Los Chorros de Calera, El Salvador

Los Chorros del Calera, El Salvador

Just outside Juayúa, El Salvador, the Chorros de Calera are a series of waterfalls and pools, connected by man-made tunnels you can swim though in the dark.  Quite a little adventure.  If you're even braver, you can do some cliff jumping into the narrow pools, a feat made to look easy by the local guides. 

Ready for adventure?  Swim through that!

I did an inexpensive tour from the hostel, Hotel Anáhuac.  Our guide was awesome, giving us bits of history and biology as we hiked, then guiding us through the tunnels with shouted commands like, "Hands arriba!"  Hands up.  "This way, this way!  Aventura!" 

Hungry?  Jungle Picnic.

Afterwards, he made us lunch, cutting open a pineapple with a machete and serving it on banana leaves.

I'd never heard of Juayúa before I started researching my Central America trip.  Between the falls, the social hostel, and the local gastronomy festival where I shared a frog with new friends, Juayúa become one of my favorite stops on my Central American odyssey.