La Ruta de Las Flores
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
49
141
Trip End
Ongoing
Ataco,
El Salvador
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
La Ruta de Las Flores (Route of Flowers) is a 36 kilometer stretch of highway (CA8) between Sonsonate and Ahuachapan, named so for the abundant bright flowers that line the highway. The highway traverses up and down the hillsides and mountain slopes and passes several villages and coffee fincas (farms).
After spending Monday biking up and down massive hills, we decided to give our muscles a day off and relax. We started the morning with a late leisure breakfast at a local bakery and enjoyed sampling some wonderful pasteries and coffee. (Other travellers: we highly recommend the pastery shop next to the central park, on the corner. wonderful cookies, coffee, and homemade pasteries).
Later that afternoon, we jumped on a chicken bus headed north along La Ruta de Las Flores.
The first stop we made was to the Finca Santa Leticia. This finca is a massive and sprawling compound comprised of coffee fields (of course), beautiful cabins to rent, swimming pools, volley ball and recreation area, conference rooms, and a large overpriced restaurant
Ataco brightly colored houses
. The finca also is home to an interesting archaelogical site: 3 massive basalt boulders carved into pot-bellied figures. These sculptures weight between 15,000 and 25,000 pounds and are estimated to be over 2000 years old, created by rebelious Mayans. The fincaīs original owners discovered these structures on his farm several decades ago. We heard from a local that the original owner actually tried to blow one of them up with dynamite because he thought there was gold inside (to his disappointment of course it was just a solid rock). You can see this boulder split in half in some of our photos. Despite the temptation of lazing around a resort swimming pool all day, our real reason for this stop was to visit the archaelogical site.Getting off the bus on the highway, we followed the signs for the Finca down a beautiful tree-lined cobblestone road to the resort area. There we learned that archaelogical is actually on the other side of the major highway, up an unmarked dirt road. So we turned ourselves around and headed back to the highway. The archaelogical site was about 1 kilometer up a rough dirt road winding through private coffee fields. This was the first time we hiked without a guide, and was probably not the smartest thing weīve done! There was not a soul on the road, except one local lady who followed us for just a short while. It was a little spooky, but in the end we were okay. We eventually made it up to the site and followed some randomly placed signs to the location of the boulders
Ataco Cathedral
. Wow they were big! And very different from any of the Mayan sculptures we have seen before -- these ones were more like a cartoon. Kind of silly and fun looking actually. Check out the photos attached.After scrambling back down the hillside to the bus stop, we continued the journey north to the next village, Apaneca. Our Lying Planet giudebook describes Apaneca as "easily one of the most pleasant". Immediately after we got off the bus, we stood there scratching our heads wondering what the big attraction was to this little town. It is rather desolate and empty, pretty ugly actually. We visited the municipal office to inquire about tourist activities. The person there told us about hikes to some lakes nearby and a canopy tour. (For those who donīt know - a canopy tour is one of those zip line things where you fly on a zip wire between trees, high up). Fun! I asked how much and thought he said $3.50 per person. Cool! Where do we go? He said not today, because they are not open today but he could make a reservation for us tommorow. Thatīs when we found out the price is really $35, not $3.50. Oops. We were stunned by the high price tag in this dumpy ugly little village where a bag of snack chips only costs 10 cents. Another tourist trap. We wandered around the village a little more, hoping to find something redeeming (unsuccesfully!) and soon caught a chicken bus northward bound to complete our journey.
The next stop we got off on was Concepcion de Ataco (or Ataco for short). Immediately after we got off the bus, we were greeted by a local man sitting in front of his house
Ataco Central Plaza
. Determining we were gringos, he spoke in clear English and said Hello, how are you, welcome to Ataco, where are you from. We talked with him for a few minutes and found out that he lived in the US for several years, but was deported because he got into a drunken brawl with his brother-in-law. He was sent to jail and then deported and asked not to return to the US for at least 10 years. He said he has since then stopped drinking, but did not understand why they sent him away. Okey dokey...Our Lying Planet guidebook describes Ataco with just one line: "Colorful textiles are produced in Ataco, 14 kilometers north of Apaneca". Such brilliant and insightful information, huh! Immediately as we walked into town, we wondered if the guidebook author even stepped off the bus. Maybe he has vision problems...who knows.
Ataco is a very beautiful little town. Bright colors everywhere. All of the colonial style houses and shops are freshly painted in vivid and bright colors. Even the trash cans (yes, finally a village in Central America that has trash cans!!!) and electricity poles are painted in colorful floral patterns. The streets are lovely cobblestone and the sidewalks are smooth stone with bright tile accents. The streets are lined with gas lamps. It is just a beautiful little village!
There is a huge Catholic church in the middle of town, with the largest and cleanest central park in front. The park had several areas for children to play with swings and seesaws and other toys
First of the old Mayan sculptures
. And a basketball court off to the side (which some local guys were using to play soccer). Everyone was friendly as always, and we completely stood out as the only gringos in town. The village is surrounded on 3 sides by hills, with a bright white cross and lookout on one tall hill.After walking around and relaxing in the park of this pleasant little village, we caught a chicken bus for the 20 minute bus ride back to Juayua.
That evening, we went to a good Mexican restaurant in Juayua (called Taqueria Guadelupe - we recommend it). Walking through the central park, I noticed a couple protest signs and two guys standing in front. I asked one of them what they were (peacefully) protesting. He explained that their water source was being threatened by the construction of a new housing community that was building septic systems that leak directly into their river. He said the mayor of their town was being bribed by the developers and turning a blind eye. After discussing this problem for several minutes, we said our goodbyes. Then he asked us if we were in Ataco a few hours ago. We said yes. He said he saw us walking around and taking photos of the church.
We are starting to think this town has a Gringo Alert - we met several other locals who said similar things. "We saw you riding bikes the other day" "We saw you get on the bus"... Itīs kind of funny.
Please check back in a few days for the photos!
Cheers,
Kay
