Up to the Big City

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I finally had a short ride up to San Salvador; however, I still had to work for it as the first 20 km were straight uphill. San Salvador sits in a valley like almost every Central American capital. They also seem to have a token volcano near be -- San Salvador was no different.

The distinction between the good part and the bad part (or should I say the colourful part) of town here is very distinct. At some point (probably in the 60´s or 70´s), the city decided to move the commercial part of the city west and leave the existing downtown to die. Few buildings have had much if anything done to them in the past three of four decades. The buildings actually remind me of old Havana -- yes, that bad. While the buildings are dying, the streets are alive and well. The entire downtown has been overtaken by the central market and street vendors pour out of the market in every direction for blocks. Even entire parks have been gobbled up. It is next to impossible to drive through the core, as walking is much quicker. I really haven´t seen anything quite like it.

I have now been in El Salvador for five days, and I feel that I have the whole country to myself. I have only seen a few tourists in El Salvador, and I emphasize the word ¨few¨. This country makes Guatemala look like tourist mecca in comparison.

I stopped into one of the better malls today, and it certainly can compare to anything we have back home (outside of West Edmonton Mall). They even have a Kenneth Cole store here… I have also been able to catch a couple of movies the past two evenings —a great thing to do when travelling alone.

I have decided to cut my trip short here and add another day when I return next week (it is easier to fly out of San Salvador than Tegucigalpa, as it is the hub for Central America and the home for TACA Airlines). As I´m currently staying in the ¨colourful¨part of town, I can´t seem to find appropriate accommodations, so I will stay in the new, but boring part of town on my return.

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