Back in January, C got an email about a flight sale. The problem with these flights sales is that we can rarely take advantage of them because of my restrictive work schedule. After he looked at the dates and destinations, he asked if I wanted to go to El Salvador for a weekend in April. Obviously, my answer was yes because 1) El Salvador was on our list of places we wanted visit, and 2) any time we can snag cheap flights without me having to take time off work is amazing!
We flew to San Salvador last Friday night on Avianca and flew home on Sunday night. Did we have any delusions about being about seeing as much of the country as we would have liked when we were only going for a weekend? Of course not. But were we able to enjoy our visit and get a sense of what El Salvador is like? Absolutely!
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| on our flights there and back, we sat in Avianca's version of business class - which is really just the middle seat in a row of three blocked out by a console/armrest and while not super luxurious, they were perfect for the four-hour flight! |
We stayed at the Intercontinental in San Salvador and the hotel upgraded our room when we checked in, which was a nice surprise! The hotel was beautiful and we loved our room!
On Saturday, we took an all-day tour to see some archaeological highlights. Our guide, Luis, drove us to several different places where we saw some incredible excavation sites and Mayan ruins. Luis was so personable and very knowledgeable and the eight hours we spent with him flew by! Our final stop of the day was at Lago de Coatepeque, which is a lake formed in a caldera that was created after a volcanic eruption. If that sounds familiar, it's because that is exactly how Crater Lake - my favorite place on earth - was formed! Even though it was hazy, we had the most spectacular views and enjoyed a late lunch at a perfect dining spot. A core memory for sure!
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| we knew we'd get along with Luis when we saw these in his car |
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| we spotted a Motmot, the national bird El Salvador |
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| dream dining location |
Lago de Coatepeque
On Sunday, we did another tour with a guide named Gabriel. We spent about five hours with him in the city center of San Salvador and he was awesome! We learned so many interesting things and had our first pupusas at a place he recommended! Two of our favorite places were the National Library, which was super modern and funded with the assistance of the Chinese government, and the National Theatre, which is over a hundred years old with a stunningly beautiful interior!
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| this is a Starbucks, which Gabriel took us to not for the coffee, but because it is located in a beautiful historic building |
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| this is inside the Starbucks! |
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| this point marks the spot from which all distances are measured |
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| Iglesia El Rosario this is known as the Rainbow Church and it's an impressive piece of architecture! |
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| this is not my pic, but apparently when the sun streams through the windows, this is what it looks like! unfortunately, there was a lengthy mass taking place during our time in the city, so we weren't able to go inside and see for ourselves, but we will definitely return here when we come back to El Salvador someday! |
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| the National Library, which is open to all, 24 / 7 |
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| the Chinese flag flies alongside the flag of El Salvador |
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| view from one of the upper balconies of the library |
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| I was so in love with this library and Gabriel kindly let us wander around for as long as we wanted! |
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| the National Theatre |
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| Gabriel took us into several local places and this cutie and I had a little moment together in one of the shops |
Our room had access to the executive lounge so we spent some time there before we took an uber to airport! Because we were technically flying in business class, we also had access to the Avianca lounge at the airport, which was nice!
Our original flight time was at 8:00 pm, but the schedule changed and the new departure time was 10:05 pm. Due to the time zone difference, this meant our flight was leaving San Salvador after midnight EDT and I had to be at school in less than 9 hours! We landed around 4:45 am, and got home around 5:30 am, and I had a choice about whether or not to sleep for a couple of hours before school, but I decided to just stay up. We picked up Avalanche from his dog hotel at 8:00 am and from there I went to school and survived the day by consuming what was likely an unhealthy amount of caffeine!
We really, really, really had a wonderful time in El Salvador and would love to return for another trip in the future! The people were friendly, we felt super safe, and the country is beautiful!
Happy Tails to you!
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