My guide to El Salvador: Central America’s Hidden Gem
I consider myself an adventurous person, but if I was asked where I plan to travel to, I probably would not have mentioned El Salvador. It’s not an area I knew much about before this trip. A dear friend of mine is Salvadoran and when I found out her wedding would be in El Salvador, I was very excited to celebrate the special occasion and experience a bit of her cultural heritage.
El Salvador gets a bad reputation as an international travel destination due to safety concerns, some of which I also had. I learned from my friend who has visited El Salvador before and my own research, that the administration of President Bukele made it a priority to focus on crime. Gangs, cartels and other criminals were rounded up and killed, or jailed. While there, I asked some of the guides about this and locals are very pleased with the current government. There appears to be more international investment – though some of that is exploitative unfortunately.
Over those three days, there was never a point where I felt unsafe. To be honest, I felt safer in El Salvador than I did in my own country – in Oklahoma (more on that in Solo Cross Country Road Trip). We walked around at night to restaurants and the locals were friendly. I used my limited Spanish ability a few times, and when I struggled, to my surprise, the person I was talking to responded back in English.
The first day, I was on my own and I opted to visit a couple of Mayan ruins. I had a wonderful guide. He was very knowledgeable about El Salvador’s history, Mayan culture and photography. I visited the Joya de Ceren and San Andres sites. Joya de Ceren is an excavation site that shed light on a farming community in the Zapotitan Valley. Archaeologists are still digging and making discoveries. San Andres is a Mayan pyramid structure. The earth has grown over the ruins that was previously a facility for indigo production. Both sites were buried as a result of volcanic eruptions.
Bonus, I saw a lovely male Torogoz bird at Joya de Ceren. Just like Bald Eagles in the U.S., it’s the national symbol of El Salvador. This bird has almost every color of the rainbow (lots of bright blue, and some purplish tones on the back and green/pink/yellow on its tummy and head). It also had a very unique tail. It was a special treat as an amateur photographer to be able to get such a clear photo from about 40 ft away with my new Sony mirrorless camera.
Then I finally settled into the hotel (AST Surf Resort) in La Libertad, in southern El Salvador and enjoyed dinner, cocktails and dessert.
The next day, I decided to do a hike to the top of the Santa Ana volcano. It was described to me as a very challenging hike. I was quite nervous if I’d be able to finish. I’m happy to share that I did it! The view at the top was amazing. I could see other volcanoes in the distance (El Salvador has 20 volcanoes!) There was a green geothermal pool (similar to the springs you can see at Yellowstone National Park). It was pretty cool to hike up to nearly 8,000 ft above sea level. The crazy surprise at the top – there were locals selling ice cream! Yes, somehow people hiked up a volcano in humid weather under the bright sun with loads of ice cream, and kept it frozen! It was the perfect treat before going back down.
My last day I did an all day ATV moto tour through small villages, coffee country, jungle areas. It was monsoon season too so it was pouring for 10 mins straight then stopped. I was sweaty from the humidity, soaked from the rain and dirty from the gravel and mud – it was awesome! Although maybe it was not the best thing to do right before a wedding, ha! Afterwards, it was a bit chaotic with traffic to get back for the wedding, ended up ditching the ride when we were close. We walked back to the hotel, cleaned up, helped get a few things setup. It was finally time for the main event. The ceremony was beautiful, intimate and fun! A perfect end to my time in El Salvador.
Some takeaways from El Salvador…
- El Salvador is great if you are an active, adventure traveler with loads of activities: hiking, volcanos, surfing, off-roading, historical walks/hikes (Mayan temples).
- If you’re looking to explore Central America, it is a fraction of the price you’d spend to visit Costa Rica, Panama or another more established tourist spot.
- They’re building up tourism, and bonus if you’re from the U.S., you’ll be happy to know the U.S. Dollar is the national currency and it goes far. American travelers won’t need an adapter because U.S. style electrical ports are used! Many familiar U.S. based food chains are there: Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.