Piece of Heaven in the World
“The word is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page,” is a quote from Saint Augustine. El Salvador is the smallest country in America. People do not expect much from that country. I was born in San Salvador, the capital of the country. In San Salvador, there are a lot of buildings and few green areas like all the big cities of every country. You can see a lot of people walking on the street to their jobs or universities. El Congo is located in Santa Ana department of El Salvador. It is a little town with beautiful places that you cannot imagine. As a girl from the capital, I had never thought of going to El Congo. However, my boyfriend and I ventured to El Congo, and we find wonderful places such as the Coatepeque Lake that made us feel like we were in heaven.
The hardest thing about El Congo getting there. We were traveling in my boyfriend’s car. We could notice the differences between San Salvador and El Congo. The road started to become more rough and the lights of the city started to disappear. We were nervous because the darkness of the night did not let Francisco see the road. Francisco reduced the velocity because the path had many curves, and it turned dangerous. With the light of the moon, we were able to see the mountains and big trees. Everything was silent and it made us feel loneliness and fear. After the day became darker, we started to hear the sound of owls and crickets that became a company to us the whole night.
The path was very risky, but everything was worth it. When we arrived, it was still dark. Even though the differences from our city were a lot, they were beautiful differences and full of culture. Finally, we saw the sign that said “Welcome to El Congo.” We got very excited because we had been on the road for several hours. There was not any buildings, but there were a lot of little houses made of different materials and shapes. The houses seemed to be made of wood, mud and even sheet metal. They had a vintage look. They were old and with a lot of intense colors such as red, yellow, blue and green. The walls of the houses had paintings on them. One of the paintings caught my attention. It had many interesting thing and colors. It had the church of the town and the little houses of the city painted, and people with large legs wearing hats and striped stockings on it as well. It reminded me of the movie “Alice in Wonderland.” The road of the town was not made of pavement like the city. It was made of stones and dust. Even though it can sound really boring for someone who has not been there, the view is something spectacular. It transported us to our ancestors and their ways of living. The town had a lot of culture and traditional things. The way that people were dressed was the same as 100 years ago and even more. The clothes were made of silk and wool. Women were wearing long skirts and colorful shirts. In contrast, men were wearing hats, and usually white or grey pants and shirts. All of them were wearing sandals. It seemed that everyone knew each other. They even greeted us.
The town of El Congo had magical places and beautiful people, and it made us want to explore every corner. We saw another sign that said “Coatepeque Lake.” It sounded interesting to us, so we decided to go there. We arrived at the lake at dusk. They sky was beautiful, and you could see a combination of colors. It was orange and yellow as if the sun was willing to go to sleep. El Salvador is an eternal summer, but that day in El Congo was freezing. We could see all the trees moving in the wind as if they were dancing. Finally, we saw the lake at the end of the landscape. It was dark, so the houses’ lights on the shore were visible. The lake was surrounded by mountains, but we just could see their shadows. It felt like being on a painting.
We were captivated by The Coatepeque Lake and its wonderful landscape, so we decided to stay there. We rented a ranch that had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The garage was at the entrance, and also the first building of the house. In the first floor was the first bedroom. It had one bed and its own bathroom. The second bedroom was very big and it had a beautiful view. The kitchen and the living room which had a pool table was in the first floor of the second building. It had two bedrooms and a terrace in which we could see perfectly the view. Another terrace was in the backyard, and it had a beautiful view of the lake also. It had the swimming pool as well. We did not swim in the pool because the day was very cold, but we did use the terraces to see the landscape. Many mountains were surrounded the Lake, and it was impossible to see what was behind them. We went to the lake which was down, it looked beautiful when we were closer. The mountains that were surrounding us looked bigger and they did not let the air pass through. The water of the lake was blue like the sky that you could feel as you were touching it. It was not so cold there, so we tried to swim. The water was hotter as you went deeper, and you were not able to see what was below.
We never imagined that we were going to find such a beautiful place. The Coatepeque Lake was formed by the explosion of a volcano many years ago. It was one of the biggest explosions in the world that even its ashes reached some parts of Europe. The volcano sank because of the explosion forming the Lake. The mountains that we saw were not actually mountains. They were the walls of the volcanic crater. The water felt hot because the lake is still a volcano with lava inside. Staying in El Congo was like having a piece of heaven on our hands. Sometimes, we just have to take the risk and explore the world because we do not know what is waiting for us. Life is wonderful and we have just one. So go ahead and travel.
