Colonial Tour and Lago de Ilapango

Since we were finished in San Salvador, we checked out of the hotel and decided to pick a place to stay only when we saw it. That was a good decision because then we were able to go at our pace. We left San Salvador after a typical breakfast and Donna's first time to have pupusas.

Since I had already been to Suchitoto, I wanted to show Donna this cool little town. Getting on the proper road to connect to the Pan Am Highway was a challenge, but lucky I knew the way through San Martin which is the very tricky part. San Martin is a web of streets and is the only way to pick up the road to Suchitoto. We made it through with no problem and even my shortcut helped us get in front of a slow touring bus. Hahaha.

We saw the typical sites in Suchitoto including the church, cobbled streets and colonial buildings. Some of the art galleries from my previous trip were gone or closed. That was a little sad. The town was very quiet for a Friday. This is normally the day that the city people start to arrive and join the backpackers for a weekend of relaxing. We stopped by the hostel that I wanted to stay, but they were fully booked. So was walked down to Posado and ate lunch overlooking Suchitlan.

Leaving Suchitoto, we passed by Lago de Ilapango, and I really wanted to see a view of this big crater lake. The first road we took turned rugged very fast and that was a problem since I didn't rent a 4x4. So we turned back and found the real road down to the lake. The first viewpoint was ok, but was somewhat blocked by a lava cone on which a farmer has planted a field of corn. I spotted a footpath to the peak of the cone so we figured nobody would stop us! Uh Oh, halfway out, the farmer and his pals saw us so we justed greeted them and kept walking. The funny part was the farmer wanted to follow us and talk, but his spanish was almost impossible to understand, I think it was because he was smoking something. Donna, was convinced he was smoking corn Hahahaha. Me too! So corn smoker spread his arms and told us that he owned the whole resort (hmmmmmm) and all the cabana's, and the beach and the yachts (very hmmmmm) Hahahha. we enjoyed his dream because all we saw was corn on a steep slope!!!! The footpathed ended on the peak of the cone and the panarama was fantastic. Well work the little walk and putting up with the old corn smoker!

We drove further to a point and was more amazing views of this lake. Very, very nice!! Next time we may borrow a house on shore of Ilapango, but this day we decided to continue the adventure and keep driving. We drove to La Libertad and headed east to Costa del Sol to have a relaxing day on the beach tomorrow.