El Salvador

My El Salvador travel summary:

Visited: 2013, 2015, March 2022

Duration of visit: 15 days

Capital city: San Salvador

Population: 6.7 million (2022)

El Salvador travel blog reading time: 13 minutes

• Climbing Santa Ana volcano – the highest volcano in El Salvador.
• Vibrant San Salvador has been slowly stabilizing and attracting more visitors.
• Tasting local food – from pupusas to mariscadas and tropical fruits.
• Delightful waves, hotels and bars in Surf City – El Tunco.
• Friendly and humble people.

El Salvador is one of two countries that I first visited for business and later for pleasure. While working for a Slovenian printing company, I stayed in a luxury hotel in Zona Rosa, attended meetings and tender openings in San Salvador. I didn’t have much time to explore the rest of the country.

El Salvador is Central America’s smallest country, yet the most densely populated, with about 6.7 million people (2022). It is also the only one without a Caribbean coast.

Eternally beautiful weather, green areas around San Salvador, and extremely hospitable people inspired my sympathy for a country hit by tragedy and conflict for decades.

El Salvador fought a violent civil war from 1979 to 1992 between the military junta and the FMLN. After the war, powerful gangs like MS-13 and Barrio 18 spread violence through extortion, trafficking, and contract killings. The most powerful crime gangs have operated not only in El Salvador, but across Central America and even in the USA.

After several short visits to San Salvador, I finally returned in 2022 for a proper Salvador travel adventure. El Salvador was the last Central American country I had yet to explore in depth.

El Salvador is a small country, with logistics easy to organize and short distances to travel around. I explored some of the most beautiful places to visit in the country, using every type of transportation available. I also tasted a wide variety of non-meat foods, since I don’t eat meat.

Due to decades of instability and the recent impact of COVID-19, El Salvador wasn’t very touristic in 2022. Travelers found neighboring countries safer or more appealing for travelling.

However, this might change in the near future. There are three main reasons behind the recent rise in El Salvador’s travel popularity:

• President Nayib Bukele, the region’s youngest and most charismatic leaders, began implementing drastic changes to improve security and tourism infrastructure.
• Introduction of bitcoin as the parallel currency to US$.
• The country promotes itself as Central America’s top surf spot, renaming El Tunco to Surf City.

The city of San Salvador is a mixture of modern malls, restaurants, pupuserías, markets, and sprawling suburbs. It isn’t a beautiful capital, so I didn’t spend much time there. I had actually visited different parts of the city, while working.

Monumento al Divino Salvador del Mundo shows Jesus Christ standing on a globe representing planet Earth. It is a symbol that identifies and represents both, El Salvador and Salvadorans throughout the world. It is located close to Zona Rosa a modern district filled with American-style hotels, eateries, bars, cafés, and nightlife spots.

In this area the feeling is very different than in poor suburbs, where noise, congestion and high density make life unbearable.

Fully armed private security guards stand in front of every business and ensure high safety.

I usually feel more scared than safe when I see so many weapons on the streets. In El Salvador this seems to be the only way to maintain order.

During my travel through the capital, I visited the most important places to visit and found a few memorable things to do in San Salvador’s old downtown.

A fire destroyed the old 1870 building in 1889, and the current Palacio Nacional replaced it. It has four main rooms in red, yellow, pink, and blue, plus 101 secondary rooms. They serve different government representatives, including the president.

In front of it stands the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador. Its importance in the history of El Salvador is unique. 44 people were killed during a stampede after members of security forces fired on mourners during Romero’s funeral. Saint Oscar Romero is buried in the crypt.

The square outside the cathedral hosted rapturous celebrations after the peace agreement that ended the Salvadoran Civil War in 1992. The church was twice visited by Pope John Paul II, who said that the cathedral was “intimately allied with the joys and hopes of the Salvadoran people.”

Iglesia del Rosario with a modern architectural design, the Latin and Greek cross type, seemed abandoned and closed for public.

Plaza Libertad represents the beginning of capitalist expansion in the mid-16^th century and is consecrated as a national icon of great importance. On a typical day, I enjoyed an ice cream and watched locals drinking cold beverages, eating snacks, or resting in the shade. La Plaza comes to life during festivities and celebrations; it is the place where Central America’s independence process began.

The story of the Salvadoran Archbishop feels so important to the country’s history that I want to describe it briefly.

Oscar Arnulfo Romero was a defining 20^th -century figure who gave his life standing up to injustice and violence in El Salvador.

He remains an inspiration to millions of Catholics, and his image appears across the country, far beyond church walls.

Oscar Arnulfo Romero was the Archbishop of San Salvador from 1977 until he was assassinated in 1980. As archbishop, Romero spoke out against social injustice and rising violence in the country. His voice became even more important as the conflict between the military government and left-wing insurgents escalated into the Salvadoran Civil War.

A month before his assassination, Romero wrote to President Jimmy Carter, urging the US to stop supporting the Salvadoran government with arms. The day before he was killed, he called on soldiers and police to refuse orders to kill civilians and end the repression.

On 24^th March 1980, Romero delivered a sermon at a small chapel, when a gunman shot him death.

More than 250,000 people attended Romero’s funeral mass at the cathedral. It marked the biggest public demonstration in El Salvador and one of the biggest across Latin America.

During the ceremony, smoke bombs exploded, and gunfire caused a deadly stampede as people tried to escape. Romero was declared a martyr by Pope Francis and beatified on 23^rd May 2015.

Los Planes de Renderos is an urban center located 10 kilometers from the capital. It is characterized by much cooler climates than those of the city and with beautiful view over San Salvador.

The main reason for coming there was to taste the most delicious pupusas in the country. The whole area is full of restaurants, food stalls, shops and bars. It was already dark, when my friend Carlos took me to one of his favorite restaurants, where pupusas are practically the only dish on the menu.

Pupusas are small, round corncakes, similar to a flatbread or pancake, that are made with corn or rice and typically filled with cheese, beans or meat.

They’re cooked on a hot griddle and often served with red sauce and pickled cabbage slaw.

Carlos ordered pupusas in different sizes with various fillings: shrimp, meat, chicken, and a small unopened flower called loroco. Additionally, delicious soups, empanadas, yuca frita, tamales, elote (corn), mariscada (seafood soup), chorizos and tropical fruits, complete the list of must try dishes.

That night I learned why pupusas are the most famous gourmet delight of El Salvador.

I travelled around the country in small and large buses, Uber, private cars, small taxis and in pickup trucks. The last option was less comfortable but far more exciting, offering great views and plenty of chances to meet Salvadorans. They always took care of me, talked with me and assure to feel comfortable.

Transport prices are extremely low, and I was never overcharged.

One of the highlights of my Salvador travel adventure was a visit to Cerro Verde National Park, where I climbed Santa Ana Volcano. My past experiences with volcanoes were not very good. Bad weather, bad timing, dangerous landslides, and even an armed attack meant my expectations before this climb were low.

After a night in a simple lodge at the volcano’s base, more than 80 people gathered at the starting point at 9:00am. I paid 9.00US$ for a guide and park entry. A group of mostly unfit and loud locals quickly stretched to small batches that were defined by physical capacity.

I joined the fastest group and struggled with knee pain while descending 500 steps into the valley and park entrance.

We continued uphill on a marked trail, gaining better views of the sunlit Izalco Volcano with every step. El Faro del Pacífico (The Lighthouse of the Pacific) earned its name due to constant eruptions between 1770 (when it formed) and 1958. Izalco Volcano is entirely black and vegetation-free. Its perfect cone rises to 1,950 meters, lower than Santa Ana (2,381m).

After about two hours of steady climbing, I finally reached the summit of Santa Ana Volcano

Wind gusts were extremely strong. Still, the sunny, warm weather revealed a fantastic view over the valley toward Lake Coatepeque and down into the volcanic crater. A small turquoise lake shimmered below me.

I enjoyed about thirty minutes at the summit before heading down. I descended much faster than I climbed, reaching the base in roughly 1.5 hours.

Joya de Cerén is the only archeological site that I visited in El Salvador. Once I had experienced the most impressive Pre-Columbian sites in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, everything else felt smaller in comparison. Few other archaeological sites can match the glory and architectural wonder of those extraordinary ancient cities.

Joya de Cerén is known for the excellent preservation of a Classic period settlement that was rapidly buried by the ashfall of a volcano eruption around AD 600. Low ash temperatures and rapid, meter-thick ashfall preserved the site remarkably well within just a few hours.

It had been covered for centuries and it is particularly significant in the study of everyday life of ancient Maya communities. Houses, where regular people lived, were never discovered in other Mayan cities in Central America.

This unique attraction was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993. Different structures show life of ordinary people: houses, bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, community houses, spas, etc. I learned that people in that period grew major crops such as guava, agave, cacao, and manioc.

I paid a visit to a barber in Suchitoto. Beside haircut and good conversation, I also got local, cheap vodka to taste and cheer with my barber to the future of the country that desperately needs change.

“Bukele is the best president. I have never received anything from ex-presidents, but he gave us rice, beans tuna and even money,” were compelling reasons why Nayib Bukele is the best president.

Suchikito area is known for waterfalls and Lake Suchitlán – an artificial lake closed by a hydroelectric dam in 1976. The waterfalls were water-less, since I visited the area at the end of dry season. Dark, basalt columns that form a steep wall, down which a large amount of water falls during the rainy season, were still impressive.

The area was quiet and tranquil, with pleasant view over a vast lake. I relaxed in a wooden chair, perfectly placed in a shadow, while observing the splendor of the largest body of fresh water in the country. It seems more remote and less visited than Lake Coatepeque, where a lot of water activities are going on, especially over the weekends.

In September 2021 El Salvador became the first country in the world which made bitcoin the country’s official currency, beside American dollar.

I visited a booth for Chivo, a digital wallet that allows citizens and businesses to send and receive bitcoin. There are over 200 Chivo-branded ATM machines around the country and in the USA. The app works on Apple and Android phones and gives a few special benefits only to Salvadorans.

New users get 30 dollars in free Bitcoin when they sign up. Chivo also doesn’t charge fees for sending money to other users, changing currencies, or taking out cash from its ATMs. The government added 30 dollars in bitcoin to Salvadorans’ accounts, which they can access by downloading the Chivo app.

The main reasons to implement bitcoin is to provide people easier access to financial services and reduce remittance costs from abroad. It’s hard to know if the benefits are greater than the risks and the country’s recent isolation from credit markets.

It’s very easy to buy, send, change, or pay with bitcoin using the Chivo app. But I don’t think there are enough active users in El Salvador six months after it started.

Time will show the real results of this bitcoin experiment.

My last stop on my El Salvador travel adventure was the area now called Surf City. It offers great waves, hotels, restaurants, and bars that attract surfers from around the world.

Well, not only surfers. El Tunco is a bohemian village known for its great surfing and closeness to the capital. It has become the top tourist spot, especially for backpackers. The feeling of freedom, the relaxed mood, and the easy access make this place a hidden gem. It will likely become a must place to visit soon. It will grow more popular as more people hear about it.

The crowd has been a pleasant mix of Salvadorans and international visitors. Music, food, bars and sleeping facilities have been adjusting quickly to growing demand. The concept isn’t new, and it has already worked well in the region.

I was still able to enjoy it while it was calm and affordable. It will probably become expensive, crowded, and harder for low-budget travelers to visit.

During my 2022 El Salvador travel adventure, everyone I met was supportive, friendly, and helpful. I noticed hope in people’s words, and many of them spoke about a better future. Their optimism made my experience even more positive.

El Salvador has made progress. I felt it was much calmer and more positive than when I visited seven years ago.

There are some countries around the world that have natural beauty, landmarks or friendly people. El Salvador has it all!

After a long time, people finally seem to have hope again. Most of the population supports the young president Nayib Bukele and believes he and his team can move the country forward.

Good luck El Salvador!