Day 12: Travel to Lake Coatepeque with New Acropolis

After our drive to Coatepeque we posed at a scenic stop above the lake.
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Journal Entry by Kallan Lyons

Today was an early morning.  It was our first day with New Acropolis, and so at 7am we had breakfast and met the bus to take us to the office.  What an adventure that was!  After squeezing our luggage and 11 travelers into a small passenger bus, we traveled (luckily) approximately 8 blocks to our destination of New Acropolis’s head office.  If we didn’t feel close enough already, that bus ride did it.  Upon arriving, we were greeted by Jose Roberto (seems every other person we meet is named Jose…)and Eva.   First thing, we were given a tour of the house which is also used for classes such as belly dancing and other international activities.  Then we were escorted to an air conditioned room—how nice!, to discuss our activities for the following three days and also talk about our own personal goals and what we hope to accomplish.  Seeing the pictures of Lake Coatepeque had me greatly looking forward to our adventures, particularly when we found out we would be on the site of a volcano that erupted in 2001.  (Don’t worry parents, for those whose child wishes to return next year… it erupts every 100 years, and apparently is very accurate.)  After our meet and greet, two girls arrived to show us some traditional Salvadoran games to play with the kids from the school we will be visiting.  We learned how to play Mika-Fruit (a type of tag), and also got to practice our Spanish fruit vocabulary.  Let’s all try… Banana: banana. Papaya: papaya. Mango: mango.  I think it is suffice to say that we were all fluent fruit speakers by the end.   We also learned a few name games, a ball game where you have to hit the other person when they run away (what better way to get to know the kids?) and a song about a chicken dance, "El Pollo", that most of us (minus our lovely Spanish speakers Kendall and Uliana) still have no idea what the words are.  Something about shaking your butt?  Getting the boys to perform this one was quite amusing.  After running around in the hot hot sun, we were given a juice made of ground seeds...a very traditional Salvadoran drink, and tasty.  Soon after, our bus arrived to take us to Lake Coatepeque.  A few Canadians traveled with Jose Roberto, while the rest of us piled into another bus.  Apparently we took the scenic route, and arrived quite a bit after the others.  Our bus driver was also a bit on the odd side…he stopped at one point right in the middle of the highway, and another time pulled over to yell for a cup of coffee from a guy on the opposite side of the road.  Not to mention the Metallica and multi-tasking.  The drive to the Caldera was spectacular though.  We drove along a ridge and could see down to Lake Coatapeque and across valleys all around us.  Let’s just say we were all extremely happy to reach our destination.  Once we settled into our accommodation, we received a traditional lunch, which had been approved by a dietician, of local cheese, rice, tortillas and mmm watermelon.  While the tortillas are somewhat dry, it is evident Salvadoran’s eat very healthily.  The meal energized us for our 3 hour hike through the lahar; the remains of a landslide or mudflow of volcanic fragments.  It was really amazing. We stopped at one house, which looked more like a small cabin, and watched a woman make tortillas, which is solely water and corn.  We took lots of pictures, as we walked two hours up, climbed a steep ledge, then an hour and a bit down.  On the way down I spoke to Go, a volunteer from New Acropolis, who explained to me the history of El Salvador and more about the particular area.  It was very interesting and life altering to imagine my family having to pick up and move or even abandon building a home due to an erupting volcano.  Jose stopped the group at one point to show us a steam vent, where if you place your hand over the hole you can feel steam escaping from the volcano!  At the base, we were picked up by a boat to do a tour of the lake, and the drastic change of lifestyle across the communities became evident.  The cottages on the lake were more like small mansions, and we could clearly see that this area greatly ranges in wealth.  Jose pointed out, though hard to miss, where the volcano had wiped out entire houses, some that were then rebuilt. A few of us took a quick swim in the lake, and I attempted to overcome my fear of fish by joining.  Much warmer water than in Canada!  Afterwards, we headed to Jose Roberto’s grandparents, where we relaxed by the pool with some excellent rice pudding.  Go and a couple of other volunteers came with some cars to bring the group back to the New Acropolis site, San Jorge, and Lily, Kyle and I enjoyed our first legal ride in the back of a pickup truck.  I don’t think the driver quite enjoyed mine and Lily’s sing song on the way back!  After several of us hopped into the showers that had no warm water, we dined on chicken enchiladas.  Once again another great traditional meal.  I unfortunately began to fall asleep after the meal even though it was only 8pm, but long days take their toll!  A group of students from San Salvador who were volunteering for the weekend, were having a campfire, so half the group decided to stick around for the event while the other half, myself included, headed off to bed.  None of us stayed up too late, and apparently when the three remaining Canadians at the bonfire were asked to sing a Canadian song, they broke into the national anthem.  What patriotism!  The first day was better than I had anticipated, and I am eager to see what else New Acropolis has in store for us.