El Salvador: San Salvador

San Salvador, the capital city, is laid out along a lengthy x axis. We were at 61st Avenue with a good deal of the sites to see being located farther east around 10th.  We arrived and immediately set about figuring out a working solution to the bed bug problem. We sent out all clothing that we planned to wear yet to the laundry- Jamie's research showed that some time in the dryer might be enough to kill the little buggers. We bought new pajamas to wear while those were washing (for this, we journeyed to the largest mall in Central America, which was built around an old mansion on the property- fanciest Starbucks ever!- see above). We figured it we kept the old clothes and luggage isolates, we could deal with that when we got home. The good news is that, while we did have our luggage on the bed at one point, most of our clothes never touched it, and we figured it out early enough where we might not even be carrying them with us, but we don't want to chance it. Sorry mom and dad, I owe you a new suitcase!!


After a night of bug-free sleep, we were ready to do some sightseeing, and set out for the National Museum...which was closed because it's Semana Santa, the Holy Week preceding Easter.  Instead, we headed downtown and checked out the National Cathedral.  They were finishing a procession for the Stations of the Cross, after which we say and talked about religion, motivation, and dreams for a while. The biggest takeaway was when we arrived at this question, which I will strive to ask myself regularly:  *What is it that I truly want, and am I doing the logical things to arrive there?*

From the church, we made our way into the nearby streets, some of which had been blocked off for the "alfombras". Meaning "rugs", this is the word for giant sawdust or salt images that are made on the sidewalk. The materials have been dyed various colors and are then laid out, either in patterns or in pictures showing Jesus and his life.  They might be as big as 20'x20'.  We also took some time to walk up and down observing the multitude of street stalls that had been set up to sell fruit, hotdogs, clothing, shoes, purses, bootleg DVDs... You name it and it was probably for sale somewhere.

We returned to the hotel to freshen up and later headed to the Iglesia El Rosario. An unassuming building externally, it was designed so that the light flowing into the building illuminates the rainbows of stained glass within. We also saw the end of this church's procession, and witnessed them bringing in their tableau of Jesus as he was entombed.

Next, dinner time! While I thought that I had given our cabbie the address of a buffet place full of El Salvadorean treats, we instead pulled up to one branch of San Salvador's seafood chain, El Beto.  Fortuitous coincidence, as there wasn't much else in the neighborhood. The taxi took us to the correct address, which was the one I intended to give- appears that the place we wanted to visit just doesn't exist :(

But El Beto's knows how to do their seafood. We feasted first on fried balls of yuca and shrimp, followed by seafood-filled ravioli served in squid ink. Mmm. Fig pie was my takeout dessert, also amazing!

Saturday we spent lounging around the hotel. I enjoyed the sun, free time to read, and just the overall sensation of not having to do anything at all!  To be fair, almost everything in town is closed for Holy Week, so I also didn't have much of a choice :) This is definitely something to keep in mind for next year- what will be open if I'm traveling over this same week again? Reminded me a lot of being in Morocco for Ramadan; it's a different experience because you get to see the religious aspects that are important to other cultures, but it may limit the day-to-day things that you could experience during another time of the year.

Easter Sunday started with another yummy breakfast buffet and more poolside relaxation. Everything in town had been closed for the past two days, and Easter was no different. A long, rambling walk in a nearby residential area confirmed that: the only signs of life were at churches and private homes.   Oh, and McDonald's and the ES version of Starbucks, called Mister Donut. Had to stop there and get some alfajores, a cookie sandwich with guava paste in the middle and covered in powdered sugar. Mm!!

What are two girls to do but day-drink by the pool with tostones? So that's what we did, and ended the day with back-to-back episodes of Game of Thrones- Happy Easter indeed!

The last morning opened with one more breakfast buffet, followed by a trip to the closest supermarket.  It's just fun to see what kind of stuff you can get in other places.  All week we had noticed Salsa Inglesa (aka Worchestershire Sauce) as an important condiment...still, I didn't think it would warrant a whole shelf at the grocery store!  After that, it was one more stop for alfajores to take home, then time to taxi to the airport.

I think if I came again, I would do it a little differently: not over Holy Week, staying in a different beach town, and in San Salvador maybe choosing a different section of the city that would be more conducive to seeing historical sites and/or going out at night.  I also wish I would have done a little more research into the country's history and used that to spark more interesting conversations with the people I met.  Next time!  All in all, I enjoyed El Salvador though and am glad we came!