Smoking Mountian, El Salvador

My friend was in from out of town, last week and we headed to Eco Park Espino. I have been there a few times, but this was the first time i really explored the park.

Up near the "Mirador", where I had been a few times. There was something new, a large amount of steam coming out of the ground. I assume the reason for this, and it not being there before, is because it has been raining lately. At first it looked like smoke until we got closer and saw that it was steam. The holes it was coming out of were surrounded by moss, so I assume this isn't a new phenomena. After the lookout we wandered down a road, where I discovered some new bike singletrack. Hopefully before the rain picks up I will be able to get over there and do some riding.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Signs

Awesome Bridge

Steam from one of the smaller vents

More steam

Adventures in luxury at Decameron, El Salvador

I spent the weekend in El Salvador's only all inclusive resort, Decameron. Finally a chance to do nothing but relax. The resort has three giant pool, a small pool and a salt water pool that gets washed over every time the tide rolls in. The beach there is protected by a rock wall that stops most of the waves.

One of the giant pools

Salt water pool being refreshed at high tide

The whole week was spent relaxing in the pools and laying on the beach. They had nice Hobie kayaks that we paddled around their protected beach area.

Attack of the alligators

Sunset down the beach

Wake boarding Lago De Coatepeque, El Salvador

Before I even arrived in El Salvador, I heard that there was wake boarding to be had here. Once I arrived, I found that it was much harder to do than it should be. A few weeks ago I meet a girl with a lake house and a boat at Lago De Coatepeque.

Friend and boat captian

I finally had a day off and went down to the lake. First we took a tour of the lake, and sadly only found one spot to jump. A private dock, so I didn't get to do any lele kawa.

After the lake tour, it was wake board time. Her wake board was clearly from the 90's and was not set up like I am used to. This didn't stop me from hopping on and getting up the second time. The lake was a little choppy and I was still recovering form a foot injury, so I didn't get crazy. It was still fun to be up on a board and cruising around the lake.

Not quite Lele Kawa, but some dock diving

Monkeys, Alligators and spinning sharks at Barillas, El Salvador

A great day at work, started with a two hour car ride crammed into a Suburban that wasn’t made to fit 8 six foot tall adults. Luckily this and the similar ride home were the worst part of the day. We arrived at Marina Club Barillas around 10am. After a quick lunch, and a few breakfast beers, it was time for the monkey tour.

You can see the arm of a baby on the mothers back

We hopped into a van and drove over to the little forest where the Monkeys were. There were about 20 Salvadorian red tailed spider monkeys. One that was rejected by the group was in a cage to protect him. Before the others arrived we were able to shake his hand. The local care taker called for the rest of the monkeys, and slowly they started to appear all around us. The first few were pretty slow, but once the bananas came out there was a swarm. Once we ran out of bananas we went back to the Marina Club.

They look funny on two legs

Back at the club, we boarded a boat and some jet skis. We took off through the mangroves out to a sand bar in the mouth of the bay. Along the way we spotted an alligator in the mangroves, a good reason to not fall off the Jet Ski.

Salvadorian Alligator

Trying to soak each-other

Once we got to the sand bar the wind was pretty strong. I was disappointed, that I hadn’t brought my Kite board. We messed around in the shallows, dodging jelly fish, before working our way out to the surf breaks. As soon as we entered the water, I saw spinning shark (or dolphin, there is still some debate) between us and the waves. Any six foot fish that can launch itself 10 feet out of the water, is a good reason not to body surf. Before heading back to the club, we had a Jet Ski relay race. My team won.

Sand Bar acrobatics

Los Cobanos, El Salvador

Just before my schedule got too crazy, I managed to spend the weekend out at Los Cobanos Village lodge, the only white sand beach in the El Salvador. As soon as we checked into our hotel, we decided to take out the complimentary kayaks. The kayaks were not great, but they did allow us to get out in the bath warm water and play in the surf. The tide was just starting to come back in. This made the perfect waves for riding in the kayaks. It reminded me of the many times I went kayak surfing back in Hawaii.

Picture of the fishing village

Carrying the days lunch

By the time we were done, the sun was going down, so we enjoyed some beer and good food at the hotel in-between games of UNO.

Hardcore Uno Match

In the morning, two of us decided to take a little hike. We started by scrambling over some rocks in order to get to the next beach. This beach was much nicer than the little beach near the hotel. Crossing the next set of rocks we got to an even nicer beach, it was smaller but completely empty. On the way back to the hotel, we found the first rock scramble to be completely unneeded, as the road was right there.

Rocks we had to scramble over

Private beach just over the rocks