Sunzal El Salvador

In Salvador, we started by a week of surfing the waves of the pacific ocean in El Sunzal. We had a problem with our hostel reservation and ended spending the week at the house of a very sympathetic surfer named Balthazar, who really helped us to plan for the rest of our trip. From Balthazar’s house, it was a very short walk to get to the beach and the very first building is a bar and a surf school, so this is where we spent most of our days. The bar can watch over your stuff while you go surfing or swimming and you can enjoy some nice natural juices or fresh coconut’s on the bar’s terrace. For food we usually cooked our dinner and bought sandwiches in restaurants on the beach for lunch. For the breakfast we went religiously to a very nice little local restaurant by the side of the road where they prepared a delicious breakfast for us (eggs, bread, frijoles/beans, plantains and potatoes).

Thanks to our host Balthazar, we found a very nice hotel on the Ruta de las flores in the little village of Juayua, with the breakfast included in the price. There were a lot of restaurants with good food for cheap prices around the hostel and the atmosphere of the town was very nice. Salvador has a bit of a bad reputation, but at no point during our travel did we feel in danger and the people of the country are incredibly nice with tourists. From Juayua, we visited a nice organic coffee farm with a degustation at the end of the coffee they produce. The visit of the farm is very interesting as they take you through the whole process of the production. The day after visiting the coffee farm, we rented some horses, hired a guide and went on a very nice walk to a lake at the top of a mountain, from where we had a very nice view of the surroundings.

Before talking about that last location, I highly recommend you rent a car when you arrive in the country, because it made our life so much easier to move around in the country. With our car we bounced from village to village on our way to Termales de Santa Teresa, because a lot of them have beautiful street art and it is really nice to see if you get the chance. The therms are in a very nice spot where you can enjoy the natural hot water from the volcano and enjoy the view while listening to the sounds of birds and nature. A very nice addition is that they are not very crowded, so you can really enjoy your stay there without getting disturbed by others. There is also a restaurant on the facility, though it is a bit expensive. You can still get some burgers or other fast-food for a reasonable price if you don’t feel like ordering something more fancy and expensive.