End of my trip in El Salvador

El Salvador has many faces.

In San Salvador you can walk one block and feel like you’re in a tidy, organised city… then walk another block and wonder if a small apocalypse passed through recently. Still, you can see that the country is moving fast roads, bridges, and infrastructure are being built literally in front of your eyes. A lot is happening here.

My final stop was La Libertad, a town on the Pacific coast. I arrived knowing basically nothing about it. Surprise: it’s a surfing hotspot. There’s a constant stream of waves smashing into the shore, and the locals seem to live in a permanently chilled mode with zero visible stress (at least around the area where I stayed).

But the town itself…

Let’s say I’m very happy I escaped quickly. There is basically no garbage system and no sewage system in many parts. The “standard” method of waste management seems to be:

Step 1: pile the garbage
Step 2: burn the garbage
Step 3: inhale the plastic fumes and pretend it’s normal

The smoke was literally in front of my door thick, humid, and full of chemical perfume straight from the “toxic gas chamber” collection. I’ve been to many places, but this was easily one of the worst in terms of air pollution.

Sewage? Also creative. In some areas it simply runs along the road or through gardens, smells accordingly, and eventually ends up in the sea. And yes, people still swim there, happily enjoying the water while sewage drains into the ocean in several spots.
Not my favourite sight.

Maybe most people don’t notice these things but as the Swedish expression says, I am “profession damaged.” Being an engineer in construction means I see infrastructure details everywhere, even when I’m supposed to be relaxing.

The highlight of El Salvador for me?

Easy: plátano. The kind people say you’re supposed to cook. Well, not for me. I ate it raw, like an apple, and it absolutely blew my mind.
It has this intrusive peach smell, and the taste is sweet-sour with a soft peach vibe. Honestly, one of the most pleasant surprises of the entire trip. That, and the locals I spent about a week with who helped me improve my Spanish thumbs up to them.

End of My Trip

This whole North and Central America adventure was an unplanned escape after my relationship reached its expiration date. I thought a change of environment would clear the mind. In practice? My current occupation and the internet situation in the countries I visited made things… complicated.

I did not expect to spend half my travel blog complaining about internet connectivity, but here we are. El Salvador was the toughest of all. No roaming for my sim carrier, no stable data, and no good explanation that matters anymore. The result: I had to leave on short notice. Again.

Workwise, it’s also uncomfortable. I still need to keep Swedish working hours, which means:

• waking up in the middle of the night,
• going to bed ridiculously early,
• and missing almost everything locals do in the evenings.

So this is officially the end of my experience in this part of the world at least in this configuration. Time to take the plane back to Europe. Maybe I’ll write from another continent next time. Who knows.

Until then have a good one, folks.