San Salvador

We've spent 3 nights in San Salvador in a "quiet, safe area" and thoroughly enjoyed them in spite of all the horror stories. On our first morning a guy at the hostel warned us to to go more than two blocks from the Plaza Meyor. Of course we did. We never once felt threatened and walked round the biggest market I think I've ever seen. Barcelona were playing Real Madrid and we watched the last 20 minutes or so in the market with all the fans. It might as well have been a local derby, but it was safer than watching Wednesday v United anyday.

The Palacio Nacional is on one side of the central square and the cathedral on another. The Palace no longer houses parliament but did until 1974, it now houses the national archive, it's upper floor and inner courtyard were both open to the public and grand enough to fit their previous purpose.

The Cathedral was only built in the last century after it was destroyed and, I believe, was the last Cathedral of the millennia to be consecrated. It was very cathedral-esque but in a plain, understated sort of way.

We took a day trip to Suchitoto from San Salvador, the cultural capital of the country. You wouldn't find a sleepier town anywhere, it made a nice change to the hustle and bustle of the capital city.

At the end of the road where we stayed was a bar, then a huge boulevard with Wendy's, Mister Donut, Burger King, Pizza Hut and China Wok. We of course sampled the bar every night and also sampled Wendy's (i'd never heard of them but Celine, an English girl we met, said she vaguely remembered them from the UK) and the China Wok - pupusas are nice but you can get a bit fed up of them. One night we didn't eat just drank beer with Celine and Gus, most of which was provided courtesy of the bloke on the next table who was absolutely frazzled by the end of the night. Mind you Adrian didn't remember getting back and Celine only saw about two hours of the following day! Hospitality!