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Published: March 13th 2011
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San Salvador
Inside the National Palace San Salvador... The capital. Why go there?
Generally, capitals in Central America are best avoided. They are polluted, dangerous, ridden with poverty and don't have a lot to attract the tourists. However, my guide-book seemed rather positive about this one and having met quite a few people (in Santa Ana) who were from, or living in San Salvador, they all recommended that I paid it a visit. This, coupled with the fact I had to go through San Salvador to get to my next destination, convinced me to stop there for a night or two, especially as I had found in the Lonely Planet details of a promising hostel for only $8.
I got an early bus from La Libertad (after the rubbish night sleep previously described) for $0.60 and was at the bus terminal by about 9.30. I had planned to walk from there to the hostel (it looked about a mile on the map) but by that point I had changed my mind as it somehow didn't look like I'd arrived at the bus terminal where I thought I should have arrived... In a big and still reasonably dangerous city, I wasn't going to take my chances, so I
San Salvador
Inside the Cathedral got a taxi ($5) to the hostel. In the end, I was glad I did as it was definitely not within walking distance... And I'm still not sure whether I arrived at the right station (there are 3 or 4) or not!
Once at the hostel, I wasn't too impressed when I was told that the price had gone up to $12! A 50% increase!!! But it had hot water, wifi and free breakfast, she told me as to justify the price. I responded by saying that I would only stay for one night instead of two then... The hostel was in the area of Boulevard de los Heroes, a big shopping area, which is also not far from the Zona Rosa, the going out district. The guide-book suggested that the city centre wasn't necessarily the best place to stay, so this seemed like the best option.
After dropping my stuff and managing to borrow a map of the city from reception (she didn't have a spare but took the one off the wall and lent it to me!), I set off to walk to the centre. The walk wasn't particularly exciting. I went past the shopping centre (where I
San Salvador
The Cathedral thought I'd stop on the way back) and then some uninteresting neighbourhoods. Eventually, I caught sight of what looked like the top of the cathedral and I knew I was headed in the right direction. The route took me passed a pleasant pedestrianised street surrounded by different specialised hospitals. Then I walked in front of a few universities and the anthropology museum (but having been to the one in Mexico City – supposedly the best – I wasn't stopping there) and through the market, which was absolutely massive and had all sorts of traders, selling from clothes and food to pirate DVDs, toys and watch batteries.
I eventually reached Plaza Barrios, the main square, where I found the Cathedral, the National Palace and the library. The Cathedral looked interesting with its multicoloured facade. The Palacio Nacional, made me want to take a peek inside and the library was just an ordinary looking building. I took a few pictures and sat on a bench for a while, before moving on the Parque Libertad, one block away, where the Rosario church is located. This was a must see according to my guide book, but when I first caught a glimpse of it,
San Salvador
Inside the National Palace I thought “Well, this is possibly the ugliest church I have seen in the last 2 months...” I decided to have a look inside anyway and as I entered (and negotiated a 5 minutes visit with the guard as it was noon and he wanted to close for lunch) I suddenly realised why it was not to be missed. All the mixes of colours inside from the multiple windows looked fantastic (and the pictures give a fair idea but it was still 10 times better in real life). I could have stayed a lot longer, but with the security man staring alternatively at me and at his watch, I had to dash back out.
I then chose to return to the main square to have a look at the National Palace ($3) but they were also closed for lunch! So I wandered through another side of the market and into another church (El Calvario) which didn't feel me with excitement but helped me kill some time. From there I headed to another park, but as soon as I got there, looking at the people around me and smelling the piss, I knew this wasn't supposed to be a tourist sight.
San Salvador
El Calvario - Did I already mention something about electric cables? I still decided to sit down for 5 minutes but had to move on after only 2, when this fat woman holding a half eaten chicken leg decided to come and tell me she was hungry and needed some of my money...
After a bit more aimless walking around I returned to the palace and had a good look inside. It was quite typical of a lot of the government buildings I had seen so far (big central garden/courtyard surrounded by arches on a couple of levels), but very beautiful nonetheless. I was also struck by the fact both security officers I spoke to were really nice and seemed genuinely happy to see a tourist (I didn't see many others around the city, or the country for that matter). As I left, the man at the door thanked me for taking the time to come and have a look at their palace and it felt like the most genuine comment I'd heard all day...
After that and a quick stop inside the Cathedral, where I admired the coloured glass, it was time to head back for some food (it was about 2 or 3pm by that point) and a look
San Salvador
Inside the Cathedral at the shopping centre. Lunch was – I'm sorry to admit – a stop at Burger King. However, I have a perfectly good explanation for this choice. I guess none of you will remember this, but until about 5 years ago, in the UK, you were able to purchase such a thing as a “Big King” burger. It was my favourite and I nearly cried (no, not really!) when they stopped selling them. So when I had walked past an “Big King” advert that morning, the decision was unavoidable... So I went and had my Big King for lunch. Incidentally, I was very disappointed as it didn't taste half as good as I remembered it... Some things are just best left to memories... A quick look through MetroCentro (the shopping centre) revealed nothing exciting and I was back at the hostel by 4pm, with the feeling that I had seen what there was to see in San Salvador (in fairness there are also a lot of museums, which I'm not terribly interested in). I could have gone out in Zona Rosa for a drink in the evening, as the nightlife is supposed to be one of the highlights, but with
San Salvador
Parque Libertad no drinking buddy and the advice from the book being to only travel by taxi at night, even to go just around the corner, I decided not to bother and had a quiet night in, chatting with some other guests, as well as taking full advantage of the Wifi and planning the following day's trip to Suchitoto.
My overall impression of San Salvador was that it was just another capital city. I'm not really into big cities when it comes to visiting and this day just confirmed it. I thought it was smelly even though it was reasonably clean and mostly ugly with not that many tourist sights or attractions to keep me entertained. I'm still glad I went and had a look at it though and it didn't change my overall opinion of the country. I am loving El Salvador every day. I love the people who start talking to you just because you're a tourist (as I mentioned, there are not that many and most of them seem to be American volunteers, so I keep being asked if I'm American and get massive smiles back when I explain that I'm French) and seem genuinely interested to know where
San Salvador
Palacio Nacional you've been, where you're going and what you make of their country. I also love the edginess of some of the places, where I think maybe I shouldn't be walking this way... It gives it some sort of authenticity, which I suspect will in time disappear (as more and more people from oversees come to explore the region).
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delphine
non-member comment
alors tu as decide d'acheter une maison sur la cote, d'y vivre car tu aimes tant le pays... super idee! on viendra te voir ;-)