Up the Waterfall
Day 62
Awake early on Saturday morning we meet our guide and quickly are off through the cool streets of Juayua to do some hiking. We don’t know much about the hike other than we will see 7 waterfalls today and that we need a guide. I figured that part out since the name of the trail is “Ruta de las siete cascadas” or in English, route of the seven waterfalls. We walked to the outskirts of the town and stopped for a break at our guides house, which also happened to be the trail head. The views from here are breathtaking. Volcanoes in the distance and green mountains as far as we can see. Coffee plantations surround the beginning of the trail and a river runs through a valley below.
The hike begins easily enough walking over a wide dirt path and eventually climbing steeply downhill to the banks of a cool rushing river. It was at this point I noticed that our second guide was carrying a large thick rope on the back of his pack. “I have a feeling that we are climbing the waterfalls, not just looking at them.” Jordana had a bit of a worried look, shes quite affraid of heights. About 200 meters down stream we came to a beautiful waterfall about 15 meters tall. The trail ended and out came the rope, oh yeah we were definitely climbing this waterfall. I thought it was funny how our hostel forgot to mention this small bit of information when describing the hike. One guide race up the waterfall without a rope and I really couldn’t believe how easily he made it up. He secured the rope to a tree and tossed it back down. Jordana was first and we were officially past the point of trying to keep dry. She walked into the river and confidently pulled her way up the rocks against the falling water, it was quite a sight. She made it to a ledge where we could walk without the help of the rope. Now it was my turn. I grabbed hold of the thick rope and pulled myself up to the first large boulder, here I could feel the rush of water against my legs. I could almost hear the waterfall saying, “you fools aren’t´t supposed to climb me, back you go!” I´d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous but as soon as I reached the safety of the ledge my heart was pumping and it felt great. I felt like a kid after a scary roller coaster and wanted to do it again. As soon as the other guide reached the ledge they broke out a great picnic of sandwiches and fruit. It was easily the most unique and beautiful spot we had ever had a picnic at.
After our food we climbed back down and followed a trail along the riverside. Our boots were now soaked so walking wasn’t´t the most pleasant but the scenery was beautiful. Often the trail disappeared and our lead guide would hack through with a machete or we would wade through waist deep water to a clear spot. We passed several other smaller waterfalls and in clearings caught glimpses of volcanoes looming overhead. At times the hiking was fairly strenuous with steep uphill climbs, not made any easier with our heavy soaking boots. We finished the hike at a beautiful waterfall where the water poured out of a fracture in a cliff. The falls were horseshoe shaped and surrounded by verdant green jungle. From here we walked through banana and coffee plantations back to our guides home at the trail head. We thanked both of them for a great hike and adventure. We both agreed it was the most enjoyable hike we had done on the trip to date.
Back at the hostel Anuhac we showered and headed out on the cobblestone streets of town to find some food. Every weekend in Juauya is a food festival and the streets are packed with food stalls. Its quite a festive atmosphere with music, food and local art being sold. This was the sort of town and region that the more you saw of it the longer you wanted to stay. With only 3 hotels we were already planning our future here. We´d buy an old colonial house and turn it into a guesthouse. Maybe a small cafe in the courtyard with local art on the walls. We hatched some big plans over a couple (several) cerveza Supremas that evening. We also had some fabulous food cooked by a chef who had worked in the U.S.A. and downunder.
We both agreed that Juayua was maybe our favourite small town to date, for myself it sure was. I felt so comfortable here, the people were friendly and the climate was ideal. I even liked the local brew, Suprema was actually tasty. Either that or my beer taste buds have been wounded by drinking a large amount of sub par beer. Either way, I really liked it here and I would love to return one day. Who knows maybe to even open a guesthouse.
Tags: El Salvador, hiking, Juayua, Waterfalls
Michael Coroneos
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.