El Impossible. Tacuba, El Salvador

El Impossible is the name of a national park in northern El Salvador (located just a few kilometres from the Guatemalan border and within sight of the Pacific Ocean). It is a park cover by tropical jungle, mountains covered in green, wild rivers and astonishing wildlife, in other words the perfect place for an expedition. The local guide Manolo does not have a difficult time convincing me that his excursion will be amazing – and it was.

We take a 4x4 Jeep down a dirt road for 1 hour (by now we are far into the jungle and beyond human settlement). The hike leads down a mountain ridge offering spectacular panoramic views until we reach the bottom of a canyon washed out over the centuries by a river. This river would mark our path to the other side of the gorge. At first the shores of the river are wide enough to walk but as we progress the canyon gets steeper and thinner. The shores disappear and we begin wading through the river. Then the path ends on the edge of a 5 meter waterfall and the only way forward is an adrenaline filled jump. And so the journey continues walking, swimming, climbing along the canyon until the next water fall offering another exciting jump. After about 7 jumps we reach the finale: a 50 meter high water fall. We climb down the side of it until it is safe to jump (about 8 meters high). Our screams of fun are swallowed by the thundering of the water.

After a quick lunch (cut short by an approaching tropical rain storm) we make our way back through the forest on the other side of the mountain. Several (very poisonous) snakes cross our path up the luscious green jungle hill. Soaked by the tropical rain storm we return to the car. On the way home we are rewarded by a cup of fresh organic coffee at a small coffee plantation. With every sip I can taste the beauty of these mountains on which it has grown.