Leon, El Tunco, Antigua, San Pedro La Laguna

Leon was where the volcano boarding took place, it was one of the scariest and most exhilarating things I have ever done. The day before agreeing to do this we met a girl who broke her ankle and had to get surgery with screws and all!! Another girl required stiches in her head from her board hitting her and the day after we went another girl broke her ankle!! Yikes!!

Volcano Boarding!!

You take a 45 minute hike up an active volcano called Cerro Negro and toboggan down the back side that was mostly ash and smaller rocks. From the top you couldn’t see the bottom because it was so steep! The record speed was 95km but I went much MUCH slower haha. Glad I was able to get over my fears and do it though because it’s not every day you can toboggan down an active volcano!

Relaxing afternoon by the pool!

Go Team Canada!

While in Leon we also did a night volcano tour to Telica (another active volcano), where you watch the sunset from the summit and then watch the glowing lava in the dark which was really neat. The sound of the lava roaring below was so loud! It was very surreal.

 

After almost a week in Leon we caught an early morning (2am!) shuttle crossing through Honduras and into El Salvador. We originally had planned to travel through Honduras but after hearing stories of how dangerous it is we decided to skip it. We may still cut back and visit the Honduras island of Utila as it sounds to be fairly safe but we will wait and see.

El Salvador is a small country but is blessed with tons of beach towns, we had heard amazing things of a small beach town called El Tunco. It was fairly tiny and by far the hottest place we have been so far! The town was filled with restaurants, cafés and bars. Most nights you could find a bar with a ladies night where ladies could drink for free! Melissa and I were all over this!!

Pupusa's and beers!

This ones for you Vik! Looked so much like Charlie! 

My prince!

 

We hired a tour guide to take us to some waterfalls we had heard about around town. We had to hike for about an hour through the mountains but it was so worth the hike! The waterfalls had different tiers where you could jump from the ledge of one waterfall into the pools below if you were brave enough or you could just swim in the pools of the falls.  

 

From El Tunco we headed across the border on an 11 hour, 5 “chicken bus” journey into Guatemala. All this time we were worried about getting robbed, kidnapped, etc., but I have come to realize it’s the insane bus drivers and their reckless driving we should fear. One of the “chicken buses” we took from El Tunco to Guatemala was the scariest ride I have ever been on. I swear we were on two wheels more than 5 times whipping around the mountains. You had to hang on as hard as you could not to fly across to the other side of the bus. “Chicken Buses” for the record are old school buses (cheese wagons), they cram 3 adults into each seat and then fill the aisle with people as well!! The shuttle drivers aren’t much better and make the whole “passing on highways” a real nail biter!

Our first stop in Guatemala was Antigua which used to be the capital from the 1500’s to the 1700’s. We really enjoyed our stay in Antigua. We were able to take a private salsa lesson with our friends Melissa and Eric which was so much fun!! I am a natural!! Ben on the other hand…. Well… haha just kidding he was a salsa machine! We also attended yet another pub crawl that was one of the best ways to tour around town!

Apparently in Antigua you get mayo when purchasing iced tea???

Pub crawl around town

 

We took another volcano tour to Pacaya, an active volcano which had just erupted two days prior!! You hike up the volcano for an hour and a half and walked into the crater. The pictures really can’t do it justice but we were standing only a few feet away from lava that had crusted over but was glowing bright red inside. We were even able to roast marshmallows over the lava! This was by far the coolest thing I’ve seen in my life!! It was so unbelievably hot your shoes were smoking from the heat of the ash below your feet.

Marshmallows! yummmm!

 

From Antigua we headed to Lake Atitlan which is beautiful!! It is a volcano ringed Lake which is surrounded by small villages. We are currently staying in San Pedro la laguna and plan to be here for about a week. 

It's hard to believe we have past the half way mark of our trip! We have enjoyed every minute and can't wait to see where the next half will take us!