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El Salvador: Santa Ana

The neo-Gothic cathedral in Santa Ana
The neo-Gothic cathedral in Santa Ana

Santa Ana doesn't have a lot in terms of tourist attractions, but that isn't the point. Its main appeal for visitors is its handy location for visiting the nearby volcanoes and the Ruta de las Flores, but the city – the second largest in El Salvador with 180,000 inhabitants – does have a lot of charm.

The streets round the market in Santa Ana are full of stalls
The streets round the market in Santa Ana are full of stalls
Pretty coloured buildings in the backstreets of Santa Ana
Pretty coloured buildings in the backstreets of Santa Ana

After Dark

The Christmas tree in the main plaza in Santa Ana
The Christmas tree in the main plaza in Santa Ana

That night, though, it all became a bit more real. When darkness falls in Santa Ana, the city totally shuts down, and it's eerie. The streets go from bustling and friendly to utterly, utterly dead in the space of an hour, and by the time the sun has set, all the shops are shuttered up, the streets are deserted, and an eerie tension seems to settle on the city. The advice from locals and foreign governments alike is not to venture out after dark on foot, but to take taxis instead, because it's at night that the Bad Boys roam. I did pop out one night to buy some water from the petrol station a few blocks from the hostel, as I needed a couple of bottles for our planned volcano climb, and it was totally bizarre; as I strode purposely to the shop, I heard loud kissing sounds from the prostitutes standing in the shadows of the darkened doorways, got waved at in a less than friendly way by a couple of shady characters hanging out on the street corners, and had to step over two totally comatose bodies on the pavements (at least, I assume they were comatose rather than dead; it's hard to tell when you have no intention of stopping). It was only when I got back to the hostel with $1.20's worth of water that I realised I'd just wandered into the backstreets of an El Salvadoran city after dark with $100 in cash in my back pocket, which I'd completely forgotten to leave in the hostel. In terms of stupidity, that's quite high; I won't be doing that again.

The Teatro de Santa Ana
The Teatro de Santa Ana

A Night on the Town

The town hall in Santa Ana
The town hall in Santa Ana

Despite the city shutting down at night, we thought it would be nice to go out for an evening meal on the Saturday, and Carlos kindly recommended a restaurant, the Taberna de Capitan, and said he'd drive us there and back. The streets were completely dark and devoid of life, apart from a few people gathered round the few lit doors that we saw, and the restaurant was a lot further than we'd anticipated from the map, so it was a good job we had a lift. When we arrived at the restaurant, the guard on the door wandered over with his sub-machine gun casually but firmly in place, and Carlos told him to look after us and that we'd be asking the waiters to ring him later to pick us up again. The guard smiled at both of us and ushered us in with a flick of the muzzle, and we walked in the front door and into a totally different environment.

Santa Ana is surrounded by hills in almost every direction
Santa Ana is surrounded by hills in almost every direction