El Salvador, Part 1: The Trip
Out of the way, with nothing extraordinary for the camera,
and with a marred reputation, El Salvador remains one of
the least travelled Latin American destinations. A perfect
place to go off the beaten track?
El Salvador was almost an accident. I was on my way from
the South to the North of Mexico when the proximity of the
Guatemalan border sucked me in. Guatemala was nice but my
time was very limited and the terrain didn’t allow
to go too far off the Great Central American Dope Trail.
The Lonely Planet felt particularly evil on that trip. Everyone
was on the way to that village where turtles lay eggs, their
noses buried in the book. I suddenly realised that I don’t
know a single person at home who has ever considered watching
turtles lay eggs. This abnormality, plus Bob Marley, the
stench of dope and fashion cult of the indigenous made me
dizzy. Luckily I met Luke and we decided to escape to El
Salvador. Because no one else did.
Why? There are a few reasons. Some people read in the Lonely
Planet that there isn’t that much to see. In addition,
it’s way too off the main drag – Guatemala to
Utila, North Honduras, where everyone has to scuba dive.
Yet others feel nervous. In case you were not aware, the
civil war in El Salvador finished in 1992, after 12 years
of brutal carnage. But people got so used to sleeping with
firearms that the country is still armed to the teeth. For
many years after the war the streets remained violent and
gangs multiplied. All in all, El Salvador has a reputation
of a small, out of the way, dangerous country with not much
too see. Great, more for us.
We met a couple of people who had been to San Salvador
airport and then jumped onto a bus straight to Guatemala,
but we failed to meet anyone who had actually seen the country.
So we didn’t know what to expect and we were nervous
too.
It was a pleasant ride, with plenty of coastal colours.
In 2 hours we had already crossed a third of the country
and arrived to the capital. San Salvador immediately charmed
us with its phlegmatic and strong presence. For a capital,
and after Guatemala City, there was quite a sense of order,
a sense that things have a direction and are more or less
under control. Although it is a city where edges are in
all respects sharper, a city that may show you teeth from
time to time, chaos definitely would not be part of the
description.
The scars of the war appeared immediately, however. There
were no ruins but as we were checking into the hostel we
were received by a one-armed lady and as soon as we walked
out we bought a coconut from a one-legged old woman.
As for danger, we didn’t feel it. But that day we
did stay in a heavily protected part of the city. Over time
I decided that El Salvador was only slightly more dangerous
than Guatemala. It is one of those countries, like Colombia,
great to visit while everyone still thinks it is unsafe.
The shotguns were indeed numerous: at a pharmacy, at an
internet-café, at McDonalds. You would see one every
50-100 metres. But they were all security. Normal people
kept guns at home and walked around with machetes. Those
were everywhere. I still don’t know if it’s
just a universal household item, or a poor man's shotgun.
However, for Luke this was a disappointment. Guns were
the reason he came to El Salvador. He had read in his Lonely
Planet that you could buy them on a market. So we spent
the whole first day trying to do that, he would just come
up to the stalls and ask if they sell shotguns. Eventually
we realised that LP betrayed us. Again. We did find lots
of holsters though and bought two huge machetes, just to
blend in.
Next day Luke remembered that in Cambodia (another everyone-has-a-gun
country) they had shooting ranges. So we had a drink in
the evening and decided to ask the girl at the hostel reception
if there is one around here. But all we could manage in
our broken Spanish was "donde es possible alquiller
armas?". The worried girl dialed the manager's home
number and said that two drunk gringos are asking where
they can hire guns right now. We had lots of explaining
to do in the morning and I began feeling stupid.
Luke was running out of options. Throughout the next day
he kept coming up to security guards on the streets and
leech them with "I want to play with you gun. Let’s
go to the field. I'll pay you". Some politely shook
their heads, some frowned (naturally, the phrase could be
misinterpreted). The following morning destroyed Luke decided
that enough is enough and crossed over to Honduras.
If you stay in El Salvador for a while, you do tend to
spend a lot of time in the capital. It is not that San Salvador
is that fascinating. It is quite low on things to see, in
fact, seeming more residential. Particularly unpleasant
is the stuffed centre, which has turned into one dirty market.
But the country is so small and the travel arranged in such
manner, that it is much more practical to venture to and
fro the capital, wherever you go, unless you get far East.
However, the city is fairly pleasant and has decent places
to go, both in the day and at night, and a more cosmopolitan
atmosphere. Besides, tourism there is still new and it is
mainly the capital that can offer decent hostels (even there
you will find only a few).
The most travelled route here is south to the coast. Beaches
like El Zonte and El Sunzal are considered the best surf
in Central America and it’s such a large chunk of
the (tiny) tourist economy that you are likely to be approached
in San Salvador with “Are you a surfer”? La
Libertad is the coastal hub town that serves as a portal
for the string of those beaches. By day everyone in that
town looks like a pirate and by night they still do, but
spun out on crack. It was a hot and stuffy town and, to
be honest, only good for buying some fruit, so there’s
just no reason not to make the extra 10km down the line.
I say this because I met a few people who didn’t bother.
Those beaches are not great but they are ok and convenient
so most Salvadorians from the capital go there. Entirely
volcanic, they make you totally black. A storm in El Salvador,
viewed from those beaches, is really something special,
with spectacular thunder and lightening.
My friend Maria also took me to El Cuco beach, in the East
of the country. Another popular spot, it was again ok, but
nothing fantastic. The amazing thing though was that this
well-known beach was entirely domestic, with no thought
given to (non-existent) tourists. To get there we had to
cross river Lempa on a newly constructed bridge. The previous
one was destroyed during the war and a third of the country
had been almost entirely isolated for many years. The East
has always been poorer and suffered more in that war, it
is still slightly more edgy. San Miguel, the major city
of that area, is a Dusk till Dawn haunt. Once the darkness
comes people seal themselves in and the beasts walk the
streets.
Maria gave me a little tour of the country, through places
like L’Herradura, Zacatecoluca and Usulutan. It was
an off the beaten track dream. The little tourist awareness
that the West of the country has was entirely absent here.
A virgin land, free of any pretence. A pure and genuine
welcome.
Santa Ana, a major Western city was quite sleepy but it
had a lot of clowns. Don’t ask, I know it’s
bizarre. I had a clown in my pizzeria, a clown in my hostel
and I even ended up going for drinks with a bunch of clowns.
You could say it was a fun night. By the way, make sure
it is a hostel, not a “hostel”, unless eavesdropping
on cries of passion is your thing – the Lonely Planet
should do a more thorough research there.
The centre of the country, around the capital and to the
north is very cosy and modestly lush. There are some very
pleasant routes amongst hills and lakes. Then, there is
Perquin – a place scarred by the history of the war.
Ex-guerrillas will show you around the civil war museum.
El Salvador is not famous for any of its attractions. It
doesn’t have anything particularly special but it
does have the usual set of things that could occupy you.
Bohemia and nightlife in San Salvador, acceptable beaches
with a famous surf, volcanoes (one of which is a pure mountain
of ash) where you can do scuba diving in the lakes, a national
reserve El Impossible with rich wildlife, colonial towns
like Suchitoto, Mayan ruins like Joya de Ceren. It is a
pleasant, aesthetic country to see from a bus window, with
many charming corners.
And I don’t want to be cheesy but I did go to El
Salvador in the first place to just meet some regular, genuine
people and I do like the Salvadorians a lot. Generous, friendly,
tranquil, they also had this hard inner core, this dignity
and respect for themselves and others. Many had scars of
sadness in their eyes, they have had a difficult life, and
it is their inexplicable strength, discipline and a sense
of quiet pride that raised the country so fast from the
ruins. They were really easy to relate to, it is a place
where the culture gap is not as sharp as in many other places.
But this article is about the country, I will tell you about
the people in the next one.
El Salvador doesn’t have Machu Pichu or Foz de Iguacu.
You can easily skip it if you are after high impact photos.
But for someone who just wants to get away from the industry
and wander around an unpolluted social landscape, this is
one of the last places in the Latin America. I didn’t
want it to be great, just genuine and good, and it was really
good.
As for the safety, I found nothing out of the ordinary
(by Central American standards) apart from a few more shotguns
than in Guatemala. Normal precautions apply. Buses don’t
go after dark, guns are not allowed in bars and everyone
talks about violence. On that last point – myth or
reality? I would say that some bodies have now become ghosts.
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Alex is the webmaster of Valencia
City Guide - an independent resource on travelling in
Valencia, Spain.
