So four fun-filled, frantic years of living in the Land of Volcanoes has come to an end. Just like each place we have lived in before, Hannah and I create an A-Z list of random things that we will remember, treasure and sometimes despise about each country, be it Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Malawi…and now El Salvador.
The bandera (flag) of El Salvador on Peñon de Comasagua
Maxi and Mini will feature throughout this list
The idea is that the list highlights some personal and light-hearted perspectives on life in Central America’s smallest country. The only thing you are allowed to be offended by is the quality of the writing! A slight difference with this one is that the words will generally be in Spanish. Only one or two of them needed to be researched, which I’m quite chuffed about!
Torogoz, the national bird of El Salvador
We've had a lot of laughs in El Salvador
Without further ado, let’s crack on with some of the key takeaways from the Place of Pupusas and Playas! Neither of which made the cut as P, by the way…
A pupusa tower - looked better than it actually was
The reason we were here in the first place: Academia Británica Cuscatleca, or the ABC. Not Hannah, actually, as she has been establishing her own educational business (which also fits under A, Awesomenicity). But an overwhelmingly important part of my time in El Salvado has been my job.
Our Grade 4 team - in terms of student numbers, this is comfortably the biggest school I've worked at
Assemblies and productions are something I particularly enjoy writing and producing - this was a comedy assembly to prepare kids for camping trips
It could have had its own A-Z list of joys, quirks and challenges (often which were shared in Gauchos, see G). Almost all of the things I have chosen in this list have a connection to the ABC. Its heritage and reputation are everywhere, from our neighbours having Exabrit students to reunions being healthily attended by people who graduated 25 years ago.
Annual camping trips normally resulted in me getting soaked
Josef Stalin, as part of a history-based IPC unit
I've tried to gain global support for Cardiff City...and develop vocabulary...
Whichever school I work at, I’m all in. This has led to me having a mohawk, getting pushed fully clothed into the swimming pool, creating a Maths Week, training and mentoring loads of fellow colleagues, leading a section of a CIS accreditation team, getting a makeover from my students…to name just a few.
My teaching assistant training squad
Our grade preparing for an Entry Point for a unit based around ancient civilisations
The school has many positives. Some of the facilities are amazing, from a brand-new running track (the creation of which led to us not having a field for kids to play on for almost a year) to access to 30 virtual reality sets. Almost every child I have taught has been lovely and keen to learn. From a personal perspective, I have grown as a teacher and moved more explicitly into teacher training, in part due to the confidence and freedom given to me by leadership at the ABC.
The track was expensive and took a long time to lay, but does look and feel good
Maths challenges based around Cardiff City results
Challenges and chaos exist, like in all places if you scratch below the surface. They vary from broken promises about Spanish lessons (see H) and club memberships to events and resources being shared moments before their use (see U). Ultimately, however, working at the ABC has been fun and rewarding.
Pupusa-gate of 2023 - long story but the end of year lunch that we pay for out of our wages got cancelled due to weather...then reinstated...but without lunch...so we were given two pupusas. Not a happy team.
My whiteboard fell off the wall in the middle of a class. Luckily, that laptop trolley stopped it from flattening two kids who were sat on the floor at the front.
As tempted as I was to make this about a fairly unique game involving beer bottles, frisbees and stands made of PVC pipe, you can’t really talk about El Salvador these days without a reference to its charismatic leader.
Beersbie: an epic lake/beach game
Nayib Bukele: self-styled 'coolest dictator'
Nayib Bukele is a popular man. Not just in El Salvador: whenever travelling in Latin America and mentioning where we live, his name would pop up quickly, usually in glowing terms. El Salvador’s president has certainly honed his image, to the point where he is being mimicked by other leaders in nearby, larger countries.
Turns out I don't have many pictures of Bukele - you can't find much merch for British political leaders, though!
Bukele meeting Marshmello, as you do
His biggest achievement/controversy, depending on your perspective, happened after I had committed to the move to El Salvador but before I arrived. In March 2022, a ‘State of Exception’ was started. In sum, this allowed the government to hoover up the gang members that have plagued the country and had made San Salvador one of the most dangerous cities on Earth. By the time I arrived less than five months later, it was safe enough to walk around town. That is a huge difference, and one that is understandably treasured by many.
You can find references to the military around the city
Gangland now has cycle lanes and clean streets
It is also undeniable that this has come at a cost. Innocent people being rounded up based on a tattoo that may have been forced upon them. Mass trials. The building of a super-prison called CECOT. Bukele’s response to this - along the lines of ‘we have jailed 100,000 and freed 6 million - is catchy, persuasive…and a bit unnerving.
A Guardian picture of CECOT - obviously, I haven't been!
I was lucky enough to go inside the National Palace on a school trip - this is one of the rooms
He is very popular here, the numbers don’t lie. He was re-elected with over 80% of the popular vote. Should he have been allowed to run? Arguably not. Have elements of the government been altered and manipulated so his political party have increased authority and fewer challenges or hurdles? Arguably so. When deciding to run for re-election having found loopholes and changed laws, did he give everyone a Friday off work to create an extra long weekend? Absolutely.
Policies such as sometimes paying off bills have been popular - not sure where the money comes from for that, though...
Us celebrating the day off, which doubled up as Bukele's announcement to run for reelection
President Bukele is a fascinating character: tech savvy, smooth talking, and a leader who is willing to try new things. Whether building two new schools a day, trying to develop ‘Surf City 2’ and ‘Bitcoin City’, or persuading Google to set up a base, there have been many new initiatives. His first term mantra was to eradicate the gangs. That’s done. He needs something else to work to maintain his popularity. It will be interesting to see how he gets on.
Recent projects include the BINAES library and this park in Centro Historico
Fun moment early on at school when I posed near this car wearing a T-shirt which reads, "I run better than the government." The First Lady came by soon after...
My two favourite places in the country, I can’t split them. Just look at the pictures.
Lake Coatepeque
View of the Gulf of Fonseca from Conchagua Volcano
El Salvador is increasingly able to market itself as a tourist destination. Whilst some of this is very much manufactured (Ruta de las Flores, Surf City), it does possess some natural gems.
The lake was a common weekend getaway for us
The dogs didn't appreciate the views as much as we did
Volcanoes are obviously a big thing here, in many respects (see V), and my two favourites have connections to them. Lago de Coatepeque is a crater lake. Conchagua is an extinct volcano upon which you can camp and watch the sun rise over Golfo de Fonseca. Each has an aura of tranquility in the early morning.
Swimming in Lake Coatepeque
Admiring the islands from Conchagua
At Coatepeque, I have enjoyed kayaking and pedalo-ing (see K), playing games as varied as beersbie and Codenames, staying in enormous AirBnB properties that need at least 10 people to commit to in order to make them economically viable, and taken Mini and Maxi swimming (see M).
All aboard!
This dock was a bit high for the docks to jump in from
It’s not always been at its most pristine in my time here. They actually closed access to the lake for a year in order to clean the water, which by that point was…disgusting. Dirty, filthy even. They’ve done a great job, but need better infrastructure in order to maintain this progress.
That is water. The lake was closed days after this visit.
Much cleaner now, with technology in the lake helping to keep it clean
As for Conchagua, we went up it twice, both times on an incredibly bumpy bus. It was the place I picked for a group of us to visit for my birthday weekend, and where I realised that El Salvador can actually be quite cold in December. It was where I witnessed two very different, and two equally spectacular, sunrises.
A tense trip, what with our dogs and the military in very close proximity to one another
Stunning sunrise from December 2022
Such a place like this is obviously going to be a popular itinerary item. From a British perspective, three things have made visiting Conchagua much more likely: the increased safety of the country (see B), the fact that it was featured on a BBC show called Celebrity Race Across the World, and that Honduras now demands British nationals to have a visa. This last facet means that for backpackers moving through Central America, the only way to continue without flying is to get a boat from El Salvador to Nicaragua. The dock is right next to Conchagua. It’s not just Brits, however; Conchagua is becoming a bit too busy.
Mini enjoying the view. Maxi much preferred staying in the tent.
We came up here for my birthday - amazing place to celebrate
D is for…dientes
Honourable mentions: deportes, Dia de los Muertos
Dientes are teeth. I spent quite a lot of time at the dentist whilst in El Salvador. Lot of money as well, though a reasonable amount was covered by insurance.
Getting ready for the drill!
I once dressed up as Jaws for a party at university - I feel I may have been more authentic here...
Since my early teenage years, I have had a dead tooth from playing rugby on the school playground. At the time, it was bleached, meaning it didn’t look…well, dead. Over the years, the bleach started to fade, and the tooth started to weaken. The memorable climax of this was my tooth staying in an apple when biting into it in 2020, and a Covid-era emergency dentist trip in the UK days before flying back to Malawi. They essentially cemented the tooth back to the root, and said it would last a few months. Three years later, I decided to do something about it.
I think I am 13 in this picture - you can see the discolouration
My tooth before its emergency fix in 2020
Getting an implant is a long, at times very painful process. The time when they opened up my gum to insert the screw, which I didn’t know was happening on that visit, is seared into my memory, as is the hunger I felt in the 24 hours after when I couldn’t eat solid food (I hadn’t really had much lunch before the appointment).
My dentist. Driving was less than 5km, and it once took me an hour to get home.
Lots of stitches up there
I ended up getting two implants during my time in El Salvador, with the second going into a gap I’ve had for over 10 years as no adult tooth ever grew there. The cost of the implants, and other elements like crowns, weren’t massively expensive. With its close proximity to the US, I could definitely see medical tourism becoming more of a thing in El Salvador.
This is my segue into talking about my main sport: running. There were a lot of races here, allowing us to go off-road across the country. Even if I had to stop running for quite a while (see T).
The Carrera Purpura (Purple Run) was organised by an ABC student in order to raise money and awareness about epilepsy
Quite happy about finishing UltrAtaco 2026, after what happened the year before...
I was excited to learn upon arriving that there are two large parks within Santa Tecla and nextdoor San Salvador. I actually preferred Bicentenario, in part because it was a bit flatter and has a really cool bamboo forest.
Bicentenario will change in the future, as they are building the new national stadium in close proximity
They also created a dog park in our final year there, which Mini in particular loved
For training for trail races, however, nothing beats the Ecoparque. Lots of trails, stunning views, silence only interrupted by the pounding of feet and chirping of birds…oh, and the occasional mental cyclist zipping across your stride.
A small entrance fee is paid to maintain and protect Ecoparque
There are many viewpoints of the city from the trails
In races here, I’ve ran up the country’s highest volcano, dashed around the capital’s historic centre, done a 15km race partly around a lake that ended up being 20km, and run to raise money for children’s cancer by possibly giving myself a higher likelihood of cancer from running on a very much open motorway.
When around for it, we would run in the Day of the Dead race. Hannah and I both came second one year!
If we don't look that pleased, it's because we had been running on a motorway inhaling diesel
One of the things Hannah and I have sorely missed from our time in Malawi is our Saturday morning running group. Having a group of friends who like to run, and enjoy travelling to other places to run, has been a worthy replacement.
For a while, this was my running group: EntreRunners. People didn't run with each other, or talk to one another - it was strange.
UltraVolcanes 2026 finishers
UltrAtaco2023 finishers
Other people (usually Guatemalans) would often scoop up prizes
F is for…Frijoles
Honourable mentions: fútbol, frutas
The first of our three cars we owned in El Salvador, and the one that caused immense problems throughout its existence. Frijoles is the Spanish word for beans; even magic beans wouldn’t have been valuable enough to make that first car worthwhile.
Frijoles. Turns out it wasn't even a Chevrolet.
One of three tow trucks that Frijoles sat on.
It was a bad purchase that was caused by impatience. I spent weeks looking for cars. Having come from Malawi, I was shocked at how expensive they all seemed. So when the Chevrolet Captiva came up and I could get it for $6000, I went for it. I shouldn’t have.
Powerful car, very unreliable
This was due to electrical faults - about a month after purchasing and giving a 'mechanic' money to fix things...like the electrics...
Frijoles’ low points were numerous, but the worst two were it completely breaking down whilst Hannah was driving uphill in the fast lane of a busy multi-lane, and it deciding to give up on us in the hellhole that is San Miguel…on a driving holiday. We ended up taking $2300 or so just to get rid of it from our lives.
Frijoles in San Miguel. I had to return a few days later in a rental car to collect it with a now-working starter motor.
Facebook Marketplace is the place for cars here
With our second car, we were incredibly unlucky. That car, a Suzuki Gran Vitara, was a good one. 4x4 but compact, it took us across the country and into others.
Suki parked in school with a pretty sky behind
On a family adventure in Suki
This was Suki in Honduras - just a minor problem that a man with more machetes than teeth helped me fix...
Suki was a great car…then one small, sudden leak, some dripping from the radiator into the engine…and Suki was done.
Once again, on a motorway.
Do you need a car here? Yes. You can Uber around for pretty cheap, but for convenience and protection from the elements, you need four wheels. What I’ve learnt is that you don’t really need a 4x4. Our last car was a Toyota Yaris. Sure, it scraped a few tumulos (speed bumps), but it did everything we needed it to.
Our Yaris, which we almost sold for a profit. One out of three, at least.
Mini and Maxi taking in the world...or the A/C...
Buying cars is hard enough in your native tongue, let alone in a foreign language. We made friends with the mechanic who was connected to the US Embassy, who was a kind, patient and lovely person. He also would never have allowed us to go anywhere near Frijoles…
Happier times in a car...
That’s part 1. Parts 2-4 coming in the next few days!
In spite of F, we've had many happy times!
The blogs will come out quicker than these baby turtles can scuttle!
