Suchitoto, El Salvador: Stunning Lake Views, Delicious Coffee and A-Must Civil War Tour – Immersive

Hello and welcome to this week's episode. In the last episode I arrived into El Salvador, into the capital city San Salvador. Had a great few days there, you can check that out on the previous episode. And on this one, I'm taking a bus to Suchitoto, which was a recommendation from another traveler. Suchitoto is situated on Lake Suchitlan and I spent an hour to hour and a half bus ride from San Salvador going north. So first of all, I had to get to Terminal Plaza Aminasia.

It's a big yellow bus at the bus station and the cost is one dollar. A worker at the station very kindly showed me the right way to catch the bus. Before I knew it, I was on the bus with a seat with my bag and we are away. As we passed villages and towns along the way, the bus filled up to the point where someone was hanging off the edge of the door. This was my first experience on public transport in El Salvador and so far, no dramas, set prices.

and pretty smooth.

The journey was quite uneventful. I arrived into Situ Toto an hour and a half later and I was off on a walk to find my hotel. Yeah that was a pretty painless bus ride. Hour, hour and a half got busy in the middle. it's not full down there. Finished the ride so we're now gonna try and find my hotel down here. Lovely colourful houses, very colonial type town.

and music and people. Love it. My hotel of choice is Hotel Icafe Ixmati, Succu Toto. It costs 45 US dollars for two nights with breakfast for a private room and a bathroom.

The door to the hotel and cafe opens out into the central part of Sotsu-Toto. I just love the music, it just makes you want to dance. And to couple with that, the colourful houses gives it a vibrant feel.

First impressions of Succhi is a laid back atmosphere with a vibrant feel about it. There are cobbled streets everywhere. Every house has a different colour. I absolutely love it.

The streets are lined with trees and people mill about their daily lives. Just listen to the music.

Makes you wanna dance, doesn't it?

you

With a chicken toasted sandwich, with fries and a coffee and a glass bottle coke, why not? This is also a pricey option for accommodation in Sichitoto, but compared to western standards, it's unbelievable value.

You sit there amongst trees, overlooking the lake, having your coffee and lunch. It really is a serene feel and the servers are absolutely top class. After some much needed food and caffeine, I'm off on a walk to Alejandro Cotto's house which is about three to four minutes away.

I did visit most rooms and tried to read the plaques in Spanish. There is one hidden gem in his house and that's his back garden. Be sure to walk amongst his gardens all the way to the back of the house. You won't regret it.

Look at this. Dearie me. Wow. I'm in the gardens here. There's no one here. This is unbelievable. There it is, the lake. What a view. I'm going to sit here and enjoy it. It's a bit hot, but I don't care. That is sensational.

This was a feast for my eyes, an elevated view of the lake at the back of his garden. The path winds to a platform and the view is breathtaking. Water and hills as far as the eye can see. And you can sit there with a cup of tea and just enjoy the natural beauty.

After my bus experience, I'm starting to feel much more settled in El Salvador and much more comfortable travelling around with the locals on local transport. Today has given me the travel bug. This country is amazing, very welcoming and it's a great choice to visit. I'm only a few days in, but I already feel at home and that is the biggest compliment that I can give. I could have stayed there for hours, but it's time to head back into the town square of Suchitoto to check out Santa Lucia Church next to the water fountain.

After short reflection period, it's time to head out back into the town square. This place has vendors selling ice cream, drinks and street food. There are seats around the fountain to sit there and enjoy the view of the church, or to hang with locals. For me, it's a coffee boost and an ice cream at Cafe Flamenco, which is situated on one of the side streets beside the church.

Cafe Flamenco has unbelievable coffee and for me being a coffee snob has the perfect cup to accompany the cup of coffee.

For me, it's a return to the hotel for some aircon and a shower. It's so muggy and the heat was getting to me.

some reflections on my first day. what a day. Yeah, early start this morning. I was up really early at seven, I think it was, to the bus station and then arrived into the beautiful town of Suchitoto and it's an important place this because it had a huge part in the civil war. It's an old colonial Spanish town. I believe it was the old capital.

of El Salvador before they moved to San Salvador. So I've checked out today, what a place. Cobble streets, small buildings, all very colourful, a huge cathedral church in the middle of square. You can walk all the way down one road to any cafe, get a coffee or lunch and have a view of the lake. It's a man-made lake, I think it was put in there maybe 30 years ago. But honestly the views are incredible and I've booked in a Civil War tour, not tomorrow.

but on Thursday morning, I think it starts at seven, get back at one. And this includes a bit of a hike. We get to meet some of the guerrilla posts that they used to hang out in. We get to speak to one of the ex-guerrilla people as well. talks to us about his time in the military, in the struggle. So this is gonna be super cool. Tomorrow is gonna be a chill day for me. I've overspent on my budget and I've been quite busy. I feel like I've been up and about all day every day, so I need to chill a little bit. But I'll definitely walk down to the lake.

see it from ground level. think there's some boats there, might do that all the way up. But overall I'm loving this town, this is awesome. As day turned to night, I went back out into the centre square of Sotsu-Toto to get some souvenirs and to return to Cafe Flamenco for dinner and ice cream this time. Dinner was grilled chicken, fries and grilled vegetables. A perfect dinner to end a perfect day in Sotsu-Toto. What a great start.

Next morning we are up and at them and first of all is a breakfast at the hotel. It's a classic breakfast in this part of the world of beans, eggs, plantain, toast, coffee and a little bit of fruit. What a great start. I'm heading out back into town to collect some photos and videos of this great city. I just love walking around.

But now the next coffee stop is Cafe Abuela. Hola. Hola. Como estas? Bien. Good, good. Bien, bien. You cannot miss this cafe. It's big, yellow and very trendy with trees hanging around the edge of it. It's situated right next to the church. Here are some reflections of my morning. Second day in Suchitoto and it's bloody hot.

this morning, got up, had an amazing breakfast at the hostel and then parted around town to get some more photos and videos. Love walking around town, cobbled streets, old buildings, love all that. And then I went for a coffee, a very trendy place. You'll see that on this part of the video. Loved it as well, great tasting coffee. They've got a little coffee bag there for about $3, tempting, but that means I've got to carry it all the way.

But yeah, maybe, might be. Now I'm walking down to the lake. It's about a 25 minute walk and it's all downhill from here. Coming back would be an issue. But I'm to go down there, get a view of the lake. I think it costs a dollar to go in the area. And then I've got a recommendation for a lunch place down there. So I'm hoping for some great views. I may do a boat tour, but depends how much it is.

I don't know what they do, where they go, but we'll see. Then tomorrow is going to be hiking in the morning, early start. It's going be sweaty. It's going to be a lot of information. Can't wait to be fair. I haven't really tested that bit yet, so I'm going to get a hike in early doors to see how it goes. So yeah, looking forward to it.

As I mentioned, Suchit sits on the lake and you can get a taxi down there if you want to. And I was right, it does cost a dollar to enter the area. There will be a person sitting on a chair as you enter the car park. Just paid him a dollar, easy peasy. This area effectively has three things. Boat tours, a walk-in park and a huge restaurant area. The boat tours can cost anything between 10 and 50 dollars per day.

and they dot around the lake to the little villages. But for me, it's the views, my kindle and food.

The views are spectacular.

The boat guys would approach you for an offer to go on a lake. You can refuse or accept, but for me it was a no. I found a chair, got my Kindle out and read whilst looking at the views after every page.

After an hour I felt a little bit peckish so it's time to check out the restaurant. This restaurant is packed with about 10 to 15 different vendors to choose from and it's quite overwhelming. They approach you with a menu to take a look so I plumped to one and got some amazing food. My word, what a choice. I got three portions of food for seven US dollars and they're bigger than what I thought they would be. It was a soup, enchiladas and some fries. I was stuffed.

A local very kindly offered me a lift up the hill on his motorbike.

Next up was a coffee at cafe that's been on my list, Ix Canal. Ix Canal has some of the best coffee I've ever had. You have to check this place out, my word.

To finish the night, it's dinner at El Reconcito, a great, cheap local option.

It was an early alarm call as I had to pack my bag, leave it at the hotel and head across the road to join a GeoVentures tour group for the Civil War tour with Daniel at Suchitoto Eco Tours.

The tour combines seeing the town of Sinquera speaking to a local who is involved in the civil war and hiking up to some civil war guerrilla outposts in the jungle and then chilling out in a waterfall at the end. For 50 US dollars this is breathtakingly good value for money. Now to my favorite part of the tour which was getting to know Nelson.

who fought for the guerrilla rebel forces of El Salvador, the left hand side, against the government. I had a hundred questions for this guy, but I appreciated that the group had ones too. We sat there, we asked questions, we listened to Nelson, and Daniel translated for us. It really was quite awe inspiring actually.

of what those times were like. I learnt so much and I could have sat there all day. Please head to the show notes for the link to this tour, it has all the details that you need to know.

And just beware that you need to contact Daniel to arrange the tour and it needs four people at least for the tour to go ahead. Of course on this day I was quite lucky I was joining a GeoVentures tour. You must do this in Succu Toto. You have to learn about this side of the history. Thanks Nelson for making time for us and thank you to Daniel for translating. Then we grabbed our hiking poles and headed up to the second largest nature reserve in El Salvador.

Have a guess at what this is.

That's coming.

That was a tarantula. We headed up into the foothills of the jungle and got to chill out at the camps that the gorillas used to hang out in.

The smoke would immediately bring down bombs, right? So somebody from Vietnam approached and I told them, look guys... The next activity was Daniel taking us up to a fantastic viewpoint over El Salvador and my word, the views up here are sensational. It was so muggy and so hot. In a change of pace, Daniel showed us his heavy metal band.

That's the way of them. Because the Spanish ships were following whales, you know, and that's how they stumbled upon this land.

Now it's time to chill out in the waterfall and reflect on a great tour. Thank you to Daniel for hosting and to Juan who was the Guatemalan tour guide with the Geo Ventures group for making me feel welcome. I learnt a lot, I loved my time, well worth the value and had the best time in nature too. You have to check out this tour, it's the number one rated tour in Situ Toto and it fills up quite quickly.

That tour was the end of my stay in Suchitoto. I picked my bag up from the hotel and headed to the bus station to catch the 129 bus to San Salvador.

Now it's time to reflect on my time in Suchitoto as I walk to the bus station. What a place. Suchitoto is an absolute dream. The setting by the lake is serene. It's super quiet with friendly locals and the buildings are so colourful. Majestic. You get a sense of history, hope and a sense of importance in this place. That can only be felt and seen if you're walking around the streets.

saying hello to people, speaking to locals and getting to know the area. The Civil War tour is a must. With nature involved in the tour you get to see and hear about both sides of humanity and the nature in question. The coffee is out of this world. Ix canal is in the top three on the trip. The accommodation is a bit cheaper than the big city and other popular areas. And finally, I just want to say I met the most amazing people here from Daniel.

the eco tours, to the cafe owners, to the random locals on the street. I almost felt at home, which is the biggest compliment I can give. When you plan El Salvador, this is a must inclusion for your itinerary, get it done. Now I head off on another bus and I'm heading to the coast to chill in El Zonte for a few days and I'll see you there.

Don't forget to tune in to the first episode of this series in San Salvador on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Voyascape.com and any other podcast platform that you use. Be sure to leave a rating and review for the podcast. Thanks for tuning in.