Many people think of El Salvador and the first thought that comes into their mind is violence and gangs. Yes, do we have a lot of that but we also have a beautiful country with warm and kind people that wish for a better El Salvador.



Although we are a very small country we are packed with cute little towns with amazing artisans that create wonders with their hands. While at home I took some time to go and explore some of these town and eat some delicious saldadorean delicacies!


San Sebastian is 60kms east of San Salvador and very well known for weaving so off we went to check out what magical El Salvadorian hands can do with a 100 year old machine and some thread!

Entrance to San Sebastian!

Mural outside the local Market

We couldn't miss the town's church!

Here is what a typical "tienda" (local shop) looks like. Every neighbourhood has a couple of tiendas and possibly you know the owner by name and they know you. When I was little I used to walk to the tienda and have an open tab that my mom would go and pay at the end of the week, I actually loved that about living in a small place.


Then it was actual time to check out the textiles.


The machines used are traditional wooden weaving ones that look very complicated. As I was there I wondered who came up with this machine and how they thought of it. It really is an art, I remember visiting a weaving workshop in Myanmar where they even used lotus thread.. so cool!


Comes this:

Seems complicated to me!

This pattern is just so beautiful:




And this was the view from the workshop... so beautiful!


So much work to sell a hammock for $16!



Blankets go for $9.50

Proudly El Salvadorian!

Mom buying some towels

On our way to the next town we stopped at a view point to check out el Volcan de San Vicente.



San Vicente is about a 20-30 minute drive from San Sebastian and well know for its candy so we stopped to buy some and maybe find a place to have lunch (it was not easy since I'm vegetarian!)


Here's the town square and the church.

San Vicente's main attraction is its interestingly shapes clock tower.


Then we finally made it to the candy shop: "Dulceria Villalta"


All the candy sold here is made in house.
The picture below shows from top left: candy with rum, coconut and rum, milk, "leche burra" (donkey's milk but not really, just the name for that specific candy), nance (a fruit), cashew with milk, peanuts with milk, white coconut, black coconut (the difference is on the type of sugar they used), and tamarind.


Here the lady is rolling the candy!

Our box!

From San Vicente we quickly stopped in San Esteban Catarina on the way back to San Salvador. Guess what we did? Get more candy, of course!!!

San Esteban Catarina is famous for "melcochas" a very traditional hard candy made by artisans.

Our hope was to get to see the whole process of melcochas but unfortunately they don't really work on sundays but the owner was more than happy to show us the equipment.


All the work is done in their backyard, those big pots are for melting the sugar.


The end product:


On our way home we stopped on the side of the road for some coconut water... yum!



They also made cane sugar juice and sold it by pieces in a bag for people to chew.

We asked one of the guys in the stand about the sugar cane and how it grows and he shares the whole process with us, he even cut some for us to take home and plant... El Salvadorian people are very kind.

Vegan version

Yuca con chicharron, with fried pork!

After yuca Claudia, a family friend, asked to turn right and stop at a lady's house who makes traditional candy. The house had no sign and people who don't actually know of her can't buy her candies! The shop is literally a table in her living room








The coconut boiling (with sugar, I guess.) to make my ultimate favorite candy: cocada = coconut + sugar.... We do have a sweet tooth!

The end product: not healthy but delicious!

Candies in hand we moved on to the actual town of Nahuizalco!




As we walked through the plaza there were two men and two kids playing music and I stopped to take a picture and put a coin in their basket while my mom and her friend danced! haha

The kid in black playing a traditional instrument: La Marimba!

We had actually drove all the way to Nahuizalco just to look at the handmade purses made by El Salvadorian artisans! The purses have traditionally been baskets to go to the local market but now they can make different combinations to make them prettier and fancy.

We got to Nahuizalco not really knowing if that was the place or where we could find the people making the purses but as we were buying the candy a local lady happened to come in to buy and we asked her if she knew of anybody who made the purses. To our surprise she gave us two names and the location of their stand in the "portales."



We were lucky to find them very easily and one of the artisans even took us to his workshop and showed us all the different purses they could made.



Here is one of the girls working on a purse

Don Noe y Don Arcadio

We also got time to check out the local market and grab some yummy food.

Here are some traditional food cart, these ones selling "crazy corn"

Paterna

My good friend Leslie came to visit and we also took her to Nahuizalco where she bought some purses!

This lady sits at her stand waiting for customers and making beautiful bags out of straw.

how cute?!?!

Ataco might be the most touristic and known town in la ruta de las flores. This little town is beyond charming with its beautiful and colourful murals, stone roads, and the delicious food one can get.


The town is filled with many many shops selling all kinds of souvenirs.






In Ataco they also do weaving so we stopped by to check out one of the guys working on the machine:















After so much walking we were hungry so went to look for some food:

cart with mangos

Corn

This boy is waiting for his yuca

There it is!

We chose to eat "riguas!" Riguas are made of corn and cheese and are delicious. First they start by blending the corn and making some kind of watery paste with it, then they scooped a little bit and put it on top of a banana leaf, put some cheese, throw it in the "plancha" to cook, and once it has harden a bit peel off the banana leaf and keep on cooking.


This man is turning the "Atol", a thick drink made out of corn.


This stand sells all kinds of atol: Shuco, piña (pineapple), Mani (peanut) and some I have no idea what they are!

Eating riguas! yum!

El laberinto de Albania (a labyrinth)  is a new addition to la ruta de las flores so we decided to stop and check it out.
From the parking lot Leslie and I decided to walk down through the tunnel that would lead to the labyrinth. We were surrounded by beautiful flowers and vegetation. In fact, the whole Alania complex is overlooking the coffee region and everywhere you look you see green all around.

Flowers of the tunnel!

We finally got to the labyrinth! The whole thing is made of 2,000 cypress trees and the sight from the platforms of the coffee shops are pretty cool, overlooking not only the labyrinth but also the coffee region and the mountains.





The last stop we made in la ruta de las flores was Salcoatitan.
This small town is only famous for its yuca!!! So on our way home we decided to quickly stop to go get our yuca on! (As if we hadn't eaten enough the whole day!)

As we walked out of the car we could hear music and it turned out that there was a band playing in the middle of the town.


But we were more interested in the yuca:


Ten minutes from home there is "El Volcan" (volcano) where nowadays it has become a place to go and have dinner or coffee with friends and enjoy a beautiful view of San Salvador. While Leslie was visiting unfortunately it was cloudy and overcast so one couldn't really appreciate the view but we still went to check it out.




The last town I visited while at home was Tapalhuaca!

In order to promote internal tourism, a couple of years ago the tourist police came out with a nice plan of giving free tours to different towns in the country. One of my aunts, tia Estela, is a huge fan of the tours and is always inviting and taking my mom on the outings so this time it was my turn.

The beginning was a little hectic because the 2nd bus took forever to arrive and everybody wanted to get on the first bus; it was a little chaotic to say the least!


I find it funny that I have traveled the world using public transportation but haven't used a bus in my own country in about 25years!


After an hour ride we finally made it to the town of Tapalhuaca!!!

The town was waiting for us with a band with music:


And lots of food

Tia Estela and I

As we arrived we waited in line for the only vegetarian meal: enchiladas!!!
Our enchiladas are not like the Mexican ones, ours consist of a slightly thick fried tortilla topped with beans, curtido, avocado, hard boiled egg, and tomato sauce... three for a dollar, not bad!


There wasn't really much to do in Tapalhuaca so my aunt and I decided to go explore the stone streets of this little town... we didn't find much!

Selfie!

The walls throughout the town were nicely painted:






My aunt insisted on a picture inside the city hall (aka a house)

We couldn't miss the town's church!

Fanning the heat away!

There is so much more to El Salvador, next post will have my favorite part of my country: FOOD!!! YUM!