By: Hugh C. Talley

In my last post I told of ruins of a hotel that Elizabeth and I saw at the park we went to see the Ilamatepec Valcano. I have done some research and I find that the name of the park we were at is Cerro Verde (Green Hill), the name of the hotel was Hotel Montaña (Mountain Hotel).

Hotel Montaña was built between 1955-1960. This project was created by the well-known architect Rene Suarez. This was a four star hotel that provided a very impressive view of the volcanos and the “Lighthouse of the Pacific”.

With the conflicts of the civil war in the 80’s, the hotel began a gradual decline. The earthquake of 1986 caused minor damage to the hotel, but the earthquake of 2001 caused major damage that made it unsafe. It was never repaired and has only been a tourist attraction up to today.

It seems that there are Europeans who are interested in remodeling or rebuilding the hotel. CC245 an architecture company with headquarters in Barcelona has been assigned to do a study to decide the best way to go ahead with the project.

I have attached pictures that I took at the ruins site.

I would be very grateful to have your comments or questions on anything you would like to know about El Salvador.