El SALVADOR – SAN SALVADOR

January 23 – 26, 2024

We got to San Salvador and were pleasantly surprised at how nice our guesthouse was. It was spacious and squeaky clean. Sometimes the reviews on Airbnb are not accurate, this one was perfect. It had a dining room with a huge tree growing in the middle of it.

We had been fretting about filling in our customs forms for our entry to Nicaragua in a few days. Every time we filled them out the website would spin and spin but not process our application. Marta Luisa, who is a lawyer and teacher, helped us; but to no avail. She even made some calls on our behalf. In the end, we were told not to worry about it. More on this subject in my Nicaragua story. The hostess was also a cross-stitcher. We bonded.

El Salvador history in a nutshell: El Salvador has a history of extreme socioeconomic inequality. Late in the 1800s coffee accounted for 95% of the country’s income. However, only 2% of the population controlled the wealth. The divide between rich and poor grew until the 1920s and hit rock bottom in the 1929 stock-market crash. In 1932 a Socialist Party (FMLN) formed and led an uprising of peasants and indigenous people against the government. The uprising was brutally suppressed by the government with approximately 30,000 civilians murdered by the armed forces. This “slaughter”, as it came to be known, allowed military dictators to monopolize political power while protecting the economic elite. This did not sit well with the common people and animosity grew throughout the 20^th century.

Rigged elections, rising food prices, world economic downturns, land reforms and military death squads all played a part in causing the rift between rich and poor to widen. Even the Catholic Church got into the act by denouncing the government. The FMLN continued to gain support from the peasant class. Basically, they had nothing left to lose, so they were willing to fight to the death. Result? Civil war!

Many people chose to migrate to the USA, specifically, Los Angels. Being poor and wanting to “belong” and be respected, albeit out of fear, many young migrant boys joined gangs. In 1989 the US government cracked down by deporting anyone involved in gangs. The Salvadoran government did not have the means or finances to deal with this huge criminal element that landed on their doorstep. The gangs took root in El Salvador. Young males are caught between joining a gang or caught in the crossfire. Gangs offer a kind of camaraderie, whereas not joining confines you to a life hiding to avoid them. The government responded by trying to put down the gangs with violence. This caused a snowball effect of violence being met with violence. The homicide rate skyrocketed with 2015 seeing 106 deaths per 100K inhabitants.

Businesses closed. Our hostess told me that she used to own a small coffee shop. She had to pay the gangs to “protect” her. In the end, she was paying them more than she was making. She chose to close shop. Electrified barbed wire and grated windows and doors became the norm. People were not free to move about the country. If you wanted to go to a certain area, you had to pay a gang member to cross their street. People were afraid to go shopping, send their kids to school and do the most basic of errands. It was common to see dead people in the street.

One gentleman on a bus told me that the new government finally had enough and basically implemented a blitz attack that rounded up everyone with gang affiliations. Anyone with a gang tattoo was immediately thrown into prison, without trial, for life. If they suspected you harboured a gang member or had any ties to gangs, you were also thrown into prison. Over 75,000 gang members are in prison. Our hostess said that she recently took public transportation for the first time in many years. She was so excited to see people calmly using their cell phones and being relaxed. She had to call her husband with the happy news. She said in former times, you did not dare pull out a cell phone or anything of value because it would be taken. We are very grateful to live in peaceful Canada!

We rarely go to shopping centres, but we went to one near our guesthouse to get some groceries for our stay. We killed a bit of time wandering through the mall and enjoying the air conditioning, too. What stuck out for me was the elaborate dresses. How do you get through the door?

We did our usual GPSmyCity walking tour which took us to the Historical Centre of San Salvador. We went into the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Its stained glass windows were actually stained glass louvred windows.

Outside of the church was a plaza with a statue of General Gerardo Barrios, a former president (1860s) of El Salvador. Opposing factions (the Conservative faction, Catholic Church and Guatemalan government) banded together to ultimately result in him being sentenced to death. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? His liberal deeds were to promote union ideals, coffee cultivation and economic development.

I guess this was enough to warrant his statue in front of the National Palace, which was kitty-corner to the Cathedral. We inquired about of tour of the Palace, but it was only offered in Spanish. We decided it was not worth it.

Toward the back and side of the Cathedral was the Morazon Plaza, with its simple waterfall fountain.

It was across the street from the Teatro Nacional. Again it was not available for a tour.

Directly behind the Cathedral was a lovely street with flowering vines that crawled up a metal frame until they looked like a flowering tree.

We wandered a bit further and came to Plaza Liberdad.

Across the street from the plaza was a very unique looking building. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a church.

It was dome shaped and seemed to have windows on the curved part. We had some trouble finding the entrance which was a simple arch with Iglesia el Rosario written on it. It looked like we were going to enter a warehouse.

We were charged $2 each. Once we went in we were gobsmacked! The back wall, which served as the altar, was made of simple red bricks. The pews were simple wood. The dome was actually not a smooth arch. It was stepped with stained glass windows from front to back. The windows were multi coloured and cast a rainbow of light throughout the church. The back wall, where we entered, was also covered with stained glass. We could not see it from the outside, but once inside, with the sun shining through, it was breathtaking. It was such a simple church, but so incredibly beautiful. Even the pulpit was a simple cement stand with rebar to hold the bible. We have never seen anything like it before. If there is ONE thing that stands out about San Salvador, it is this church.

There were so many market buildings and street markets in this area, it was a wonder that any of them made money. We walked for blocks and blocks through the market. It was not just on one long street, it branched out down side streets as well. It was not a maze, like Morocco, but it was large.

We tried to go into some other churches, but they were closed during the heat of the day. We decided to hit the streets earlier the next day to catch the morning openings. We went to St. Francis of Asisi parish. It was closed. I was not to be deterred, so I went into the parish office and asked if we could please have a 5 minute peek into the old church. We got a private tour by one of the nuns. No pictures, please.

We also went to Iglesia del Calvario

and Basilica Sagrado Corazon. At this point we were pretty much churched out.

We took a morning and went to the Picnic Steak House in neighbouring Santa Tecla. We heard about the Rainbow Slide and wanted to go. It has an amusement park feel. The first thing you really see is a carousel. There are twin giraffes that create the entry arch. There is a small platform that reminded me of the Gaudi Park in Barcelona. It was decorated with colourful broken tiles and had a matching cement bench around the perimeter.

I could see the entire park from up there. It had a resort looking outdoor restaurant with a fountain pool in the centre. Each table is under a straw cabana. After paying our $5 USD each we were directed along the rainbow path to the rainbow slide.

We were seated on a tire tube that had a rubber bottom. The attendant then pushed us down a rainbow slide that resembled Legos. Another attendant, further down, was spraying the track with water to give it a more slippery consistency. It was about a 30 second ride, but, damn, it was fun! We went a second time.

On a hill, overlooking the dining area was the carousel. We went up to have a look. It was just a kid’s carousel with horses. It was not running. However, there was a Groot kind of character next to a tree. He was kind of squishy and scary and cute all at the same time.

We had some lunch in one of the straw cabanas. When looking for the place to pay for lunch I was directed to a metal wall with a small hole cut into it. It was a bit bigger than a mail slot in a London door. I slipped my bill into the opening and a hand latched onto it. Then motioned for my credit card. It was kind of creepy, I could hardly see the girl inside, just a hand. It reminded me of Sara’s cat, Ruby, snatching at me from under the couch.

Other things we saw: There was a street in the Historic Central that sold nothing but pinatas.

Our time in San Salvador was short. I wish we could have spent more time with Marta Luisa. She was so knowledgeable about the history of her country. I would have liked to pick her brain some more. Alas, it was time to head to Nicaragua.