San Salvador: People Packing Heat

A few weeks ago upon finding out that my friend’s boyfriend was from El Salvador, I asked for recommendations of places to see and things to do in this country.  The response I received was a recommendation not to go there.  This seems to be the prevailing sentiment and many of the backpackers I had met along the way had opted to skip El Salvador.  I tend not to be deterred by such options and consider that with a bit of caution, awareness and with the avoidance of any unnecessary risks a country that is not at war or under revolt should not be skipped simply because people claim it not to be safe.

That being said, I will include here a passage from the Lonely Planet book entitled People Packing Heat: “Enter El Salvador and you’ll wonder if you’ve stumbled onto an National Rifle Association convention.  Banks, hotels and even bikini boutiques are patrolled by clean-shaven guards packing M16s and 9mm pistols.  While the war is long over, this security-obsessed country employs over 18,000 security guards.  In addition, there are countless private citizens accessorizing with arms, easily purchased in gun shops at the mall among the boutiques.  Of the estimated 500,000 firearms in El Salvador, 60% are illegal.”

 It takes some getting used to.  You’re walking down the street past a Taco shop or a church and you see a guard carrying a semi-automatic machine gun or something of that sort.  While in the city center we saw a police officer pull up on a motorcycle, pull a guy who was standing next to us over and told this man to put his arms up.  As he was in the process of cuffing him another cop came up, said something which seemed to be along the lines of “you’ve got the wrong guy”.  The first cop let the man go and moved on to another.  All this happened with absolutely no resistance on the innocent bystander who was about to be taken away. 

The cop, after having let this first individual go, proceeded to arrest another one.  This once again proved to be a mistake.  I think the third attempt finally proved correct as a group of police officers began to beat up/fight with some people across the streets (by the looks of it a woman).  The fact that the cops carry M16s might have something to do with the lack of resistance on part of the innocent bystanders but it definitively sheds a different kind of light on the status of the authorities.

Now guns aside, San Salvador is not necessarily a must-see.  Probably quite the opposite.  It would likely rate near the bottom of the places I have visited.  It is a sprawling metropolis filled with fast-food restaurants, shopping malls and drive through establishments in all the suburbs whereas the downtown core is a chaotic and dirty mess.  Instead of being the focus for tourists and sightseeing, the grand cathedrals, churches and government buildings are surrounded by an endless set of market stalls, food stalls and various vendors.  I am used to such large markets, but these tend to be located on the outskirts of the city and not next to the National Palace.  The juxtaposition of the two simply does not work.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the city center from our hostel, 20 minutes to walk around the few important buildings thereby checking off all the major sights of the capital city, and then another 45 minutes to get back to our hostel.  Keep in mind that the chicken buses navigate the stall filled one way streets.  How they do this I do not know, but they do it. It does, however, take a while longer to make your way through such a jam.

So overall this was our impression of the city.  As I’ve mentioned, the suburbs, although safer and cleaner, have nothing to offer.  They are filled with the endless array of fast-food restaurants and Pizza Huts that seem to rival in number the Starbucks’ of Vancouver. From the terrace of our hostel we could see the following food establishments:  Burger King, Wendy’s, Mister Donut, Pizza Hut, Quiznos, Chinese Wok and a few other ones.  Down the block were Tony Romas, NASH, Pollo Campera, KFC and another couple Pizza Huts.

That is San Salvador in a nutshell.