24
June
We
left the coast and headed to Cerro Verde National Park. However, we had to stop at the local shopping
center to buy SIM cards and data service for El Salvador. You can’t use the same SIM card in El
Salvador that we had in Guatemala. The
phone we’re using requires a micro SIM card, so we bought a regular SIM card
and then had it cut to the small card size.
The SIM card cost $3 USD, and to cut to size cost another $1 USD. Service for 2GB of data for one month (the
minimum time) was $10 USD. We weren’t
expecting data at the park, but to our happy surprise we have the best
connectivity that we’ve had in several days.
The
road to the park was rough with the added dimension of dodging over-hanging
tree limbs. Of course, both Roger and
Sandra did excellent jobs driving their rigs.
It cost $12 USD for us to get into the park, including overnight dry
camping. It is chilly here due to the
altitude of 2030m. We were able to see Coatepeque Lake, which is a volcanic crater
lake.
We
did a nature walk through the orchid area, new and old forests. It is very cloudy, so it is hit or miss on
good shots on the two volcanoes: Amire
Izalco Volcano and Santa Ana Volcano.
Amire used to be called the “Lighthouse of the Pacific”, since ships
used to be able to see it from sea. A
hotel was constructed by the park and finished in 1981. Oddly enough only a couple of months after completion,
the volcano quit putting out visible light.
The hotel went out of business and has deteriorated since it was
abandoned. The view was nice from around
the hotel, but the clouds were rather frustrating.
The
orchid area only had a few orchids blooming.
According to our nature guide, the majority of the orchids bloom in May
and December. Tonight we may or may not
be able to do some star gazing. Norm
says the stars are amazing, since there’s no light pollution. Right now it’s too cloudy. Hopefully the breeze will push the clouds
away so we can do a little stargazing this evening.
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