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One night while digging through United award flights to get us back home from Costa Rica, I came across several flights which routed through El Salvador. One particular flight had an 18 hour layover and since the odds of booking a trip to El Salvador in the future were slim, I figured, YOLO and went for it.
As the trip neared, I was absolutely dreading this stop. For one, we had to leave our hotel in Costa Rica at 3:30 am in order to catch our early morning flight out. The flight leaving El Salvador then wouldn’t leave until 1am! The logistics were so complicated and I thought I had made a huge mistake but there as really no turning back now.
The night before we left, I decided to book a hotel in San Salvador with the hopes that I would be able to check in super early but worst case scenario we would have somewhere to drop our stuff off and go explore the area for a while until we could checkin.
Fast forward to the big day. We woke up bright and early and to my shock and pleasant surprise, my kids woke right up, no crying or meltdowns, packed up their stuff, and we headed to the airport. The flight was barely an hour long, and before we knew it, we were in the kids’ 19th country and my 32nd.
Immediately, our experience in El Salvador was incredible. Our pilot, he worked for Avianca and was from El Salvador, helped us off the plane and was happy to chit chat with my kids about all their questions. The various reps that helped us get our paperwork we needed to leave the airport went above and beyond anything I could have expected. They even offered to watch my kids while I ran to the ATM. Tragically, my kid insisted on coming with me!
We went straight to our hotel, a retro feeling but very nice luxurious Best Western in the middle of San Salvador. Now it’s barely even 9am so there is no doubt in my mind they won’t let us checkin. I walk up to the desk and tell them we are here and just asked to drop our stuff off and what the earliest time we could checkin would be. The lady went back and chitchatted with the manager and came back out, with cookies for my kids, and informed me my room was ready. My jaw hit the floor! We headed up and took a quick power nap. That was the best 12k points I have ever spent!
We left the hotel and went to a nearby pupusaria where we pigged out, drinks and all, for about $12.00 total. After lunch, we grabbed an uber and headed down to the historic area of town to check it out.
El Salvador was the most impoverished country I have ever visited and it was very visible everywhere you looked, yet despite the hardships these people face, they were hands down the kindest and more caring people I have ever met. I honest to good felt like Jesus at his second coming every time I interacted with anyone there. They would see us walk into their shop and smile and thank us from the bottom of their hearts for visiting. One lady, after a 10 second conversation, smiled and told me over and over how happy she was to have met me. Another sweet little old lady couldn’t get enough of Q and Loo. She couldn’t even help herself and grabbed Q’s face and started laying kisses all on him. He just stared at my while secretly enjoying all the attention!
My heart was so humbled after this incredible experience. El Salvador has a horrific wrap for being incredibly dangerous and violent, and although gang crime is a problem there, it’s important to remember that it’s such tiny percentage of the population who embarks in the violence and that the vast majority are kind and wonderful people who would never dream of hurting you.
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