Military Museum of the Armed Forces of El Salvador, Museum Of Natural History Of El Salvador, San Salvador Volcano, Dr. David J. Guzmán National Museum of Anthropology, Plan de la Laguna Botanical Garden, Conchagua Volcano
Going from Santa Ana to San Salvador, I got there unintentionally just in time for Independence Day. On the bus, one of the other passengers started talking to me, and together we went to a hostel not too far from the bus terminal. It wasn’t a nice place, but for just one night I wasn’t picky about it.
In the morning, after I got some breakfast, along with my new companion I crossed one of the parks in the area, and then walked for a couple more minutes before getting to the main road where the parade took place. Parade might not be the right word, it seemed to be a military march, with all the different branches taking part. It was pretty impressive, although I didn’t have much to compare it to. Some of the soldiers looked a bit bored and tired, but for the most part it was a pretty respectful and happy event. After the police marched through the street, I decided I had enough, said goodbye to my companion and went back to pack my bags.
After a brief and barely worth mentioning visit to El Tunco, during which I didn’t really do anything, I was back in San Salvador, and this time I based myself in a better hostel. Still, it was a bit confusing to get around, and when I asked for directions, I was told more than once that the buses are either too complicated, take too long, or both, and so the more realistic option was to use Uber. While it wasn’t expensive, using it several times during this stop in the capital of El Salvador meant I spent quite a bit more than I intended.
My first stop was the Military Museum, which was free to enter, although I did need to present an identification. Since I left my passport at the hostel, being unaware of it, I gave the soldier at the entrance my driving license, which he told me I can get back when I leave the museum.
I walked up a paved road for a couple of minutes before I got to the actual entrance of the museum. There were no clear signs, so I had no idea if I was supposed to go around in a certain direction. The first room I was in was full of portraits of men I knew nothing about with a little sign under it, providing the name of the men, and presumably their rank. Other than that, there wasn’t much there.
The next room was about the Mayan people, and then about the Spanish colonization. There were some pictures, and many guns on display, but very little information, in either English or Spanish. From there I moved to a room which mentioned something about a war with Honduras, and then about the civil war. There were some documents there, which I was not able to read, but at least one of them seemed to be a peace agreement.
There were a few more rooms in the museum, and I wasn’t sure if they were temporarily closed, or simply weren’t available for public viewing. In addition to the rooms, there was a small collection of military vehicles in an outdoor area, and after taking a quick look around, I exited the museum and went to get back my driving license.
Not too far from the Military Museum was the Museum of Natural History. Following the directions on Google Maps, I walked around for a bit before coming across Saburo Hirao Park, which Google marked as a theme park. I kept going along the road, as the theme park wasn’t of interest to me. However, a few minutes later I got to the end of the road, where I saw another sign for the park. I asked the guard there if I’m heading in the right direction, and he said that I’m, but also informed me that I need to go back to the entrance of the park and pay for a ticket there.
From what I understood, the museum was free to enter, but it was located within the park, which as it turned out wasn’t a theme park, but rather just a regular park. It was a nice place, with benches, plenty of green, and a large play area for kids. Then, as I made my way to the museum, I was surprised to come across a small Japanese garden. As a guard that was in the area directed me to the museum, I didn’t stick around to explore it.
At the entrance to the museum, I got an explanation for the Japanese garden. There were two signs there, dedicated to two people who were important for this museum of natural history, with one of them being Saburo Hirao, the man after whom the park was named.
The museum, in my mind, could barely claim to be one. It was a very small building, without much in it. There was some information about rocks, and from what I could tell it was mainly about different types of volcanic rocks, which I learned a bit about during my time in Guatemala. There was also a small section about a couple of birds and their habitats, but that was about it. I don’t think it took more than fifteen minutes to go through the building. On the way out, I stopped by the Japanese garden again, but since it was pretty small walking around took about two minutes.
After those mildly educational experiences, I wanted to go back to nature and visit the San Salvador Volcano. I didn’t find much information about it online, and wasn’t sure what to expect. Getting there with public transport was unclear and seemed a bit too complicated and time-consuming. Therefore I used Uber once again, which cost more than I initially thought, but still wasn’t bad overall.
I got to the entrance of the National Park El Boquerón, and was told to pay at the end, when I would come back from the hike. The trail was pretty easy to follow, it was pretty much stairs all the way through, with a few dirt trails splitting off at a few points and then rejoining the main path.
I walked for a few minutes before I reached the first viewpoint, which was overlooking the crater at the very bottom. It was quite a beautiful sight all the way through, and I was quite happy I made it over to this volcano. After taking a look around, I went back to the main path and a couple of minutes later I was at another viewpoint. While nice, it wasn’t that much different from the first one, and so I went on to the final viewpoint, which had a Café in it. I wasn’t interested in buying anything, and so I just kept going along the trail, making my way back to the start point, far earlier than I thought. There wasn’t another viewpoint there, overlooking a different mountain, and after paying the park fee, I headed down the road, where a nice lady helped me get on public transport to Santa Tecla, and from there the Uber was cheaper.
As I had a few unplanned hours to spare, I headed to Dr. David J. Guzmán National Museum of Anthropology. For the first time since I left Mexico, I came across what I would consider a proper museum. Although it also made me feel like I really should look up the definition of anthropology. Most of the museum had signs in both English and Spanish, which were helpful and informative. The museum was largely about the Mayan, their culture, clothes, food, traditions, and of course, and ever so present funerary urns. Most of it I was familiar with already, and I didn’t intend to go to any Mayan museums, but I didn’t enjoy the learning experience, and not just being out in nature all the time. I missed it quite a bit. There were a few new pieces of information as well, but nothing really stuck in my mind.
There was also a part of the museum dedicated to the history of African slaves in El Salvador. In this section, the signs were only in Spanish, and there weren’t many of them. In addition to that, there were three separate videos playing on different screens, but they were all playing very loud at the same time, talking over each other so to speak, and I couldn’t even try to understand them.
Then, to end the day on a more calm note, I went to Plan de la Laguna Botanical Garden. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to a good museum, and even longer since I’ve been to a botanical garden. This particular garden didn’t disappoint. It was far from the best garden that I’ve been to, but it was of decent size, with ponds, some animals, and colorful flowers. I would’ve liked to see a bit more variety of colors, and the map could’ve been clearer, but overall it was a nice way to end the day.
Trying to get from San Salvador to La Unión wasn’t too complicated, but it also wasn’t as easy as I would’ve liked. I found almost no information online, and the staff at the hostel wasn’t very knowledgeable in the matter either. I got up early in the morning, packed my bags, and got an Uber to the bus terminal. I had to ask around, and one bus was just about to depart to La Unión, and I had no time to ask further questions. It took a bit more than five hours, and then I was in the center of the small town, checking into one of the guesthouses in the area.
There wasn’t much to do in the town, so after taking a look at the small park and the central plaza, I headed over to an information center (which might have been simply a travel agency, I’m a bit confused about that) and bought a ticket to get to Conchagua Volcano with off-road transport. While normally it looks like there is a big truck to transport a large group of people up the mountain, in my case it was a pickup truck, and I was going in the back of it. This time though, I wasn’t just sitting on the floor. The driver was taking improvised chairs made out of rubber wheels up the back of the track, and then told me to sit in one of them. A few minutes later, three other people joined me, and one more sat in the passenger seat next to the driver.
That was the beginning of quite an amusing ride. It didn’t seem safe to sit on those rubber wheels, and they weren’t secured in place, almost as if the driver didn’t understand how gravity works. The bumpy ride made me bounce up and down most of the way, and sure enough, as gravity did its thing, my seat was sliding down slowly toward the end of the truck where a woman was sitting in front of me. The little group we formed just laughed at the situation, and a few times along the way we asked the driver to stop so we could adjust the seats.
When we finally made it to the end of the road, I expected everyone to go their own way. Once again, without a clear idea of what to do in the area, I started to wander around, and went over to the nearby viewpoint. I knew it would be cloudy, and wasn’t surprised that there was no view. It was still nice to walk around, but it wasn’t a big area, so after a minute or two I turned around and headed back to where the pickup was.
I was surprised to not only find the others there, but also a guide who asked about my whereabouts. It seemed like we were going to have a guided tour of the area. We started by going over to a random cabin that was there, and the guide said it can fit eight people. It had a nice view of the area, but it didn’t seem like an important spot to include in a tour. From there we walked along the path in the forest until we got to a small temple which was also used as a museum.
It seemed modern, more like a replica of a temple rather than a real one, but it was at least of a point of interest. We got to the top of the stairs, took our shoes off, and headed down into the temple. It was less of a museum, and more of a small exhibit room, with a few pictures, masks, and basic information about the Lenca people. There was barely anything to learn there, but it was nice to see something that isn’t about the Maya.
The guide talked for a bit, although I had no idea what he was saying, and then we all went back to the viewpoint. The clouds cleared for a few minutes, and we had a great view of the area below. It occurred to me that it’s been a while since I’ve seen an ocean view, with islands dotted around, so it was a refreshing sight. Shortly after, everyone agreed that there wasn’t much else to do, and we returned to town earlier than we were supposed to.
That marked the end of my time in El Salvador. With a heavy heart, I decided to leave. While I could’ve spent more time in this country, I felt like it would be too much. I genuinely believe there is great potential here, but the logistics of traveling around, getting to and from place, finding information, it was all getting too much for me. Coming from Guatemala, I didn’t feel like there was much of a cultural change, but maybe there could be a number of factors which caused that feeling, where I came from being one of them. For the most part, I had a nice time here, and unknowingly I came in just in time for the Independence Day celebration, which was a nice surprise, but there were also quite a few things I didn’t get to do. It might have been a bit too early to come, but even if it wasn’t as great as I’m sure it could’ve been, I’m still glad I stopped by.