‘I ventured inside the murder capital of the world’
IN THIS deeply troubled place, 22 people are killed every day. An Aussie traveller never thought she’d end up there.
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I SPENT an incredible and eye-opening few months backpacking through Central and South America last year.
I followed the typical tourist trail for the most part — partying in Nicaragua’s San Juan Del Sur, making the pilgrimage to Machu Picchu, and visiting the salt flats in Bolivia. But there was one country I went to that I never thought I would visit in my wildest dreams: El Salvador.
Everything I had ever heard about the country basically came from American crime shows. I imagined it to be nothing more than a poverty-stricken country ravaged with MS-13 gang members and crime.
And there’s definitely truth to that, even more so lately: Since my visit, the situation in El Salvador has dramatically worsened, with a staggering 677 murders recorded in June. That’s an average killing rate of 22.6 people every day. Any tourists thinking of visiting the country are warned to be on alert.
No worries. Because, like most travellers, I had put El Salvador firmly in the ‘too dangerous to visit’ category. As a blonde-haired, fair skinned ‘gringo’ who’s Spanish only went as far as ‘donde esta el bano?’ (I can also add a ‘please’ to that phrase), I had no intention of putting myself through inevitable risk there.
So it wasn’t on my mind at all when I began my journey through Central America in Mexico, with a female friend.
After having to share a single hostel bed on our first night due to room availability (who knew you would need to book in advance for a popular destination such as Playa del Carman?!), we soon discovered that we were a bit hopeless on the organisation front, and we really had no idea what we were doing.
We knew that we had to be in Peru by a certain date to meet some friends, but we had absolutely no idea how we were going to get there on our limited time frame.
Thankfully, my cousin was with us for the first few weeks. His ability to speak Spanish meant we were able to navigate our way down to Guatemala like a true local — paying a few bucks to be crammed into tiny mini vans with a dangerous amount of sweaty people. But eventually we had to part ways with my primo and us chicas were left all on our own.
After a few days of partying at the notorious Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, we came to the sobering realisation that if we wanted to make it to Peru in time, we would have to quickly get a move on.
We consulted a ‘travel agent’ — I use the term loosely — in town to find out the quickest, cheapest way to get to Nicaragua. We originally thought that we would travel through neighbouring Honduras, however we figured out we would save a significant amount of money if we travelled to El Salvador and then organise the rest of our journey from there.
Looking back, we probably only saved about $20 each, but at the time it seemed like a lot of money.
Maybe it was a sense of adventure that overcame us, or maybe it was the 5 cervezas (beers!) we drank at lunch, but we decided to take a chance and book a ticket to San Salvador. What could be the worst thing to happen to two females that don’t speak the local language in the murder capital of the world? (Sorry mum.)
The journey to San Salvador was fairly painful; it consisted of a three-hour mini-van trip to Guatemala City followed by a three-hour stop over with literally nothing to eat in the surrounding area other than dirty hot dogs and junk food.
We found a few small restaurants around the bus station but they refused to serve us, and we were advised not to venture out too far, so I settled for a cup of noodles made with lukewarm water.
We then spent approximately 9-10 hours travelling to the capital, San Salvador, on a coach, which wouldn’t have been so bad if we weren’t surrounded by an extremely loud family who constantly swapped their seats around us and played crackling music on a radio on full blast. This was all while the bus driver played Spanish music, on top of a Spanish movie.
The border crossing was long and unsettling — I’m fairly certain drugs were being smuggled — and this was on top of a killer hangover.
After a few months of travelling through Latin America similar trips became part of the ordinary experience, if not enjoyable, but when we pulled into the bus terminal I was well and truly over it.
We arrived in San Salvador at night and the first thing I noticed was an abundance of small shops called ‘Pupuserias’, I assumed that Salvadorians must really like puppies and they were simply pet shops.
The second thing I noticed really took me by surprise — fast food chains, and lots of them. The shining neon lights of Burger King, Pizza Hut and McDonalds seemed to be on every street! I felt like it had been forever since I had seen anything so, well, normal. (At this point of time I had only been travelling for about three weeks)
The next day my friend and I took our time to explore the area we were staying in by foot. The owner of the hostel took some time to guide us through a map, and I hesitantly asked ‘will we be safe walking around?’. She enthusiastically replied of course!
Apparently there was only one part of town she would recommend that we avoid, but we would be okay everywhere else.
We ended up spending a full day exploring the city, doing fun but very ‘normal’ things that people do on holidays. We started our day with a delicious breakfast at a nearby restaurant, we visited a few shops, I bought a Salvadorian designer bikini, we had lunch in a nice restaurant and spent the afternoon in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
On the way home we passed a ‘pupuseria’ and discovered they were not pet shops, they were actually places where you could eat the national dish of El Salvador — pupusas. Pupusas are like a pancake made of a thick, corn tortilla and are usually stuffed with cheese and other ingredients.
Naturally we had to try them, and they were absolutely delicious! They reminded me of a soft, cheesy empanada.
The thing that really stood out for me was how incredibly nice the people were to us. Yes there were the usual stares, and the cat calls were admittedly more common, but I put that down to the fact that El Salvador doesn’t see nearly as many tourists as the neighbouring countries.
Literally everyone we crossed passed with was as helpful as possible, and greeted us with a smile.
When we got back to the hostel we discussed our experiences with another traveller, who had decided to check out the ‘bad’ part of town. He experienced nothing but friendly people who were just interested to talk to him and find out where he was from.
That night my friend and I decided to treat ourselves to a dinner where the elite of El Salvador love to dine — Pizza Hut. Yes, Pizza Hut and other American food chains are considered a high brow place for people to eat.
We took a taxi back to our hostel, and as we drove down the main road which we knew would take us back, our cab driver took a different turn. My friend and I looked at it each other nervously — here it was, the inevitable danger.
After a few minutes of driving it was clear that we were definitely being kidnapped, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind.
After a few more minutes of nervous looks, I soon realised that I recognised where we were and we were soon back at the hostel. At that point I decided my irrational distrust of people — just for being from another country — had to stop.
The next day we unfortunately had to move on to Nicaragua, but as we drove through the country in daylight I was amazed by how beautiful and lush everywhere looked. After my short, yet sweet, experience with El Salvador I did some more research on the country that is often portrayed as nothing but crime and danger.
I was disappointed to find out later that the country has plenty to offer — beach towns, Mayan ruins and amazing diving locations — all relatively unspoilt by tourists and travellers. I had missed out on a lot.
While I only saw a small part of the country and my experience wasn’t the most exciting, I was genuinely touched by how friendly everyone was towards us as visitors, as the country sees so few.
El Salvador is indeed a troubled country and continues to battle many problems, including the treatment of its women.
Yes, it is advised that you should exercise a high degree of caution, but you should be cautious to some degree, anywhere you travel. El Salvador really is a beautiful country filled with kind people, hopefully it will solve its problems in the future.
The Government advises a high degree of caution while travelling through El Salvador, due to high levels of violent crime. Make sure to read all about the safety precautions you should take if you’re considering vising this country.
Originally published as ‘I ventured inside the murder capital of the world’
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