We’ve been travelling through Central America, and just left Honduras to enter El Salvador, a small densely populated country in the south-central part of Central America. It sits on the Pacific Coast, right next door to Honduras and Guatemala, and is often called the Land of Volcanoes having over 100, of which 20 are potentially active.
 |
| Chichontepec Volcano, El Salvador |
El Salvador has a turbulent history that includes a Spanish takeover, several devastating volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and civil war. This has, over time, left a legacy of impoverishment, making El Salvador ripe for gang-lead criminal activity, thus earning it the title of a Murder Capital in 2015-16 (Honduras was the Murder Capital in 2011).
 |
| San Salvador, capital of El Salvador |
However, in 2022, the government rounded up thousands of gang members and jailed them, significantly reducing the crime rate. El Salvador is now considered one of the safest countries in Central America; although the manner of the round-up, and the conditions in jails are being criticised.
 |
| San Salvador, capital of El Salvador |
El Salvador is also the smallest country in Central America, and you can drive east to west in around five hours and north to south in three. So to get around, we’d arranged a tour company to take us to El Salvador’s main sights via day trips from the capital, San Salvador. This also gave us a much-needed break from organising the sightseeing ourselves.
 |
| San Salvador’s historic centre, including the modern national library |
On our first day of sightseeing, we visited the historic centre of San Salvador. It’s small with mostly low-rise buildings, and we found it tidy, clean and interesting. A highlight was visiting the super-modern national library. It was built with Chinese money, although, most of the country’s support comes from the USA. In fact, the US dollar has been the official currency here since 2001.
 |
| Women making pupusas in San Salvador, El Salvador |
Another highlight was the market, where we saw very fresh-looking fruit and veges, meat stalls, clothing stalls, and the dining area. The food in the dining area is prepared by many women and we saw the kitchen area where they were all busy making pupusas – the national dish. A pupusa is a corn or rice tortilla filled with meat and/or vegetables. We had some for lunch and they were very tasty.
 |
| El Boquerón National Park crater, El Salvador |
In the afternoon, we visited El Boquerón National Park, a protected area that is in the crater of the San Salvador volcano. After a huffing-and-puffing 20 mins climb upwards, we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the crater, and on the way down, we had an equally spectacular view over the city.
 |
| One of the charming shops in Suchitoto, El Salvador |
The next day, we drove north-east of San Salvador to the lovely town of Suchitoto. It’s a small town that doesn’t see much tourism, and so is quite authentic with its cobblestoned streets, colonial buildings, and handicrafts hanging in the colonnades.
 |
| A shop selling indigo products in Suchitoto, El Salvador |
The town was once famous for its trade in indigo, a plant that produces a deep blue dye. After that, we went down to Suchitlán Lake. It looked highly swimmable, but we were told that the water quality in El Salvador generally, is not safe for drinking or swimming. Back in San Salvador that night, we wandered around the streets and enjoyed the ambiance, feeling quite safe.
 |
| The beach at El Tunco, El Salvador |
Our next outing was to El Tunco beach on the Pacific coast. The town of El Tunco is a vibrant wee place known as Surf City because the focus here is on surfing. The waves were gentle when we visited, and the beach was lovely. It was incredibly hot, so after a short walk along the beach, we found a beachside restaurant and enjoyed a margarita.
 |
| The view from Cadejo Brewery, El Tunco, El Salvador |
Then we went a few kilometres up the road for lunch at Cadejo, one of the biggest craft breweries in Central America. Their restaurant is perched on a cliff offering great views of the sea. We sat at a table on the cliff-side, and tasted a couple of their brews and found them quite refreshing on such a hot day.
 |
| Transport in El Salvador |
On the drive back, we saw a sight that we’d seen in all of the countries we’d visited on this trip to date, and that was the interesting transport system. The most common means of transport being the back of a ute car, or a truck. These vehicles stop anywhere to pick up and drop off people, they’re cheap, and fulfil a transport need in rural areas in particular. We don't know how many people get hurt on these things but lack of safety doesn’t seem to be a deterrent!
 |
| Preserved house, Parque Arqueológico Joya de Cerén (UNESCO), El Salvador |
The next day saw us inspecting historic artifacts and dwellings at the Parque Arqueológico Joya de Cerén (UNESCO). The park is a Mayan village that was buried as a result of a volcanic eruption around 590 AD and so is well-preserved. It was interesting, as we had a glimpse into what life must have been like for ordinary people in those times.
 |
| A torogoz at Parque Arqueológico Joya de Cerén, El Salvador |
While we were there, we spotted a torogoz inside the pavilion. This colourful little chappie is the national bird of El Salvador. It’s found in other countries in Central America, but it has a special significance in El Salvador, because they live in pairs and both partners rear the chicks. Also, they do not adapt well to captivity. The El Salvadoreans believe therefore, that the bird symbolises unity and liberty.
 |
| Lake Coatepeque, El Salvador |
After that, we were driven to Lake Coatepeque, a large crater lake surrounded by wooded hills in western El Salvador. We firstly drove through the small village of El Congo to see the lake close up. Then we wound around the hill, ever upward, to arrive at our lunch destination which had spectacular views out over the lake.
 |
| Archaeological ruins at San Andrés, El Salvador |
Our next stop on that day was San Andrés, a regional capital between 600 to 900 AD. During the Spanish occupation of El Salvador, the ruins of San Andrés ended up surrounded by a colonial estate used for indigo production. A volcanic eruption in 1658 covered the ruins and the indigo site which preserved them.
 |
| Meat section at Nahuizalco market, El Salvador |
The next day we did the Ruta de las Fores – the Flower Route. The route includes a string of pretty villages in El Salvador’s Apaneca hills that showcase local life (not flowers!). For this trip, we joined a small group of mostly American tourists, also doing the tour. It was an interesting day, beginning in the village of Nahuizalco where we visited the market, colonial church and artesian workshops.
 |
| Street stalls in Salcoatitán, El Salvador |
Our next village was Salcoatitán, which we thought was quite a traditional town. We spotted local street markets, admired the colonial church and central park, and heard about its nearby coffee plantations.
 |
| Juayúa, El Salvador |
 |
| Ataco, El Salvador |
Our final village was Concepción de Ataco, or Ataco for short. This is a really lovely place, with cobblestoned streets, a lovely plaza and church, and some attractive shops. Ataco also has some fabulous and vibrant murals that depict town life. Leaving Ataco, we took the long drive back to San Salvador after a really interesting day.
 |
| Modern San Salvador city, El Salvador |
San Salvador city is quite modern and clean, with large attractive shopping malls, an abundance of American chain stores, wide boulevards, and plenty of trees. It has a great vibrancy, and we really liked it. It has over 2 mill residents in the wider metropolitan area, and while some of these live in the city, many others live in shantytowns surrounding the city.
 |
| Food stall in modern El Salvador |
Our time in El Salvador was great, not only because we managed a good break, but also because the people are lovely, the place is clean and modern, and in the areas where we stayed and visited it felt safe. However modern it is though, there are still plenty of Momma’s with their road-side food stalls serving breakfast and dinners to the workers. Our next stop is Nicaragua, but that’s in the next blog.