The smallest and most densely
populated country in Central
America, El Salvador is chiefly
remembered for the vicious
civil
war of the 1980s, when streams
of harrowing news stories brought
this tiny country to the attention
of the world. For a decade, atrocity
followed atrocity in a seemingly
unstoppable sequence. Then in 1992,
with both sides having fought each
other to a standstill,
Peace
Accords were signed, and the
attention of the world's press moved
elsewhere, leaving behind a
brutalized country faced with the
immense task of rebuilding itself.
Tourism in El Salvador has lagged
behind that of its Central American
neighbours. Despite its compactness
and considerable natural beauty,
many would-be visitors are deterred
by the half-remembered headlines and
the country's reputation for
violence, danger and difficulty. Its
geographical position doesn't help,
either: tucked into the Pacific
underbelly of the isthmus, El
Salvador is easily bypassed. Those
that do make it here, however, are
well rewarded by the sheer physical
beauty of the place, with lush
Pacific lowlands sweeping up through
fertile hills and coffee plantations
to rugged mountain chains. Almost
every journey in El Salvador yields
photogenic vistas of the majestic
cones of towering volcanoes ,
while some of the secluded pacific beaches
are as fine as any in Central
America.
As in Nicaragua, another country
pulled apart by a decade of civil
war, travelling in El Salvador
brings you into contact with some of
the most engaging and interesting people
in the region. With a well-deserved
reputation for hard work and
business acumen, the Salvadoreños
(or guanacos , as they're
often affectionately described) -
predominantly mestizo - live life
with a vigour that's hard to match.
That said, however, as the people
here slowly find ways to come to
terms with their brutal past and
uncertain future, some residual
hostility to foreigners -
particularly Americans - remains,
and initial reactions to tourists
can be, on occasion, cool. If you
persist, however, in the face of
what may seem like outright
hostility, and make an effort to
speak Spanish, you will find that
people begin to unbend and bring you
into their lives. They may or may
not be willing to talk about the
civil war. Many aren't. What is
important now is the future, and
this Salvadoreans approach with
sardonic humour, designed to lessen
the travails of daily life, the
corruption of politics and
everything else that seems
insurmountable.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, tourist
infrastructure is at times
sorely lacking. This is not the
country for those who like
everything on tap, and there's
little luxury outside the cities,
but for those with a spirit of
adventure, El Salvador has plenty to
offer. One feature particular to the
country is its network of
government-run tourist centres, or turicentros
. Aimed more at locals than
tourists, these provide bathing,
eating and recreation facilities in
areas of natural beauty. Some, like
Los Chorros, just outside San
Salvador, offer a convenient way to
take advantage of natural facilities
safely and comfortably.
Travelling around El Salvador is
a lesson in humility. Contrasting
with the vibrant colour and sweep of
the landscape, the overwhelming
evidence of the endemic poverty
and social divisions that sparked
the Civil War in the first place
hits you right between the eyes. As
El Salvador enters its second decade
of peace it remains a country
painfully divided between haves and
have-nots, and the full benefits of
redevelopment projects and an
improving economy have yet to
trickle down to the majority of the
population. From the muddy shanty
towns of San Salvador to the
broken-down shacks in the
countryside, many people live in
squalor, eking out a living selling
fruit, sweets, household goods and
sundry odds and ends on the street.
In addition, the ever-growing
population - at 6.2 million, the
densest in Central America - is
placing unprecedented pressure on
the country's natural resources
, with rampant deforestation a
particular problem. And while
political violence is now a thing of
the past, civil violence has
grown to alarming proportions. Guns
are common, and people use them,
while recent years have seen an
increased number of kidnappings of
prominent businessmen. The casual
visitor is unlikely to be directly
affected by this, but you can't
ignore the underlying sense of
tension.
