Time for another Adventure - Lago de Ilopango

Mandy called last week with a cry "It must be time for another adventure!"

We've been in El Salvador now for 21 months, and initially the adventures were every weekend. Adventures consist of travelling into the unknown, with a destination in mind, but just see what happens along the way.

Often these adventures involve a street market - take a wrong turn and find ourselves driving shoulder to shoulder with the market vendors and their wares. At times a little disconcerting as we tend to be a source of great interest to the locals.
Other times these adventures have seen us driving up a mountain range on a dirt track, past small villages, again at the amazement of locals who seem to have never seen gringos before.

So on this Sunday the destination was Lago de Ilopango, with of course the usual warning from local Salvadoreans - 'be very careful, its not safe there!'

Brian managed to program the GPS - an advancement on our first year in El Salvador when we relied on tourist maps. Driving from Santa Tecla, through San Salvador was straight forward with the GPS - only a couple of last minute decisions at road junctions. Through dreaded Soypango without stopping and onto the turnoff to Apulco. A quick drive down to the lakefront and we were there - amongst the riverfront cafes and local people.

We arrived at 1130, as the cafes were getting ready for the midday diners, our arrival brought them to their doors encouraging us to dine there. As we wandered along, a boat guide quickly made his way toward us, and from behind, a Mariachi band appeared from nowhere and began to play, blocking our escape route from the waterfront. A boat ride seemed preferable to loud midday music, so we engaged the boatowner. We quickly ordered a bucket of drinks and climbed into his boat.

So away we went for an hour, around the lake - a crater lake with a couple of lava islands in the centre with picnic spots for locals to enjoy.The lake was perfectly calm, the water warm and there was a warm breeze blowing, just gorgeous.

Scuba diving in the lake is a tourist activity and our guide tells us that Jacques Cousteau has also visited the lake for exploration. in the middle of the lake we could see in the distance the diving platform for the adventurous.



Once on our boat-trip we saw many extravagant lake homes, beautiful scenery, green trees and bush, and local villagers enjoying their Sunday afternoon with a relaxing day at the lake,  even a baptism!

From our view on the lake we had noticed a more developed area with established eateries and a concrete promenade along the lake front with many local families enjoying the area.

 On our return to the car we drove back up to the main street and came upon the entrance to Apulo Recreation park. An entrance fee of $4 and we decided to find our lunch spot here.

We finally chose our restaurant and ordered food and drinks.
Camerones and ensalada - $4
Giant shrimps on garlic butter and ensalada - $10
Mariscado - seafood soup with giant shrimps, camarones, fish and crab - $6
Beer $1.25

Then for a stroll down the prom - and dessert - plantain barbequed and served with salt in the banana skin. Very ecologically friendly!

Or if you prefer - shaved ice (expertly prepared from an iceblock with a metal chisel) and served with chilli, limejuice and salt! ?A non-alcoholic margarita ?

And of course.... the ever present armed forces for our protection!


Another great day out full of surprises and adventure, in El Salvador.