Oh, El Salvador!

The Land of Waves and Volcanos 

We realized El Salvador was a phenomenal place the moment we first stepped foot in this incredible spot in the world. The first thing we noticed is that it is green, very green—up, down, and all around! Everything is lush. If one should camp under a tree, he might be entwined with vines, flowers, and tree sprouts the next morning. The rich volcanic soil from its 100 volcanoes, the sun, and abundant rainfall make this a rich place for plant life.   

El Salvador has not started boasting to attract tourists yet but it is coming.  And why not?  This small country, about the size of New Jersey, has miles and miles of spectacular, black rocky coastline on the Pacific Ocean, dotted with coves of black sandy beaches.  Moreover, it has volcanoes, lots of them.  Ten volcanoes have erupted in the last 10,000 years putting them in the currently active category.  The last eruption was in 2023 when the San Miguel Volcano produced seismic activity, and spewed gases and plumes but had no lava flows.  It is possible to drive or hike to many of the volcanoes, and on rare cloudless days, visitors can peek over the rim of some of them to see a natural, turquoise lake in the crater.  If you are not impressed by the ocean, volcanoes, jungles, and well-preserved historic colonial towns, we hear that frequent earthquakes occur here that can jiggle your innards. I am not wishing for an earthquake while we are here, but a little tremor might be exciting.   

The beauty of El Salvador cannot be compared to the green beauty of Norway, the antiquities of Rome, or the rustic beauty of Tuscany but it is uniquely magnificent.  This may be one of the most beautiful natural, tropical places we have ever visited. We consider it prettier than Costa Rica, Tahiti, and Fiji.  And right now, even though it is growing and prospering, it is still very natural and not over-developed. 

Are we lucky??  We did not plan to come here but traveling from Manaus to Guatemala is a nightmare with several long layovers in Sao Paulo, Bogota, and El Salvador for many hours.  We thought . . . El Salvador?  We’ve never been there.  Why don’t we stay a while?  Having flexibility is mighty good!   A three-week layover is a gift!  Outstanding! 

We landed in San Salvador, picked up a rental car, and drove directly to Suchitoto, a lovely, hilly, and colorful colonial town. The site of the country’s first capital, charming Suchitoto is the most well-preserved Spanish Colonial town in all of El Salvador.   Our first intro to traditional El Salvadorian food was pupusas which we found at a small, mamma-run cookshop alongside Suchitoto’s city park.  Pupusas are made with masa dough patted into flat ¼” thick cakes stuffed with frijoles and queso, carne, or cooked vegetables. They are sealed, shaped into a pancake again, and grilled until they look like the crust of a wood-fired pizza, black spots and all.  Pupusas are corny-tasting, delicious, habit-forming, and supremely fattening!  It is a staple here.  Usually served with curtido (a pickled cabbage slaw that Stan and I call kimchi), fresh salsa, and hot sauce, people have pupusas for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and like mostaccioli in St. Louis, or potato salad in Little Rock, pupusas are the expected fare at picnics and family gatherings.  We will surely have a few more of these delicious morsels while we are here.  With a few hours to spare the next morning, we made a quick run through the Suchitoto parks, and the Peace Museum, then drove a few minutes to the entrance of the Los Tercios waterfalls.  We made a short hike through the forest and clamored our way downhill over boulders to see the falls pouring over a tall basalt columnar.  Honestly, we are too old to be doing this, but we did it anyway. 

At Santa Ana, the next day, the streets were a madhouse when we arrived, packed with vendors and people.  Yikes, we thought.  We found our cute hotel, and went out to find dinner at about 7:30.  The place at that time looked like a different place.   The people were gone, and the streets were zipped up tight.  Ahead of us, we saw lights.  We walked that way.  Wow, the Catedral de Nuestra Senora Santa Ana was brilliantly lighted and looked like a bright white heavenly church.  It is the only neo-Gothic style church in South America.  Built in 1575, much of the original structure was destroyed by lightning in the 19^th century but rebuilt in 1906 and consecrated in 1913.  In 1995, the church was declared a National Monument. 

We do kick back sometimes.  Our next two nights were dreamy at the Equinoccio (eclipse) Experience Hotel on Lago Coatepeque, a natural crater lake.  In every direction, our eyes were treated in colors of green, blue, and white.  As we breathed the fresh air and took in the sights, it crossed our minds that we could just settle here but there is still too much left in this world we want to see.  Stan and I kayaked around Isla Teopan in the middle of the lake, once a sacred site for the ancient Mayans.  It was ss pretty and pristine, it still looked sacred to me but the island now is a select natural setting for expensive summer homes for the rich and famous.  The next day we drove to Cerro Verde National Park hoping to see the lake in the crater at the top of the Santa Ana volcano there but there were just too, too many clouds.  We met a couple from Houston at our little resort.  Mike is from Guatemala and Olga is from El Salvador, but she left the country when her family fled the civil war in the 80s.  Although she has returned to El Salvador many times for beach vacations, on this trip, they are touring the country with her father to get to know her home country better.  We did some superpower chatting with Mike and Olga and visited Cerro Verde together.  Meeting people and making friends wherever we may be is one of the highlights and greatest rewards of our kind of travel. 

En route to the Surf City coast we explored San Andres El Salvador Mayan archaeological site, one of the largest pre-Columbian centers in El Salvador that existed here between 600 and 500 A.D. History says this was a political-ceremonial place and possibly a market center. Next, and just a few miles ahead, was the Joya de Ceren, the only UNESCO site in El Salvador. Here the intact remains of a farming Mayan village that existed over 1400 years ago, frozen in time by 14 layers of ash spewed by the Loma Caldera volcano. The dig gave us a glimpse of how those people lived and what their lives might have been like. The archaeological site was much better preserved than that at more famous Pompeii.

Just when we thought we had seen it all, we arrived at the Atami Resort on the Pacific Coast.  The two days we spent at this gorgeous hotel on the ocean were just what we needed. No driving, no excursions, no kayaking, just pure relaxation.   We enjoyed the pool, watched the brilliant red sunsets, loved chatting with Salvi families, and ate stupendous ceviche four times in two days. 

We’d love to return here and bring our girls!