A Stroll in San Salvador

The outskirts of San Salvador.
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San Salvador was supposed to suck.  The Lonely Planet goes on at length about urban sprawl, gang problems, and how shady the city center becomes after dark.  The general advice I have recieved about San Salvador, and every other Central American capital is that they are "necessary evils," required for seeing the other, more beautiful portions each country.

So we were surprised when San Salvador turned out to be a highlight of the country.  We suspected this a bit from the start.  On our way to Western El Salvador, we had to spent a night in San Salvador, and really enjoyed walking to the bus station.  (Usually getting to the local bus station is quite dreadful, as it is generally surrounded by the neighborhood low-lifes, beggars, and hagglers.)  We were so impressed by the thriving, urban, center-of-culture feel, that we changed our itinerary to include a whole day in the city.  Despite the annoyance of some scattered showers, our decision turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.

A city street.
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San Salvador has been heavily effected by American style consumerism.  It seems like you can get anything here.  There are mega shopping malls, nice restaurants, and even a Home Depot!  Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and Tony Romas share one large strip center.  Burger King, McDonalds, and Wendys all compete here.  A calorific breakfast is available to Mister Donut.  It is just as expensive as buying breakfast in the US.  In fact, all of the fast food prices are similar to those in the US.  This creates an interesting phenomena.  Usually, you can eat lunch in any Central American country for about $2.  A nice lunch will cost you $5.  This, in turn, means that a McDonalds Big Mac Value meal is priced similarly to a "nice lunch." My girlfriend Amy does not even consider McDonalds to be food!  In Chicago, there is a 50% chance that someone will beg you for change if you visit a city McDonalds.  Homeless people can usually be spotted lounging in the brightly colored fast-food plasti-furniture.  In San Salvador, McDonalds is where you bring your date on a special night.  Its where you might eat lunch if you were in the upper middle class.  (No kidding.  The El Salvador GDP per capita is a bit under $6,000.  Compare that to about $45,000 in the US!)  My language teacher in Xela explained the difference to me as follows:  "In America, making minimum wage, you can work for an hour and earn enough money for a meal at McDonalds.  I would have to work for 2 days for the same meal."  Keep in mind that he is NOT and unskilled laborer, but a very good teacher.  He was making about $1.20 an hour.  That turns the usual image of McDonalds on its head.

I was shocked to see this. A little bit of beautification! Its a less extravagent version of something you might see on Michigan Ave. But in Central America!
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We spent an entire day walking through the city.  We began from our hotel in the far North side, and walked all the way to the far East side.  We must have covered several miles.  We visited the Modern Art museum and the Anthropology Museum.  The Anthropology museum was tough because it was entirely in Spanish.  It cost $1 to get in.  Then a security guard appeared in the middle of our visit to tell us to put away our cameras.  There was a $5 charge if we wanted any pictures of our visit!  There is something puzzling about the economics of a picture being worth 5 times the price of visiting a place.  It must just be a discouragement.

The Anthropology museum. Not very interesting from the outside.
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The Art Museum is highlighted by the Revolutionary Monument.  It is a giant, 4 story painting of a tortured soul reaching to the skyward with both arms outstretched.  Think of the movie "Platoon". (www.mofoyo.com/image/894)  The monument pays tribute to the roughly 75,000 people that were killed over the course of the 12 year civil war.  (Actually, another Oliver Stone flick, called "Salvador," does a good job depicting the beginning of the war.)  The first adjectives that come ton mind in describing the monument are startling and raw.

The museum did have nice courtyards though.
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The political atmosphere is readily apparent.  A common piece of Graffiti throughout the city is "FMLN."  The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front used to be a heavily armed, guerilla war outfit.  Now they are a leftist polical party.  (One of two parties in the country.)  Apparently, this is one of the model successes of a groups transitions from violence to politics.  Doesn´t it usually go in the opposite direction?  On the other side was the oppressive, military regime, and its death squads.  The civil war began when one of these death squads (US backed, incidentally.) assasinated Oscar Romero, a Catholic Archbishop who was outspoken against government oppression.  He is often referred to as a Saint (still not official though), and his mug decorates many a church and city wall here.  Learning about these events does make me thankful for the US political system, despite all its downsides.  At least disagreements end with a handshake, instead of violence.

Me standing in front of the monument of revolution.
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We concluded our walk with a visit to the Central Park, which was a bit run down.  By this time I was soaked from the constant barrage of rain.  (In spite of our extraordinary efforts to duck into the nearest cafe whenever the rain picked up.)  By the end of the day we were both exhausted, and ready for our 10 hour bus ride to Nicaragua, which is where my next post will come from.