For those of you who don’t know Spanish that’s “lice, busses, and waterfalls”. These three words pretty much summed up my weekend.
Remember in Second grade when one kid got lice and they sent a note home to the whole class telling everyone to be on the lookout, and then everyone freaked out because of that one kid. Well I was that kid this Friday, only everyone here was actually really nice about it and didn’t run away or try to quarantine me. As traumatic as my lice experience was at least it gives me something to write about in my blog. I’m not 100% sure as to where I picked up the little guys but I’m guessing it has something to do with sleeping in coffee fincas and playing with little kids all day long. As most of you probably know, I’m not big on doctors or medicine and I tend to take on the mentality that I’ll get better eventually all on my own. Sadly that didn’t work this time. After a few days of being miserable I finally headed to la farmacía to pick up some magical shampoo, and who would have guessed that an hour later I was already doing a lot better.
After a super awesome Friday night of removing lice from my head (side note: this tragedy provided for excellent community bonding time) I headed to bed anticipating my big adventure in the morning. This past weekend was our first free weekend and one of the few free weekends we will have this semester. Our community decided to break up and head out to different locations around El Salvador to spend some time away from the casas.
Saturday morning at 7, myself and 5 other people packed our sandwiches, grabbed our backpacks and tevas/ chacos and headed out to be tourists for the weekend. Our day began with 1 of 3 rides on the local public buses. Let me tell you, the buses here are an adventure in and of themselves. Picture this: old school bus, decked out with Christmas lights and signs of the coming of Jesus Christ, a man selling pills that will “cure” everything, lots and lots of Salvadorans packed into little seats, and 6 gringos. A few hours and a couple of bus changes later we arrived in Jayua, our destination for the weekend. After a short walk we arrived at our hostel that turned out to be the most amazing place ever. It was this quaint, quiet little gem in the middle of a beautiful city. Hammocks, gardens, hand painted walls, and some cute Spanish/ Salvadoran hippie owners…o and HOT WATER (haven’t had that since we arrived a month ago). We dropped off our bags in the room and quickly got ready to begin our tour of the 7 Waterfalls in the area. Maria, one of the workers at the hostel and also the most adorable woman ever, made a phone call, packed us a delicious lunch, and sent us on our way to meet our guide Douglas.
Douglas is this little Salvadoran man that likes to walk as fast as humanly possible. I knew it was going to be a rough day when I was already tired after just walking through town to get to the foot to the giant mountain we were about to climb. As we began climbing it only got more intense. The “path” we took was definitely not a path, it was a 2 foot wide, muddy, trail partially paved by Douglas and his machete that winded through the cliffs of the coffee fincas. The hike was definitely a struggle; we all spent a lot of time on our butts, covered in mud and covered in water but it was definitely worth it! The view was so beautiful and there is something so peaceful about trekking through a river and looking up and realizing you’re at the bottom of a waterfall. After seeing the 7 waterfalls, we had lunch in the middle of the forest and headed up one more giant hill to an 8th waterfall, probably the best waterfall of the whole trip. Underneath the waterfall was a small, pitch-black tunnel, just tall enough to fit a person, but filled with water up to your shoulders. So of course we were going to go in it. All of our fears (the dark, small spaces and rushing, cold water) came out in this tunnel but all 6 of us were able to face these fears and head into the tunnel, guided by Douglas of course. A minute later we emerged and I felt like I had just accomplished one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
After some more hiking we finally ended up back at our hostel and after a HOT shower we headed out to a local café for dinner and some music. The people at the café were the same people that owned or hung around our hostel so of course it was so much fun. I wish I could convey the atmosphere of this place, everyone was so relaxed and so happy with their dreads and Spanish accents. There was a ton of interesting art work hanging on the wall and the owner of our hostel was playing guitar and singing the whole time. We were Americans for the evening and dined on some delicious nachos, burgers, and brownie sundaes while talking with some locals, a woman from Wisconsin doing some work in El Salvador, and some other travelers our age from Austria and Australia.
After a much-needed night’s sleep we awoke the next day to a delicious homemade breakfast of plato típico (Eggs, beans, plantains, avocado, fruit, and coffee) which we enjoyed on the beautiful patio. After breakfast we walked through the town for a bit before saying goodbye to our beautiful home for the weekend and beginning the reverse journey on the infinite Salvadoran buses.
Las Cascadas!
Right outside our hostel door
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