Another Crater lake and Volcano conquered
Trip Start
Aug 26, 2005
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100
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Trip End
May 26, 2008
Santa Ana,
El Salvador
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
I came from the highlands where I was surrounded by mountains with a constant cool breeze. Up there, it was pleasant but down here it was a little warmer.
Our reasons for stying in Santa Ana were to visit
Lago Coatepequi - a giant crater lake
And the 2 volcanos, side by side: Cerro Verde and Volcan Izalco
Lago Coatepequi pronounced watapequi is a monstorous frest water lake in the crater of a volcano. With a small island in the middle and a number of simple restaurants on one side. We spent the day at the lake, swimming the crystal clear warm waters and avoiding the expensive fish for lunch.
Volcan Izalco Elevation: 6,396 feet (1,950 m)
Since 1770, Izalco has erupted at least 51 times. Izalco was once the most regularly active volcano in El Salvador, earning the title "lighthouse of the Pacific". A small eruption in 1966 was the most recent activity.
Izalco is El Salvadors youngest volcano and also one of the youngest in the world.
The Cerro Verde (2,030 m)
is actually an extinct volcano which last erupted some 2500 years ago. On the top of its crater there is one of the few cloud forests in the country.
I visited both sites in an ´organised´ tour as its the only way to visit the volcanos. I took a bus up a winding road from the hot downtown of Santa Ana and arrived at the top of Cerro Verde an hour later. It was remarkably cooler at the top. Low clouds whizzed past as I sat and ate fresh pinepple. A bunch of locals stared, thinking it was the most amazing thing ever - a white guy eating a pineapple, what could be stranger.
The only way to visit the slightly active volcano Izalco is with a guide. They say Ladrones - Robbers lurk around the volcano waiting for innocent tourists to whip out a camer and then they strike. Personally i think its all rubbish and a reason to charge people to climb the volcano.
Nonetheless, I paid my 2 dollars haha and with my english buddy Trevor, and 6 american tourists we followed the guide down the slopes of Cerro Verde towards the base of Volcan Izalco. An armed tourist police guy fell in behind, with a 9mm sidearm, we didnt feel safe at all marching into the thick cloud forest with this guy and his loaded gun at the back.
Covering cerro verde is thick cloud forest, with ferns and orchids clinging to the big trees.
It took us 40 minutes to reach the bottom and had lost 2 of the 6 americans. Too tough for them, so they turned back.
The 2 volcanos merged and formed a surreal environment with the lush greenery of cero verde coming to an end and the fresh lava flows from 1996 of Izalco claiming back some jungle.
At the base of cerro verde, we began the volcano adventure. A 40 minute hike up the side of the lifeless dry, steep and rocky volcan Izalco, where another 2 of the american tourists turned back.
It wasnt an easy hike, scrambling over rocks and avalanche paths to reach the top. Reminding me muchly of the great Momotombo experience only a week or so earlier in Nicaragua.
Naturally when we reached the top, a thick cloud cover had gathered and elimited any chance of a view to the Pacific, or even back down the way we had come. The crater was impressive however with super heated steam vents scattered all over the giant crater. No lava in this one but a real impressive crater. I circled the volcano, encountering steam vents shooting up all over the place. A slight hint of sulfur was in the air but once again, nothing like the terrifying experience of momotombo. One of the Americans commented ´im sorry but like, this is like a little disapointing´ What were you expecting? A Burger king and Souvenieer shop at the top, we commented.
We spent an hour at the top and descended down a slippery slope to the cloud forest of cerro verde and climbed back to the top, through some heavy rain.
We were soaked by the time we arrived at the top and had 2 hours to wait for the next bus. It was cold and wet and that was too long to wait so we put our thumb out and within minutes, were in the back of a pickup, quickly descending into the heat of the big city.
