Last Sunday was my last dia libre (free day) in El Salvador. Joaquin and I decided to end it in style with a hike up Volcan de Santa Ana. In case you’re wondering if ‘volcan’ means ‘volcano’, the answer is ‘Si’.
It is not an easy hike and I was a bit nervous. It is the country’s tallest volcano at 7,812 ft or 2,381 m. The city in which I’d been living is very flat. But walking many kilometers each day around the city with a backpack was pretty good training.
Each day, a group gathers to go up together for safety reasons. They assemble about 11:00 to go up with a guide and a police officer. This day, there were about 150 of us. We ascended through jungle to a high desert climate with vegetation similar to what I saw when I hiked the Grand Canyon several years ago. Up to this point, it is straight forward climbing along switchbacks. As the trail transitions from desert like to lava rock, it gets a little tricky to tell the trail from drainage channels and the trail bed is really loose.
The reward is reaching the top. Looking behind you, you see the valley and Izalco volcano. Off to one side is a large lake, partially obscured by haze. In front of you is the crater. And this baby is not extinct; she is only resting. That is steam coming from the water below. As an added treat, there was a Mayan ceremony underway. We snapped some photos, ate our lunch, grabbed a lava rock or two as a souvenir, and treated the policeman to one of our extra sandwiches and Snickers bars. Pretty soon, the guides blew their whistle and it was time to head down.
Breathtaking!
Thank you, Laurie. Cheers!
😀
Amazing landscapes!
Thank you so much. It was a rather amazing hike. Cheers!
Wonderful place!
Great photos
Thank you. Cheers!
Oh… WOW 🙂
Love this volcano, and your shots, of course!
Ciao
Sid
Thank you Sid. Cheers!
🙂
Oh what a wonderful ending – thank you so much for sharing it and all your other adventures. My life feels enriched by the experiences by proxy – all of them from the humbling to the uplifting. I am extremely grateful to have found your blog 🙂
Thank you so much Osyth. Cheers!
À votre santé 🙂
I had to look that up 😊
You’re getting fluent in Spanish, not FRench 🙂
So true!
Very interesting climb! I wish I could have gone along.
You would have had fun! Thanks!
What photo ops! Very impressive and different from your usual city scene opportunities in the US. Glad you were brave enough for the climb so we could see it too. The Maya ceremony was interesting but I guess the location was important too.
The Mayan ceremony was rather unexpected and I have no information about it. It was a great hike; one I’ll remember for years to come. Cheers!
A wonderful way to end a great adventure and a fascinating blog chapter!
Thank you….It was a happy way to end the trip. Cheers!
Beautiful pictures of an adventurous trip! Thank you so much for sharing, Chris!! Cheers! 🙂
Thank you. It was a fun trip. Not something you do very often. Cheers.
Awesome! Looks fun!
One of my best hikes ever. I’m so glad I did it. Cheers!
150 ppl 😳 what beauty I love the greens…
We were at the head of the pack going up and could move quickly. Coming down was a long slow march. It was lovely…Cheers!
Skipping and dancing down ☺️
More like slow and steady. But still fun. Cheers!