A 7am get up and a full day travelling never fills anyone with excitement or anticipation, unless that is, you’re a traveller. Especially a traveller that is heading into the relative unknown and to a country that, in western society, is viewed as a dangerous, scary place, to be avoided at all costs. We’re talking about El Salvador. Apparently, this country on the pacific (western) side of Central America, is not only gang ridden but has one of the highest murder rates in the world – it sits in the top 5. The figures state that in El Salvador nearly 42 people out of every 100,000 living there are murdered. Unfortunately, this is down to gang occurrences, competing for power and territory. What people don’t tell you, or don’t know, is that this is mostly in the larger cities where gangs are rife, as they are in the UK, the US and other western countries. There is much more to this small country than that. It is a real shame that you never hear about El Salvador’s amazing countryside, its beaches (which are some of the most beautiful and unique we have been lucky enough to visit) or about its people; who are some of the friendliest we have encountered so far. Unless that is, that like us, you are interested enough to read past all the bad press and find the lost, forgotten elements that can make a country so great despite all the problems at the forefront of its being.

Border crossing done, no stamps to our disappointment, and the last few hours down, we made it to El Tunco. This town is small but famous for its surf. Avid surfers come from all over the world and congregate here to test out their skills on the waves and at most times throughout the day can be seen up and down the beach. After finding a small hotel, just off the main road we went to check it out. The actual beach itself is unusual in the sense that the sand is black as opposed to the pearly white, yellow sand you would expect. It isn’t really a place where you would sunbathe, as it is also strewn with rocks which play havoc with your feet as you try to walk along the edge of the water.

The currency in El Salvador is the US dollar and unfortunately for us the cash machines in town were all out of order or empty. However, luckily for us, and as a prime example of the people of El Salvador’s generosity and friendliness, a hotel worker drove us to the next town of La Libertad to withdraw some cash. Some people may have been apprehensive of this but we encountered nothing but friendly, helpful people along the way which only increased our opinion on this negatively portrayed state.

After returning to our room and after Hayley had finished freaking out due to the ant colony apparently living inside we made our way down to the beach to see what Saturday night El Salvador had to offer. We opted for a cute restaurant on the waterfront and after scanning the menu couldn’t choose what to have. We agreed to split two dishes, one chicken and one steak. The steak was, we both agreed, one of the best we have ever eaten! Hayley, gutted at the fact that she had demolished her half of the steak first had to sit and endure Jonny slowly eating his half while laughing at her drooling and staring at him. Saturday night in El Tunco is full of bars offering ‘ladies night’ – free drinks for girls, vodka or rum with coke or soda. We picked one bar and after Hayley’s drink clearly had no alcoholic content we moved to another. The same thing happened here but luckily we were joined by some fellow travellers we had met earlier in our trip. Together we headed to the beach bar D’Roca and drank cocktails and danced to the early hours of the morning.

Next morning, slightly hungover and traumatised by the ant family, we moved rooms. Hayley was fuming that we had been dumped in the worst room in the hotel originally and struggled to bite her tongue. Instead of arguing we headed off for a breakfast and to find a pool to lounge by for the rest of the day. After catching some rays at a beautiful resort, admittedly that we weren’t supposed to be guests at, we took a dip in the sea. As this is a surf resort we were battered by waves and currents, as well as the rocks beneath our feet for the entire time but enjoyed trying to ride them as far back to shore as possible. After the amazing food the previous night we headed back to the same restaurant and both ordered the steak, which disappeared into our stomachs as quickly as we could shovel the next forkful into our mouths. It was that good that evidently we forgot to snap a picture of it due to our food brains taking control.

After the meal we strolled along the pebble strewn beach and witnessed one of, if not the best sunset we had collectively been lucky enough to encounter. We hope the pictures come across as astonishing and beautiful as this scene was in real life.

Sunday evenings in El Tunco are a stark contrast to Saturdays and everywhere was quiet. It made a nice change to the loud bass, thumping through the town previously. Instead we made our way through the few streets, picking up a few bits on the way and chatting to some delightful locals and other westerners who had fallen in love with this small charming town before retiring for a much more comfortable, peaceful and more importantly for Hayley, ant free nights sleep.

Admittedly we only spent a couple of days in El Salvador but from our experience, as long as you keep your wits about you, avoid the notorious areas (as you would in your home country) and don’t draw unnecessary attention to yourself it can be as charming and as welcoming as anywhere else on the planet. Don’t let the news and the reputation put you off visiting, you might just end up regretting it.

Travel well.

Jonny & Hayley 🙂