We take the opportunity to bid farewell to countries as we continue on our path and write our two perspectives.

El Salvador is a country with friendly people, open roads, and a fairly strong economy (relative to other Central American countries).  The people here and the culture have strong ties to the U.S., and because of this (and we're dashingly attactive) we were almost always welcomed warmly.

La Gente
The people of El Salvador get my friendliest folk award of Central America.  I've visited Costa Rica & Panama already, and I'll correct this later if we encounter a country where all the chocolate is free or something, because that's what it might take.  No doubt that this is their strongest attribute, and I told a Salvadoran friend recently, it's not something they can manufacture, it's just their culture, and there's no hiding it.

Outside of friendliness, the people here are hard working, social, and super-interconnected.  In a country of just 5 million people, they all seem to be interconnected, and it's a tough place to be divorced if you ever want to not run into your ex at a party every weekend.

The Languange
Spanish here is similar to the rest of Central America, pretty easy to hear and not too many words are cut-off.  They do love to roll their Rs though - I met many that rolled not just double Rs, but normal Rs in any words like interrrrresante and rrrrrrrrrica.  Here's a list of some of Salvadorans favorite things to say:
-  ¡Que Bárbaro! (k BAR-buh-row) = has the meaning of holy crap, can be good or bad 
-  Super Chivo (SOUP-er CHEE-vo) = cool, awesome; chivo literally means goat
-  bicho (BEEch-o) = nickname for youth, literally means pest
-  Fíjate (FEE-ha-tay) = means pay attention or look, emphasizes a point
-  Cuídate (QUI-duh-tay) = be careful
-  Pu-chica (POOH-chEE-kuh) = sort of like a "dang girl" or wow

Drive, Drive, Drive
There are some fran-frick-en-tastic highways here in El Salvador.  Picture a number of well constructed 4 lane highways that allow you to zip around the country.  From a developed countries perspective, you'd say, duh, of course, but for a developing country, and in Central America it's a seldom found treat.

Favorite Spots
Los Cóbanos - a small fishing town on the east side of the country with a nice beach and a great little hotel
Maculís - a lovely beach on the west side of the country where your likely to get the beach to yourself at some point in the day
Suchitoto - a totally charming colonial town in the central part of the country

Some Downsides
3 months was a long time to spend in San Salvador.  We met great people and did good work, but most entertainment means going to the mall or to a string of bars.  I know a number of people that love this city, and I hate to bash it, but it's tough as an outsider coming in to find all the places you need to get to, and it's tough if you don't have a car.  The country in general lacks a tourist infrastruture, and it makes it harder to enjoy the things it has to offer, it seems to be growing though.

Food in El Salvador leaves something to be desired.  Standard fare is pupusas (thick cheesey tortillas), meat, rice and beans.  It was really hard to encounter vegetables if you weren't at an upscale restaurant.

El Salvador is not a cheap place.  Base rate for a cab ride one-way is $6, robbery compared to it's neighbors. Basic, comfortable hotels are hard to find for less than $30, gas is over $4.50/ gallon, your average afforadable restaurant will run $20 for dinner, unless you're packing in the pupusas, which average $.50 and are really filling.  One huge bargain is the $3.90 admission for top-notch movie theaters.

Overall
I loved living and working in El Salvador, and the people we met we're awesome.  It's like those Master Card commercials, spent $1000 on a rental car, but the whole experience was priceless.  I'll always feel a bit Salvadoran: the teachers we taught English too, gave me that award.  And we always have an invite back to work at Glasswing and friends that would take us in.  Thanks for the awesome experience.  Besos.

Can I sum up 3 months in El Salvador in one post?  Nope.  Will I try?  Hell ya!   

Food

It's really hard to tell what exactly Salvadoran food is mostly because I'm not sure if the food originated in Guatemala or some other surrounding country.  The obvious Salvadoran food item is a pupusa, which is more or less a thick tortilla filled with cheese, meat, vegetables, or whatever you like.  At first, after going to a couple of side-of-the-road pupusa stands, I thought there was nothing to it: I mean it was basically deep fried cheese in a tortilla.  After finally experiencing some more "high-class" pupusa places, though, (a little bit of an oxymoron) I realized they are a pretty tasty treat.  I guess they're a bit like the ubiquitous hamburger in the States.  Sure, you can get one at McDonald's, but they're much better at a restaurant where they are cooked right and loaded with fresh onions and lettuce.

It's worth mentioning, too, that the chicken in El Salvador is exquisite.  I know it's kind of a weird thing to rave about, but it's really good!  No matter where we had chicken and what form it was in, it was always super high-quality.  Sometimes I felt like I could swerve the car, hit a chicken, and bring it home to cook and it would still be better than most of the chicken I got in the States.  I don't know what they feed them down here but keep doing it!

Tourism

This is a tough one.  If you like walking around aimlessly and don't mind asking 10 or so people how to get where you are going, El Salvador is your type of place. 

The thing is, while the country has a great infrastructure in general, the tourist infrastructure, in comparison to the surrounding countries, is lacking a bit.  Don't get me wrong, I like to do some "accidental exploration" but when it happens every time that we try to go somewhere, it gets a bit frustrating.  And then when you arrive at your destination, there is often times not much to do.  Sometimes all it would take would be one guy with an SUV and some fleeting knowledge of the area to make me happy.  Unfortunately, outside of some select cases, it simply doesn't exist.  Or if it does, you better book in advance and have a decent size group with you.  It's too bad, too.  There are some stunningly beautiful places in the country that I would have liked to explore more in depth.

To be fair, it is like this for a reason: it caters mostly to national weekend tourists than the out-of-town "this is my one trip a year" kind of tourist.  If there's no demand for something, the supply just isn't going to be there.  Looking on the bright side, we are now more efficient at reading maps and asking for directions than we were before.

People

Unfortunately, upon arriving in El Salvador, the first thing you might think is "Holy crap, there are guys with guns everywhere!".  If you look beyond the obligatory "vigilantes", though, (aka watchmen...think of them as low-tech security cameras) you will see and meet the friendliest people in central america.

Yes, it's kind of cheesy to say, but it's true: the people are the best part about El Salvador.  They may seem shy at first glance, but as soon as you say "Buenas" (short for "buenas dia/tarde/noche") to them, they're all smiles.  I can't think of any time where we had an ugly experience with a Salvadoran or where someone was unwilling to help us in the 3 months that we were there.  Inevitably, if you say you are visiting, the response will be a slew of places you should go plus someone they know there who will show you around. 

And those aforementioned watchmen?  Just say hi to them and they'll smile right back and probably open the door for you, too!

Summary

El Salvador is not one of those places to go and have that great summer vacation...yet.  But, if you want to get a feel for the hopes and struggles of modern central america, or just practice your Spanish gab skills, it is an interesting place to stop by for a visit.