Safety & Kindness
El Salvador is a country that many tourists backpacking Central America choose to skip due to safety concerns. I am here to attest that a girl can backpack El Salvador and feel completely safe. El Salvadorians were some of the nicest people I have met in all of my travels. They would go out of their way to help us find our chicken buses, let us wait on their shady front porch, or write down directions for us. Each time somebody went out of their way to be helpful, we would skeptically refuse the kind gesture. When they insisted we found out that it was a genuine act of kindness with no expectations in return.
Pupusas
Pupusas are the signature dish in El Salvador. They are a tortilla filled with protein, cheese or veggies. It is similar to a quesadilla but the outsides are fused together. They are topped with pickled veggies. They can range in price from 3 for $1 to one big one for $1. Regardless, if you like carbs, you can eat inexpensively in El Salvador.
Currency
Strangely enough, you will be using US Dollars while in El Salvador. This makes things more expensive than in nearby countries like Guatemala and Nicaragua. I typically spent $10 a night on lodging and hikes always required guides which would be pricey as well. I had trouble getting my MasterCard to work at ATMs and had to transfer money to myself through Western Union.
Getting Around
Chicken buses are the most common source of transportation. In other countries like Guatemala you can get by with taking tourist shuttles, but that is not the case in El Salvador. Shuttles basically only go to El Tunco and Santa Ana. From El Tunco you can book an assortment of day trips to nearby attractions but if you want to move from one spot to the next and stay there, you’ll have to figure out the local bus system. I felt very safe on chicken buses. Kind locals always helped us find our next bus and one man even welcomed us into the shade of his porch and offered us beverages as he practiced his English.
Renting a Car is another way to get around in El Salvador. Many of the places you might have interest in going to could take all day with bus transfers. However, we found a man in Santa Ana that rented us a car for $25 a day. I was traveling with somebody so for $12.50 a day we had the convenience of not carrying our bags, choosing our schedule, and blasting our tunes as we went on a road trip.
Daniel Victor rented us the car. This kind man brought the car to us on Lake Coatepeque and upon return he took us shopping before dropping us off where we needed to be. More than just a car dealer, he really cares that his customers enjoy their experience in his cars. To contact him, here is the Facebook page that he runs his business through.
Below I will highlight my recommendations at a few key places of interest in El Salvador. There are a plethora of different waterfall hikes that we didn’t have time to do. Also, El Cunco is a popular surf town in the far south of El Salvador that we did not make it to. Otherwise, here is a jam packed itinerary for El Salvador that goes way beyond the typical stop in El Tunco!
Chronicles of a Wandering Soul 