The Cheesiest Post you will ever read

Hopping on a bus out down the Ruta de Flores to see what the other towns had to offer, we stopped at Apeneca because we heard there was a Labyrinth with more than 2000 Cypress trees that took about 10 years to grow. Located at Cafe Albania, you can look from above at this work of art in the middle of a gigantic coffee plantation. Looking down from the platform we thought “It’s not so big, it can’t be that difficult.” Well let me tell you we took so many wrong turns it took over half an hour to reach the centre! Every twist looked like the last and every bench looked like one we’d seen or sat on already. They did a great job with it, that by the time we got to the centre we were nervous we weren’t going to find the way back out by dark! They have a stand in the centre so you can climb up and look from above, take a quick selfie and try to get back out. Even though the way out took roughly half the time, seeing as we had just made it to the centre, it should have been a breeze to get back out. Needless to say, we were quite impressed with this $3 per person adventure. After finally escaping, we sat back and watched other confused visitors from above while enjoying some fantastic coffee.

Grabbing another bus, with all of our gear the next morning, we made our way to Santa Ana; a place where people rarely spend more than 24 hours so that they can climb the beautiful volcano. Mark and I decided there has to be more to this city than just a volcano and there is. We ended up staying in a homestay with a gentleman and his two brilliant boys. Just being able to converse with them was great, as they were able to teach us about the culture, what there was to do in the town, and our favorite: Where to eat! Dinner was spent at La Ceiba, the best pupusa place I have been to. They simply give you a sheet of paper and you write down that you want for fillings and your choice of dough; either corn or rice flour. Choosing five types of pupusas and a mixture of corn and rice flour; here’s a sampling of what we ended up getting: Prawns with cheese, re-fried beans with cheese, bacon with cheese, loroco (a plant with edible flowers that taste magical, like nothing else I have tried) with cheese, and a mix of chicharron (fried pig skin) with beans with - you guessed it - cheese. We could not finish them all, so we wrapped up half of them and took them home for the next mornings breakfast.

We spent the whole next day walking around this beautiful city and learned that like most places in Central America they have amazing coffee. Another great recommendation from the family we set out to a place called Panissimo for breakfast and had some amazing coffee and pastries; one savory with chicken and one sweet with cream and sugar. It’s difficult to convey how amazing the food is in the often unvisited city. Also, aside from their famous coffee, we’re told they also have the best jicama in the country. Our gracious hosts fried up the starchy root vegetable for us and it was incredibly sweet and delicious.

We went out for yet another very cheesy meal for our last night in Santa Ana. It was at a bar called Simmer Down and we ordered a fondue, some canapes topped with steak and cheese, as well as a bread with bacon and cheese baked inside. We didn’t realize how much we had ordered because the place was really quite cheap and it was based around tapas, so we mistakenly assumed that the portions would reflect the prices. But when it came out we were wide eyed and excited. Once again, eating half of what we could get down and bringing the rest home for the mornings breakfast before heading out to San Salvador.