El SalvadorMap
January The primary currency in the country is the US dollar. Unlike Honduras, graffiti here is fully developed and in its prime. I’m convinced that a serious scientific study would prove a correlation between the level of development of graffiti and economic development.  The downtown area of the capital is chock full of shopping malls; you can spot all the major brands on the streets. I even found a store dedicated entirely to Christian merchandise at one of the malls. So I guess they won’t be dying from hunger.  Yet there’s also armed security everywhere, just like in the neighboring countries.  A billboard proclaims the intent to step up the war on crime.  A Salvadorean Christmas tree.  A snowman.  The bus stops are always unenclosed and consist of two poles and a roof.  Like in Guatemala, street poles are privately owned, so you can find several of them stuck into the ground in one spot.  The payphones also belong to different companies, but there isn’t that much variety.  People ride in the backs of trucks in large groups. Approximately half the men in the country wear backpacks.  A bus stop sign.  Practically all the buses are American school buses, only painted over.  There are two main decorative themes. The first is religion.  The second is anime.  A speed bump sign.  A pedestrian crossing.  A pedestrian traffic light.  A vehicle traffic light.  For some reason, there are many multilevel highway interchanges in El Salvador.  Street names are marked on curbstones, like in Johannesburg.  A midget fire hydrant.  City trash cans consist of a plastic bag stretched over a ring (like in Paris).  A more substantial model made from a barrel.  Full-size barrels also find their use—they’re filled with concrete and placed along sidewalks as a powerful safeguard against out-of-control cars.  There are no post boxes. There is a post office, however. It’s located on the third floor of a shopping mall.  The logo of the El Salvador post is pure genius.  The national dish of El Salvador is the pupusa. Pupusas are eaten by Salvadoreans at pupuserías.  A pupusa is a flat maize flour cake with a filling. Cheese, beans, carrots, pork—all of them can go into the filling depending on your tastes. Very delicious. Pupusas are usually cooked after 6 p.m. Groups of friends as well as families gather at the pupuserías. A young man traditionally invites a girl on a date to a pupusería.  Pupusas are always served with a fermented cabbage slaw and a tomato sauce (which looks like very watery ketchup). One pupusa costs 40 to 60 cents. In other words, you could stuff yourself silly for a couple of dollars. |
