. Also a golf cart. Not to mention the renting of clubs for Hannah’s dad because they wouldn’t let him share. All things considered, the price wasn’t bad for the opportunity to once again scream ‘FORE’ as I sprayed balls anywhere and everywhere.

Apparently getting a golf cart is much more common in America
 than in the UK. Malawi didn't have golf carts...

The caddy said that the course is busier on weekends

Bit of an exaggeration, I actually hit the ball well (for me). We played the front nine, which took us away from the shoreline and into the humidity. A lovely course which they must have watered a lot considering we haven’t really had rain since October.

Surprisingly verdant

In that heat, playing nine holes was more than enough

Having rediscovered the bug, I then decided to ask a different person who I knew worked at one of the other clubs, called El Encanto. This is much closer to our house and the place where I watched international Davis Cup tennis last September. We can brush over the fact that a) this person is the father of a kid I teach at the school and b) that I asked him during a parent-teacher conference. He seemed keen, I followed up, and a month later we were teeing off here…

This is set on the long slope down from the city to the ocean

Water was a prominent feature

Hit the ball 150 yards or lose it in all those trees - no pressure...

I don’t think you need a golf cart at Club Salvadoreño. You need one here. The hills themselves would be steep enough. Add in the fact that you are in a heat bowl with intense humidity (even at 7am when we started) and you’ll appreciate being able to drive rather than slog.

Ground: undulating

The eighth hole was a stunning par 3 - I made it on the green!

This was a lovely course, seemingly in almost a rainforest at one point before opening up to some grand panoramas from which you would be able to see the ocean on a clearer day. This was in spite of almost being hit by a stray ball from another group (we heard the very loud clunk as it hit a large rock quite close to us). Again, I played surprisingly well, and only lost…well, quite a few balls, but everyone else did as well!

I used that slope on the right to bounce onto the fairway

Heat and humidity seem to get trapped in this area

We won’t play golf that often in El Salvador as we haven’t cracked Millionaire’s Row just yet, so any opportunity that arises will be taken. We owe a lot of thanks to Mayra and Rick respectively for giving us the chance to shout ‘¡BOLAA!’ at various points.

Playing at Club Salvadoreño

El Encanto

Love you all,

Matt