El Salvador is one of those places where, when you tell people you are going, they look at you with alarm and tell you to be very careful. They question why you must go there. El Salvador is full of death and murder, after all! Many backpackers skip it and neighboring Honduras entirely. Of course, when I visited I did not find these warnings even remotely salient and believe skipping would have been a mistake.
El Tunco: A Backpacker Hell
I crossed overland to El Salvador from Nicaragua via Honduras and got off the bus in El Tunco, the most visited spot in El Salvador. I thought I’d start slow and work my way towards more murderous locales, but within 10 minutes of arriving realized I made a grave mistake. I have arrived in a backpacker hell, I wrote in my notebook that afternoon, sitting at a beachfront bar drinking a Pilsener (national beer) as club music blared and flyers for late-night parties landed in front of me. El Tunco is a town built for visitors; it’s a couple of blocks and not much of a real place at all. It’s amazing for surfing, so if that’s your goal I’m sure it’s great. But, if you’re looking for a more authentic experience, or are a surf beginner, I’d skip it. The prices for food and lodging are borderline obscene and it’s not representative of the country.
The beaches are beautiful and uniquely rocky, making an incredible sound as the water washes over them. They also hurt your feet quite badly, so wandering barefoot was not ideal. The highlight of the town for me was watching local surfers surf on incrediblly-large waves in a downpour. Just wow. Aside from that, I spent my time in El Tunco on the bus to La Libertad, walking to El Sunzal, and canceling my Hostelworld reservation so I could move on. (So, not in El Tunco).
La Libertad: Food and Fishes
La Libertad is a quick bus ride from El Tunco, but it’s worlds apart. It’s a real town with real people who actually live there! It’s relatively small but still quite bustling, making it an ideal spot to explore without being totally overwhelmed. There is a large fish market (complete with a fish dining hall area), some delicious pupusa shops with prices one quarter of El Tunco (and much better food, of course), a Pali supermarket, and many used clothing stores. I went to La Libertad twice, mainly to eat given the bus fare+food was still substantially cheaper than a meal in El Tunco. I also liked the vibe…although my camera tells me otherwise given I deleted all my photos of the town mistakenly (except this one of dead fish).
El Sunzal: More Surfing (but Mostly Beer)
El Sunzal is next to El Tunco, and I decided to walk there on foot [on the side of a highway] to check it out. It’s another surf spot for advanced surfers. There is a cool brewery, Cadejo, set atop a beachside cliff and complete with a complimentary swimming pool.
Playa Majahual: Food and Inflatables
Given I was in a top surf destination, I decided to try once more to fulfull my dream of becoming a highly-skilled and extrordinarily cool surfer. For this, I took a lesson at the nearby Playa Majahual, as the waves are safer for beginners. By safter I do mean still large and quite rough. To be clear, I am not yet a pro surfer. I kind of loved the town, so I returned later that afternoon via bus to exlore on my own. The beach is black sand, there are vendors walking up and down selling brighly-colorded inflatables, women selling the deathly neon pink wafers, and chickens in the road. The most interesting part though were the strange little changing rooms that you could rent for a few hours, which I mistakenly thought were something much sketchier. Once I saw families and kids in there, though, I realized they must be places to change/rest rather than participate in blatent prostituion.
Bye Bye Beach: A Swift Exit
After a night I’d had enough of El Salvador’s most popular spot, so I hopped onto the chicken bus and began my journey north to the Rutas de las Flores. This is a tourist destination for sure, but given it was off season I saw few backpackers. I decided to stay in Ataco, due to the price of lodging and location, and it served to be a wonderful choice. You can read about the Ruta de los Flores here →
Santa Ana: Just Another City
I visited Santa Ana for some days before I left El Salvador. I planned to also explore San Salvador, but didn’t get to see much as I was too busy running to the bathroom due to an extreme food poisoning incident in Santa Ana. Wanting to have a casual (read: cheap) meal, I opted for some street food in the park in Santa Ana. While I eat street food daily, there are times when it is ill-advised. After ordering this lovely meal below, seconds before shoveling the first unsanitary bite into my mouth, I thought: This is probably going to make me sick. Naturally, I continued eating agressively. Polished off the whole plate. And drank some sketchy dark purple juice from a plastic bag for good measure. Fast forward to 2am, when I awoke and began vomitting. I was unable to eat for 2 days thereafter.
Anyway, Santa Ana was cool, but my experience was somewhat impacted by being ill and subsequently weak from not eating. It’s a decent city and, good news, I was not murdered there either. There was nothing outstanding about Santa Ana – markets, filth, churches, parks, street food, casual nefarious undertones after dark. The highlight was an abandoned art school, which I obviously entered. I also stayed at “the best hostal in El Salvador” if accolades are to be believed. And, while I don’t generally promote hostals, I will say it may just be true (it’s called Hostal Casa Verde).
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