El Salvador: San Salvador (Part 1)

From Antigua we booked a direct bus to San Salvador. However, direct is relative here, because we were picked up in Antigua with a shuttle, but then simply dropped off at a bus terminal in Guate City and handed an envelope, which we were supposed to take to the counter. It turned out that the envelope only contained a 50-dollar note, and we were supposed to book the bus to Salvador ourselves. I had imagined the "shuttle service" a little differently, but oh well. At least the shuttle bus operator gave us too much money, so we even got 5 dollars back. You just have to be happy about the little things in life. Here we were now and fortunately there was still enough space on the bus, so there was no problem. However, it was a bit unfortunate that we were 3 hours early at the terminal, and the bus was 1 hour late, so we had to wait a total of 4 hours at the terminal.
The departure from Guatemala was just as uncomplicated as the entry, the whole thing took less than 5 minutes. The entry into El Salvador was even easier, as you didn't even have to get off the bus. First, a customs officer entered the bus, wanted to see everyone's passport, wanted to know where they came from and where they were traveling to, and checked off all the passengers on his list. Next, Terminator boarded the bus, or rather a Terminator in mini Maya edition. The slim, young man, barely 25 years old, armed to the teeth, dressed in black from head to toe and wearing black sunglasses, even though it was already getting dark. Schwarzenegger would have been jealous of the outfit. "Anti-Narcos" was written on his black shirt, meaning drug investigation. When he boarded the bus, he said we shouldn't worry, we were apparently not the only passengers who seemed a little intimidated. He also wanted to see everyone's passport, then he ran out again and said "Bienvenidos a El Salvador". Thank you very much for the warm welcome. Unfortunately, there was no stamp in the passport, everything was only recorded digitally, our bus driver said. Too bad.
When traveling to El Salvador, you immediately have a somewhat uncomfortable feeling. This is probably simply due to the prejudice that Salvador is officially considered the most dangerous country in the world, with the highest murder rate worldwide (even higher than in war zones like Syria). But you can also clearly see the difference to Guatemala, there is a lot more garbage lying around everywhere and the houses and villages seem more dilapidated at first glance.

Arriving in San Salvador, we took a taxi to our accommodation, a "hostel" at a private family's house. The residential building was located in a secured residential quarter. However, the family was rather unfriendly, so our first impression was that Salvadorans were not particularly friendly people. However, this first impression would change a bit during the course of the trip.

In San Salvador, on the first day, we visited the historic city center. We took the bus there, and we stood out in the bus. There don't seem to be many foreign tourists here. The bus driver was also quite unfriendly and dropped us off in a shabby street where apparently the red-light district of the city was located. Moreover, the stench was unbearable. Moderately inviting. From there, we walked the few blocks to the main square. It's actually not worth visiting this part of San Salvador, because firstly there's not much to see, and secondly, everything here looks very shabby and run-down.
In the city center, we also visited the Iglesia El Rosario, which the travel guide describes as one of the most beautiful churches in Central America. You wouldn't agree with that from the outside, as it is just a gray concrete block. From the inside, however, it is quite pretty, reminiscent of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The walls contain stained glass windows through which the sun shines in and bathes the interior of the church in colored light. Otherwise, the church and the altar are very simple. In the nave, there is also a walkway where the Stations of the Cross of Jesus are depicted with modern, quite abstract sculptures.

The next day we left San Salvador, a really rather unsympathetic city, and headed east to San Miguel. But we would come back to San Salvador several more times, as all the main traffic routes pass through the capital city.