The 7 Waterfalls Hike- Juayua

Casa Mazeta in Juayua, El Salvador is a great place to make your home base on the Ruta de les Flores for many reasons. Their Seven Waterfalls Hike is just one of them. Led by a friendly guide or two  (we had Elmer and Jose, who were awesome) and accompanied by at least 2 dogs you hike through coffee plants and along steep slopes offering gorgeous vistas. The waterfalls come into the picture during the last quarter of the hike. As does the days biggest adventure: repelling down a waterfall on a rope! It sounds terrifying, but with the one-on-one help of Elmer, showing where all the foot holes are and staying with you your entire descent- its definitely more exhilarating than scary. Plus, watching the guides, and the dogs descend the waterfall without ropes, makes you wonder why you were so scared to begin with. Once you're safely at the bottom, of course... Here the tourists are donning helmets and shaking in their soaking wet boots, and Elmer and Jose scamper up and down the slippery rocks getting all the ropes set up for us wearing crocs. After conquering the waterfall its on to more seriously impressive waterfalls. But now we're just hiking past them..and sometimes through them. I gave up trying to keep my shoes dry almost immediately. Slogging up rivers, through puddles and into waterfalls made for some soaking wet, sloshy shoes. At the final waterfall we had a picnic lunch and took a very refreshing (read: chilly) dip. There was a rock retaining wall making the waterfall a natural infinity pool- with a spectacular view! After 6 hours of hiking, we definitely deserved it!