San Salvador

The drive from San Miguel to San Salvador went quickly and without incident. On the way out of town I stopped at a Firestone/Bridgestone shop and inquired about 37 inch tires. After many phone calls I was told they don’t exist in El Salvador. I drove most of the trip without a/c but when I entered San Salvador I turned it on as the car gets much hotter when I’m stopped at lights.

I had asked the hotel in San Miguel for a map of San Salvador so I would have a map entering the city. I also had directions that the hotel had emailed me. I was never able to get my bearings on the map and the hotel directions were somewhat helpful. The Lonely Planet had a good orientation of the city (how the street and building numbers are oriented) and with the assistance of many roadside questions I didn’t have much trouble finding the hotel which turned out to be on the other side of the city from where I entered.

I asked the hotel for a tourist map of the city. They didn’t have one and then I remembered the map in the car. When I showed them the map it took them a few minutes to realize it was a map of San Miguel thus explaining my trouble using it in San Salvador.

It was only a three hour drive so I was in San Salvador by 2 pm. The general manager of the hotel gave me the name of a quick auto service shop as opposed to a dealership where I would need to make an appointment. I took the car to “Taller Racing” and had them scan the engine because the check engine light was one. Of course it was just the catalytic converter again. I also asked them about tires and they confirmed that 37 inch tires don’t exist in El Salvador. I’ll check again in Guatemala. Tuesday night I ate at a great Chinese restuarant called Royal.

Wednesday I sat in the sun and read a while after breakfast. The temperature gets up to about 90 degrees in the afternoon but in the early morning it is quite comfortable. It seems that the heat and humidty builds throughout the day until at some point in the late afternoon a violent explosion of rain, thunder and lightening relieves the heat and the temperature cools for the night. I’ve not had the a/c on at night, just a gentle cool breeze.

Wednesday afternoon I took a taxi into the center of San Salvador, Plaza Barrios. I have to say I don’t think that San Salvador is really about it’s city center. The Cathedral Metropolitana (relatively new and well known for the colorful tiles by Fernando Llort on the front and the grave of Archbishop Oscar Romero who was killed during the civil war) and an old government building front the square. Other than those buildings the square is uninteresting and a bit sad. There are waist high fences bordering any green and channeling wanderers through a strange labyrinth dominated by an inordinate number of pay phones.

A couple blocks away is Parque Libertad. It is even more bizarre. For some reason the plaza was completely blocked off allowing no people in the square. The most interesting church I have seen in Latin America fronts this square. Iglesia el Rosario appears to be a slice out of a large arched brick bunker. The flat sides have thin slashes of collared glass spaced in a manner that reflect the shimmering sunlight as well as evoking some ancient undecipherable writings. The stepped sections in the rise of the arch has larger modern stained glass with even more unintelligible designs. The walls of the interior are not decorated in gold and silver but with pieces of metal from machines and tools. Statues of stone and concrete are punctuated with twisted metal, some forming arms and hands and some without meaning. It lacks opulence but definitely feels like a building of the common man.

From the Iglesia el Rosario I walked to the artesian market (Mercado Ex Cuatel) which was disappointing; not much handmade and lots of vendors begging my attention. I escaped in a taxi to the Zona Rosa, an area of upscale shopping and restaurants. This is the area I stayed when I was in San Salvador 11 years ago. I had a satisfying lunch of shrimp cocktail and sushi at the very trendy La Ola. From there I walked up the street to the Sheraton Hotel El Presidente. I stayed there 11 years ago but I don’t think it was the Sheraton then. At the top of the hill beside the Sheraton is the Monumento a la Revolucion. This is one of my favorite pieces of public art in Latin America. It is a tall piece of curved concrete with a giant figure painted in the curve. Behind the monument is the newer Museum of Modern Art (MARTE). I did a quick tour through the museum and then headed back to the hotel.

Thursday I continued my routine of breakfast followed by reading in the sun. I had made arrangements to have lunch with Karina Copen who attended UPS about 10 years after me. The Politics and Government department of UPS had put me in touch with her as she is the Regional Humanitarian Program Officer for OXFAM America. She brought a friend along who also works for OXFAM. The were very helpful and informative.

On their advice I went to La Uca (the Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simon Cañas) to see the Centro Monseñor Romero. Romero the a Catholic priest who was assassinated while giving a sermon in 1980 during the civil war. The center is housed in the the former quarters of four Jesuit priests who were murdered in their sleep in 1989 by government forces. Their maid and her daughter were also killed. The chapel next door has their graves.

Karina’s friend at lunch has been robbed three times in her two and half years in San Salvador. Karina has not been robbed and everyone from the hotel staff to taxi drivers to employees at the mall where I saw a movie Wednesday night told me that it was safe to walk around this part of town. On my walk back from another satisfying Chinese meal on Thursday night I was very attentive as I withdrew money from an ATM only one block from the hotel on the very busy Paseo Escolon.

Friday I drive to Antigua. According to the owner of the hotel I need to drive through the center of Guatemala City, one of the largest cities in Central America. At least that will give me a chance to look for a major tire center.