san salvador • 11 comments • What can we say about San Salvador? Not too much. We left Antigua before New Year's Eve because all of the decent hotel rooms were already reserved. Because San Salvador is not the safest place, we chose to stay at a Courtyard (by Marriott) near La Gran Via - which promotes itself as a "life style centre". It is basically a large outdoor shopping mall with American stores and American restaurants. We felt as if we were in the States. Our original plan was to transit through San Salvador, as there isn't too much to do there. However, after the "colonial chic" accommodations we had to put up with in Antigua, the amenities of the Courtyard lured us in. A comfy king size bed, down pillows, the pool, the gym, the breakfast buffet that served everything you can imagine... it was great! After staying away from fruits and vegetables in Mexico and Guatemala, we gorged on salads and fresh fruits. Actually, we ate way too much in San Salvador. All of the pictures we took there are of us eating. We also spent a ridiculous amount of time watching movies. There was this theatre in La Gran Via and the admission was less than 4 dollars. The concession was a steal too. We got to see Avatar in 3D with popcorn & candy for less than $10 US - and it was a matinee so there was no one there! We missed watching movies so much that we went back the next day to watch Sherlock Holmes. All the movies were in English with Spanish subtitles. We were told it was because jokes translate poorly and many movie-goers want to improve their English. We noticed, as we drove through San Salvador, that the poor are very poor. While staying near La Gran Via, it was evident that there is a huge divide between the classes. In many ways it was the complete opposite of our experience at Lake Atitlan, where we stayed in a predominantly subsistence farming community. Our time in San Salvador was interesting in that we saw a different facet of modern Central American life.
