Hey all. Today’s post takes me back to mid-April when I first arrived in El Salvador and headed from the San Salvador Airport, a couple of hours north of there. I was travelling with good friend Graham and we stayed at the Hostal de la Puertas. In Latin America don’t mistake ‘hostal’ for ‘hostel’ – they are not quite the same thing. Most hostals will afford your own room with private bathroom etc. They will probably be slightly less expensive compared to hotels though and usually family run. Here we had a lovely courtyard, pick up from a long way away and friendly hosts.

The ride to Santa Ana was pretty spectacular at dusk too with the volcanoes/mountains in the background. The high way was good and the traffic moved pretty smoothly, and after checking in we headed to the main square in town – ‘Parque Libertad’, a five minute walk from the hostal where things were buzzing with life, and had dinner – a decent pizza highly recommended by our hosts, at a restaurant called ‘Simmer Down’.

There were a number of food options right there at the square, including a couple of local fried chicken franchises which were super popular in El Salvador, some street food and others. Lit up at night it was really nice, with the Teatro de Nacional de Santa Ana on one side, City Hall on another and next to Simmer Down, which was a multi-level restaurant, was the main Catedral – de Nuestra Senora Santa Ana. We felt at ease too, Santa Ana as the first stop and then going back to San Salvador the capital was always the plan though because we were heading southwards to Nicaragua after San Salvador. We did briefly think maybe Santa Ana would be more manageable than San Salvador as a first stop too, which turned out to be fair enough.

Santa Ana was our base for five nights – allowing us to visit the ancient cities of Tazumal and Joya de Ceren, the Santa Ana Volcano and the Ruta de Flores as three separate day trips (first two combined). So really not much time left for appreciating the nice city of Santa Ana. But in fairness – not packed with sights.

Parque Libertad

This central park is a great place for people watching, and checking out some of the architecture of the city, including a nice art deco building to one side, also has restaurants and street food stalls to boot. The City Hall is another impressive building to another side, and outside there were some murals depicting Jesus on the stone outside there, as it was April and Easter was upon us.

Teatro Nacional de Santa Ana

For $5USD you can enter the National Theatre of Santa Ana and stroll around and explore it. It’s really quite special you can go upstairs to the stalls, check out the ballroom, you just can’t get on the stage. It’s a beautiful classical building. It opened in 1910 so is over a hundred and ten years old, and probably was the highlight of the city for me.

Catedral de Nuestra Senora Santa Ana

OR the Santa Ana Cathedral. Beautiful white façade, pigeons everywhere, I didn’t get to explore the inside although I did do a brief walk through it as there was a service going on at the time. The original church was built in the 16^th century but was destroyed by lightening strike. The current one was constructed between 1906 and 1913.

Old Art School

The only place we really visited in Santa Ana away from the city centre, the Old Art School is another old building that is burnt out today. Unfortunately it’s hard to get inside. There was a guard when we went and he wouldn’t let us in. I know some have managed to gain access though, and so maybe if you encounter a different guy you might get through?

The city isn’t too bad to explore on foot and many of the houses and buildings are pretty interesting and painted in a nice selection of warm colours. There are a few shells of buildings too which often make for good photos.

All in all there were I think a couple of museums we didn’t feel particularly drawn too as well, and surely there must be a few more things about town. We did try the local speciality (in terms of eating) – the pupusa, a cornmeal sort of soft pocket with various different fillings, and thought that wasn’t too bad!

Next time let me take you to the two historical spots that we saw in a single day near Santa Ana – Joya de Ceren, destroyed by a volcano and covered in many layers of ash, and Tazumal, featuring a Mayan pyramid! Thanks for popping by today. Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!