Ruta de Las Flores Part 1

map of El Salvador

our route is highlighted in yellow

Jerry, myself, Cheri (Jerry's sister) and Dar, who came down from Colorado, SV Whiteshell II, and SV Sunny Side Up, took a two day tour up through the mountains with our tour Guide Jorge.  We left around 7am on Wednesday and started going through San Salvador which is the Capital of El Salvador to a town called Colon where we had great Papusas, which is the country's local meal.  We got to see how they were made, by making a rice dough and then stuffing it with cheese, meats, veggies almost anything, then "slapping" them onto a hot hot griddle to cook both sides.  We had the two favorites, the chicken and the veggie, the veggie was the best it was filled with cheese and spinach, along with a cup of coffee, some fresh squeezed oj and a chocolate drink that tasted like straight baking cocoa. 

making the papusas

ya gotta know how to "slap" it

There were eight of us, so I think we bombarded the wait staff

Jerry, Lou and Clause from SV Whiteshell

After breakfast we head up to Joya de Ceren in La Libertad, El Salvador to go check out the ruins, but on our way we got delayed due to President Obama being in El Salvador.

There was an parade of black SUV's, not sure if Obama was in any of them, but I think he was!

Joya de Ceren in La Libertad is an archaeological site of the pre- columbian Maya farming village preserved under layers of volcanic ash.  The story goes the community was as early as 900BC, and Ceren evacuated in 250 AD due to the eruption of Llopango volcano, and was repopulated no earlier than the year 400 and was a tributary to nearby San Andres. Around the year 590 Loma Caleral, another nearby volcano erupted and buried the village under 14 layers of ash, the thought is where did the people go, no bodies have been found.  They left behind utensils, ceramics, furniture.  The site was discovered in 1976 by Payson Sheets a professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  They have stopped the excavation of more sites, due to having issues with trying to preserve the sites, so the clay buildings do not get to dry and crumble.

Coco

El Salvador National Bird

After the ruins we went farther up into the mountains to the Cerro volcano, we did not get to walk up the volcano due to not having enough time to get all the activities in the two days, but we did get to to do the nature walk around the base of the volcano.  There are at least 12 major volcanos in El Salvador.

our tour guide, spoke no english so Jorge was translating...he was great

this tree is all one base then sprouting

Dinghy Trip to La Herradura!!

On Tuesday Jerry, myself, Cheri and Dar took a dinghy ride 4 miles up the Estero de Jaltepeque to a little village called La Herradura.  It took us about 1 hour to get there, and we went at low tide so there were some tricky spots go get the dinghy through without running aground.  We had a great day walking the streets, eating Papusa's the El Salvadorian local dish made with rice flour stuffed with cheese and sometimes a meet or veggies, and of course having a couple cold Pilsner beers.

La Herradera

Smile!

Cheri and her nice cold Pilsner

The Mercado

not a great picture, but this is the church in the town of La Herradura

father and son watch the dinghy all day for $1

That evening Bill and Jean on SV Mita Kuuluu set up a wine tasting for the cruisers to participate in.  Cheri brought down a couple of bottles to enter.  All the bottles were covered and we all tasted them and scored them from 1-5, none of us picked our own bottles as the best, but we had a great time.  Dar did not drink wine so she did a cervesa tasting....I wonder what she thought was her favorite beer.

Jean on SV Mita Kuuluu setting up for the wine tasting

Leo ( the best server) and Jerry

Lisa from SV Lisa Kay and her winning bottle of wine

Still having fun in El Salvador!!

Well we have been here 11 days now and are still having a great time.  On Friday we had casino night, not too many of us went, I think due to the fact that it was a high buy in and cruisers as a whole do not have a lot of extra money to spend on games with really bad odds.  But never the less Jerry, myself, and about 6 others went and had a great time. The hotel itself has a casino built in with slots, blackjack tables and even roulette, and even free drinks when playing.  Unfortunately none of us walked away as the big winner, but we had fun all the same. 

We won a big 10 dollars!!

Saturday we went over to the Island across the estuary to Jan's, Jerry went to work on some of the donated computers that she has acquired for the kids on the island.  While myself, Erin from SV Rio Nimpkish, and Ben and Lisa from SV Lisa Kay went and played soccor with the kids on the Island.

Have to have ice cream while working on the computers

Jan's youngest dog Wolfie (except for the puppies, but I am not able to take pictures of them yet)

Banana plants!

smile!!

Oh it was so hot at 12pm, but the kids were awesome!

OH yeah we even pet cows!

Around 4pm Jerry's sister Cheri and her best friend Dar flew into San Salvador airport, Jerry and I took a taxi up to meet them and bring them back to the resort.  When we got here, the front desk did not have their room for them, they had guest that wanted to stay another night, but it all worked out with them staying on the boat for the first night, then the next morning we got their 3 room suite for the next 7 nights.

There was a dance party, but I could not get anyone to dance with them!

What else could you want, Yummy Yummy shrimp and lobster dinner and then swimming and drinking in the pool while we wait!

Smile Cheri...Jerry is a good driver..I swear!

Dinner at Mar Y Sol, another great dinner.  Cheri, Dar and myself had garlic shrimp, while Jerry had cream of shrimp and we all shared shrimp ceviche and a hot garlic shrimp dish!!  OH Yeah

Jerry's cream of shrimp soup, wow...can't eat this everyday!

I am still taking my Spanish class, could not get Cheri or Dar to go with me on Monday, but maybe Friday.  Hopefully by next week I can give you all an update in Espanol!!  Today we are going to take a dinghy ride up the estuary to Herradura to check out a real little Salvadorian village and to have some Papusas, the local dish.