San Salvador has been totally different to our expectations: the city is more affluent and modern with good roads and smart shopping centres. We had a whistle stop tour of the various areas where the rich, middle class and workers live and then on to a church where Bishop Oscar Romero was murdered whilst giving mass in 1982.
In the downtown area we visited the cathedral, another church with a very modern design and windows and two plazas. We also stopped at a local market where football, seafood and the local pilsner beer appeared to combine very well.
We then enjoyed our first El Salvadorean dish - a pupusa in a pupeseria. A pupusa is a maize tortilla which is filled with cheese, pork or beans or any combination. They are very tasty, cheap and go well with a beer.
We drove for an hour to Suchitoto which is on the artificial lake (created to deliver HEP). On the journey Benjamin took us through two versions (official and non official) of El Salvador's history from the Maya times 400AD through the Civil War from 1980 to 1992, to current times. RM is happy to regurgitate this to interested parties on return!
Suchitoto is a very quiet town with cobbled streets and a beautiful hotel, Los Almendros, where we are staying. There are only 12 rooms, but June was obviously prepared for us as she showed us to the one next to the bar.
This morning has been spent on the lake bird watching - mainly huge flocks of cormorants.
We learned from Rene', our guide for the morning, that El Salvador has over 15 active volcanoes that look the part and many more in different shapes and under lakes. Full of such information we spent the afternoon by the pool (photos withheld to protect the innocent).
In the downtown area we visited the cathedral, another church with a very modern design and windows and two plazas. We also stopped at a local market where football, seafood and the local pilsner beer appeared to combine very well.
We then enjoyed our first El Salvadorean dish - a pupusa in a pupeseria. A pupusa is a maize tortilla which is filled with cheese, pork or beans or any combination. They are very tasty, cheap and go well with a beer.
We drove for an hour to Suchitoto which is on the artificial lake (created to deliver HEP). On the journey Benjamin took us through two versions (official and non official) of El Salvador's history from the Maya times 400AD through the Civil War from 1980 to 1992, to current times. RM is happy to regurgitate this to interested parties on return!
Suchitoto is a very quiet town with cobbled streets and a beautiful hotel, Los Almendros, where we are staying. There are only 12 rooms, but June was obviously prepared for us as she showed us to the one next to the bar.
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| RM sits between the bar and our room (the double brown doors) |
We learned from Rene', our guide for the morning, that El Salvador has over 15 active volcanoes that look the part and many more in different shapes and under lakes. Full of such information we spent the afternoon by the pool (photos withheld to protect the innocent).
"A Pupusa in a Pupeseria", Pat Boone's follow up to his 1962 numero uno "Speedy Gonzalez".
ReplyDeleteEl Salvador has a big black market in HEP. Apparently EDF and Centrica have links with the Mara Savatrucha gang which controls most of the trade.
The hotel has 4 excellent reviews on Google. How are your iron bathroom accents?
ReplyDelete