EL SALVADOR
Of all the countries that I visited in Central America, El Salvador was the greatest surprise. As I rolled into El Salvador and out of Guatemala, I was expecting to find a number of world-class point breaks, and excellent surfing. I didn't have much in the way of expectations beyond that. What I found was the most welcoming and friendly people that I had encountered thus far on the trip. Massive cliff sides leading into never-ending ocean, some of the most stunning natural coastal beauty I had seen since Mexico, and a small hospitable country that is just recently becoming a legitimate travel destination. — Not to mention the best traditional street food since Mexico. It's amazing what a place can do to you when you go in without expectations. It has the ability to blow you away — and in a way, capture you. I still think often of El Salvador. Of returning for one of the long list of reasons why I loved the place so much. After spending 2 months in the country, it quickly became one of my favorite countries of all. Possibly my favorite. But that is always such a hard question to answer with an infinite amount of factors going into an answer for any one person. But El Salvador has something for most everyone. It's reputation of danger and violent conflicts feels much like a thing of the past. The El Salvador I saw felt safe. People were happy. — Full of excitement and hope. I could sense it. With a new, and progressive government in place, the future appears bright for this small coastal country. I hope the future holds in line with the present, but these countries have a tendency of being unstable. Young and progressive leaders have a penchant for becoming old dictators. I hope this one is different. El Salvador is a tiny county. The smallest in all of Central. The country is only the size of the US state of Massachusetts. Driving from the Northern border to the Southern border will only take you about 5 hours. It's that small. But within the walls of this tiny place is packed culture, waves, beautiful people, food, a number of towns worth visiting and exploring, and general surprises around every corner. The northern coastline of the county is home to a much larger concentration of civilization. There are a bunch of towns, primarily for the purposes of this page and guide — surf towns, clustered up north, or I guess — west, really. In addition to these towns in the top coastal part of the country is world-class point break after world-class point break. One after the other in such a short span of time, it will immediately feel like paradise, or for that matter a dream for any natural footed surfer. The southern part of the country is much more rural. Infrequently traveled outside of surf bums looking for harder-to-get-to waves, and in country tourism. It's beautiful and untouched down there. For now. Outside of the coastlines the country boasts lakes, volcanoes, hikes, a burgeoning coffee scene, and a capital city that if you know where to go, stacks up at near the top of the list when it comes to Central American cities. It's just a beautiful little country. With everything so accessible and close, it's just one of the best places in Central to spend some time. The only caveat I would add about El Salvador is due to its size. If you are not surfing here in El Salvador, you will quickly run out of things to do. Being a small country, there's not an unlimited amount of things to do. If you don't surf, and don't have any intention on learning, a week in country is probably fine. If you surf, a lifetime may not be enough.
