Lake Coatepeque is a large crater lake in the east part of the Coatepeque Caldera. At 26 sq. km, it is one of the largest lakes in El Salvador, and has hot springs near its shores. In the lake is the island of Teopan, which was a Mayan site of some importance. Despite the distance being relatively short, it took us most of a day and three bus transfers to get to the beautiful Lago Coatepeque. We were relieved to drop our bags, set up the tent in the yard of the funky hostal called Amacuilco, and take a dip in the cool clear waters of the crater lake. Since it was the weekend, many "capitalinos" (second-home owners from San Salvador) were partying at the pier restaurant next door. We wandered over and had a beer, played cards, and watched the sunset while listening to an English-singing rock and roll cover band (not as good as the Raging Jicamos of course, but just as old...hee hee). Back at the hostal, we ordered dinner and despite being used to the generally slow service in these countries, we were faint from hunger by the time our food showed up an hour and a half later. Since that consumed most of the evening, we retired to the tent, read a bit, and fell asleep early. The next morning we were up with the crow of roosters, had a timely breakfast and caught a couple of buses to a park containing three volcanoes, two of which are considered active although not currently erupting. In the park, we were not permitted to walk any trails without an interpretive guide, so we had to hire one for a wussy nature walk to some overlooks of the lake and the volcano Santa Ana. In keeping with our luck, clouds completely obscured the views from the overlooks, but both before and after the hike it was a clear hot day. When we returned from that disappointment, it was time for the group hike to the summit of Volcan Izalco. The two of us were the only ones interested and we met our little guide Elizabeth, who looked 15 but claimed to be 20. The hike began from the top of the extinct volcano Cerro Verde, which was actually higher than the summit of the one we were going to hike up. We quickly descended the flank of Cerro Verde, cutting through an oak forest on countless switchbacks until we reached the base of Izalco. Then it was straight up the scoria and boulder fields to the rim of the crater, Elizabeth in her skin tight jeans gracefully kicking our butts and patiently waiting for us while we sweated and huffed and puffed. The crater was shallow but had some fumaroles that standing in felt like a nice sauna. We walked around the crater rim, taking in the great views in all directions, then had a fabulous time glisading down the loose scree, reaching the bottom in a matter of minutes, covered in dust and boots full of pebbles, and reminded of the telemark turns we are missing this winter (although we hear we aren´t missing much...yet.) Then it was up through the oak forest back to the top of Cerro Verde, again Elizabeth setting a tough pace to follow. We made the return journey back to the hostal, arriving with just enough sunlight left for a refreshing and cleansing dip in the lake. We made a point of ordering dinner well before we were ready to eat, and chatted with some odd characters also staying at the hostal until it arrived. After dinner, the company got stranger when a friend of the couple who owns the hostal showed up.
Coatepeque is a volcanic lake situated about an hour from San Salvador. It is much older than Ilopango, though created by a similar catastrophic eruption some five to six thousand years ago. Named Lago de Coatepeque, it is on the eastern slope of the Santa Ana volcano. It is a beautiful, clean, and sparkling blue crater-shaped lake, 6 kms wide and 120 meters deep and surrounded by steep green slopes rising up 250 to 500 meters. The scenic road between the Interamerican Highway and CA8, known as the "panoramic highway" for its marvelous views, curls along the steep ridge of the crater giving you glimpses of the broad fertile valleys on one side and the lake on the other. Along the shore of the lake there are several private beachhouses as this is a popular Salvadorean weekend get-a-way. There are also beachfront hotels accommodating visitors—Hotel Torremolinos offers lodging, a restaurant and they rent watersports equipment. Hotel Amacuilco has an art center worth checking out and it is a popular spot for younger travelers.
Coatepeque Caldera (Nahuatl cōātepēc, "at the snake hill") is a volcanic caldera in El Salvador in Central America. The caldera was formed during a series of major rhyolitic explosive eruptions between about 72,000 and 57,000 years ago. Since then, basaltic cinder cones and lava flows formed near the west edge of the caldera, and six rhyodacitic lava domes have formed. The youngest dome, Cerro Pacho, formed after 8000 BC. Lago de Coatepeque (Lake Coatepeque) is a large crater lake in the east part of the Coatepeque Caldera. It is in Coatepeque municipality, Santa Ana, El Salvador. There are hot springs near the lake margins. At 26 km², it is one of the largest lakes in El Salvador. In the lake is the island of Teopan, which was a Mayan site of some importance. A Salvadorean, but living in the States for years, he spoke fluent slang-filled English in a cartoony voice and cracked us all up with bizarre jokes. He also brough a liter and a half of vodka for anyone who cared to partake. When the original odd characters of the evening excused themselves early on from the party, we were invited over to the owners, Mauricio and Sandra, house to carry on. While the crazy friend (we think his name was Jose) was hitting on a single Swede lady without mercy, Mauricio tried to broach deep and profound topics of conversation but was too drunk to keep any train of thought, and was completely non-sensical. Sandra and I livened things us by dancing along to a Salvadorean music DVD, and then not being much of the party type Matt and I had had enough and ditched the party to lay out on the dock and take in the incredible stars overhead.
