Lago de Apastepeque

Sunday 11 of the 15 trainees took a trip up to the crater lake Lago de Apastepeque, which is only a 10 minute ride from Apastepeque where some of us are stationed for training. We had to leave Tecoluca at 8:15 and take our normal bus to San Vicente, where we went to the Super and bought snacks and drinks for the day, and then take a pickup up to Apastepeque. Pickups are the most common mode of transportation here, aside from the bus system. They are literally just oversized pickup trucks with bars around the bed of the truck and people cram onto them and ride standing up. We took one up to Apastepeque, where we met the rest of the group, and then boarded another one which took us the 10 minutes to the lake. The lake was very small but very beautiful. It is a crater lake, which means it has no flowing water, so the water was kind of murky, but we still all swam, which was amazing. Here when you access bodies of water there is never just a public beach or grassy area where you can hang out and relax. Rather, you have to pay an entrance fee (usually $1) to get into a sort of complex that includes bathrooms, picnic tables, hammocks, and usually a pool. The one we went to yesterday also had a large wooden dock that went out over the lake, which is where we hung out when we weren’t swimming. We were the only people at the lake wearing normal bathing suits, and therefore we got quite a few stares. Also a couple of Salvadoran men blatantly started taking pictures of us in our bikinis until Tricia told them to stop. That was creepy.

When we were done swimming we walked about ¼ mile around the lake to this little shack where they catch fish for you and cook them right there. Only 3 of us did that (not me), but the fish looked amazing and it was a great place to sit and hang out in the shade.

I got a very bad sunburn all over my body even though I wore SPF50 and was only in the sun for about 3 hours. I guess I’m going to have to adapt to the sun down here, since it’s so much more intense!

Another thing I would like to note about photos. Photos taken here make all these places look WAY nicer than they actually are. I think it’s all of the greenery, flowers, and bright colors. For example, in my photo below of the complex we were swimming at, it looks like a freaking resort, when in actuality it was fairly muddy and there was trash and stuff everywhere. It was still amazing, just wanted to let you all know that these places are not what I would call the lap of luxury and probably would not meet American standards for relaxation. 

Some trainees swimming

The "resort"

Ashley and Jamie at the "restaurant"