Las Rutas de El Salvador
July/August , 2010 Vol. 14, No. 10
Text by Mary L. Peachin with photos by Mary L. Peachin and David Lovitt
“Turismo Somos Todos Y Es Tarea de Todos, El Salvador tourism is for everyone and a challenge for all.”
El Salvador, known as the “Country of Eternal Smiles”, is Central America’s smallest, most densely populated republic. Today’s happy faces no longer portray the brutal and terrifying 12-year civil war. Following the long and bloody revolution, which ended in 1992, peace has brought tourism to El Salvador. The country has become a destination where locals now warmly welcome visitors. Travel between El Salvador’s states, known as departments, is considered a short distance or as locals say, “Only forty minutes away.”
While many tourists carry surfboards or fishing rods, the introduction of culturally interesting day trips or “rutas”, which feature handicrafts, volcanoes, Maya archaeology, a colonial city, and a guerrilla outpost museum, are attracting a new genre of tourism.