Walking With El Salvador

 Part 2: Off the Beaten Path at Ecoparque El Espino View looking down from Mirador Aleman  Before dawn on a recent morning, my husband and I headed up the San Salvador Volcano to do some hiking and bird-watching. Our destination was Ecoparque El Espino - a place we have heard about for years but a place we had not yet explored. We will definitely make this a recurrent destination to enjoy on our own and with delegations of visitors. Situated on the southeast side of the San Salvador volcano, Ecoparque El Espino consists of 102 acres of protected land, at an elevation of just under 4000 ft above sea level. Unlike Parque El Boquerón (featured in Part 1 of this story),  El Espino is not managed by the national park system, nor has it been developed as a tourist site with "fancy" amenities. It is owned and managed by the El Espino Cooperative, which garners income from coffee production and, since 2003, eco-tourism.  Can't pass up a swinging bridge! We wandered, carryin...

Part 1:  On the Beaten Path at Parque El Boquerón The San Salvador volcano is called the sleeping giant for good reason. It is a geographically broad, primarily stratovolcano made up of layers of built-up lava and tephra (ash, cinders and rock that blasts out as pyroclasts during an eruption and then settles). Stratovolcanoes are usually cone-shaped. More than 40,000 years ago, the immense, conic San Salvador volcano dominated the landscape of El Salvador. A mammoth eruption truncated the volcano, leaving behind an ancient crater in which the Boquerón volcano grew. About 800 years ago, Boquerón erupted and the central cone collapsed, leaving behind a crater lagoon and the profile which we recognize as the San Salvador volcano today. Photo taken on the day of writing this story: the San Salvador volcano as seen from southeast of the volcano, with an approximation of volcanologists believe was the ancient profile of the San Salvador volcano about 40,000 years ago. In the photo, El Bo...

El Salvador is a land of volcanoes - a land of volcanoes and of craters and of lagoons. Some lagoons are mostly known by photographs, like the elusive green lagoon which rests inside crater of the Santa Ana Volcano (The lagoon is often hidden in the clouds, disappointing hikers who make the long trek to the summit.) Some lagoons, like the large crater lakes Ilopango and Coatepeque are very accessible for tourists and locals who want to enjoy some fun on the water or along the shore. Some lagoons are remembered for what they left behind as they evaporated or drained away, like at the base of El Boquerón or El Jardín Botánico La Laguna (literally named "The Lagoon Botanical Garden." And, some lagoons, like the one featured in this story, are just the right size and shape to circumnavigate and explore in a walk of an hour or two. One recent, sunny Saturday morning, we drove east from San Salvador to Usulután for a day of fun with some friends. Our activities were centered ar...

Finding a place to take a walk in the city can be a little challenging. Sidewalks are rugged, sometimes downright treacherous. Anyone who has gone on a delegation walk with me to a restaurant or the mall knows the rule about calling out hazards so everyone in the walking line is aware of them. No one wants to fall into a random hole, never to be seen again. Fortunately, San Salvador has a lot of great public green spaces, including well-known spots like Parque Cuscatlán or Parque Bicentenario . Perhaps lesser known by visitors, but well-used by neighbors are the myriad of small playgrounds, walking paths and picnic spots which are tucked behind walls or nestled into oddly shaped street corners in the neighborhoods. One day, a friend of ours mentioned that she goes to a park with her husband to exercise when it is cool, in the early morning.  She said it's great because mostly old people go there, and the gate opens at 6 AM. Well, OK, I guess I am sort of old at this point. She said...

A lovely walk at the top of Cerro Verde Today's wandering walk takes place a bit of a drive west of San Salvador in Parque Nacional Cerro Verde. To be clear, this park is the jumping off point for some serious trekking (with guides) up the Santa Ana (Ilamatepec) Volcano or the Izalco Volcano. Cerro Verde (of the three volcanoes, it is the extinct one) also offers a relatively easy guided trek which takes hikers through old and new growth forest, down into the crater and back up again. But this story is offers a different perspective on the Cerro Verde experience: no hiking poles needed! Our goal: walk, relax, enjoy nature. We drove up to the park on a dry March afternoon, on the date of the new moon, in order to spend the night and do some star gazing in a place far away from city lights. By allowing for plenty of time to wander without the rush of heading out on a formal hike, we learned more about the park as a wonderful location for a leisurely stroll or a picnic, and that it is...