In the summer of 2006, I drove with some friends from Southern California to Ecuador, South America. As is the case with most Central American border crossings, which are always bureaucratic hell-holes, we had trouble crossing the border from Guatemala into El Salvador. The government employees in El Salvador refused to let us cross because we had somehow managed to drive to El Salvador without legally entering Mexico or Guatemala. So, we went back to Guatemala and paid for falsified entry stamps from government officials--I must admit, corruption didn't seem too bad when it worked in my favor. It wasn't the nicest welcome to the country, but we were given 60 day visas for our stay in El Salvador.
As we drove along what turned out to be the most beautiful coastline any of us had ever seen, we passed through a pastoral little town called Sunzal, where we wound up staying after realizing there would not be many towns as ideal as that one. We stayed in a rustic hotel for only $5 per night, used hammocks for beds, and were surrounded by beautiful red-budded trees which grow like weeds along the El Salvadorian coastline. Looking one direction from our hotel, we had a nice view of the ocean; looking the other way, we had an incredible view of green mountains that rise almost straight up from the ocean.
For days, we ate nothing but pupusas (4 for a dollar), until one day we decided to check out the surf at the famous Punta Roca in La Libertad. The surf was great, as advertised, and the cuisine offered a nice change, but La Libertad was one of the few places in Central America that seemed as seedy as its reputation, so we decided to spend all of our time enjoying Sunzal. From Sunzal, we took some great day-trips in search of surf along the rugged and isolated west coast of El Salvador.
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect when we entered El Salvador. Would it be a country with lingering signs of a civil war from a quarter century earlier? Would it be a dangerous country, infested with gang members from MS 13? These were the thoughts I had of El Salvador based on American media reporting. But what I found was much different: El Salvador was perhaps the most beautiful country I had visited. Its unique blend of great surf, warm water, nice beaches, green mountains with red flowering trees, tasty food, and kind locals have given El Salvador a special place in my memory. And the fact that the El Salvadorians wouldn't let us in -- or accept a bribe in exchange for granting us entry -- to their country without proper documentation must mean that they are more of a by-the-book country than their neighbors in Guatemala or Honduras.
