hey there fellow travelers mark here
with walters world today we're on one of
the beautiful beaches here in el
salvador
and today we have for you are the don'ts
of visiting el salvador before i get to
that safety stuff and all those kind of
things
there's one true don't i have for you
when you come to el salvador
and that is don't eat your papoosas like
they're tacos
if you don't know what a papoosa is
papoosa is the salvadorian
food okay it's either made with rice
flour uh
or corn flour tortillas and in between
there'll be a tortilla tortilla and
they'll put stuff in the middle
maybe it'll be beans beans and cheese
cheese and chicken cheese and
chicharrones
garlic there's so many different things
that there's there's veggies you never
heard of
they put in there and then they put they
cook it on a flat
top oh my god they're fantastic but the
thing is when they come
a lot of people think they look like
taco shells and i'll just put that
cabbage and salsa stuff in there make a
taco and eat it like that
no no no no no i'll throw you out of the
poo poo poo saria myself if i see you
doing that okay
what you do is you tear a bit off of
your papoosa
and then what you do is you like pinch
it and you pick up the the cabbage and
the salsa together and eat it that way
that's the way you eat it okay so make
sure you're eating it right because
you're going to definitely have papooses
when you are here
now another don't for the papooses i
will say is don't eat it with a fork and
knife
guaranteeing giveaway you're not from
around here but also guaranteeing
giveaway that you don't know how to eat
your fabulous
use your hands my friend use your hands
okay
now let's get to some more serious stuff
my next don't for you is
don't think that el salvador is too
dangerous to visit
i know a couple years ago el salvador
was ranked as the is the
murder capital of the world what you
have to realize as a tourist
the murders this is mostly gang on gang
violence which is horrible
and the thing is though the tourist
areas for the most part have been
untouched by this or very little touch
by let's say that
and so for tourists you don't really
feel that murder capital of the world
but where i'm having a good time and
meeting this wonderful nice people
and eating these papooses and see these
mayan sights and great beaches
i don't see the violence that is here
but don't think that's gonna be where
you're gonna be okay so
don't think that el salvador is too
dangerous to visit we're here together
as our family enjoying ourselves
having a wonderful time meeting the
locals eating the food oh my goodness
besides it's been a really great visit
to a really kind of small compact
country
now the thing is though my next dome for
you is don't
take your safety lackadaisically when
you are here i mean
there still are issues this is not like
going to disney world kind of stuff
this is there are things but most the
time you're looking at
in san salvador the bigger cities
there's neighborhoods that are
controlled by the gangs
that's where you're not gonna go and as
a tourist you're not gonna go there
anyway
okay so have a heads up for that but use
your usual common tourist sense
you don't go to the wrong part of towns
you're not going out late night okay
if you are going to go out late night
especially the big cities take a taxi
home
okay if you're in a place like suchitoto
like a colonial town you you could
probably walk home at night it'll be
okay
i mean after dinner kind of stuff i'm
not saying three o'clock in the morning
i mean remember
after midnight you know your mom would
say nothing good happens after midnight
well
that's anywhere in the world okay but
you do need to be careful with that
probably for tourists there's two kind
of
safety things i wanted to make sure you
know one you're gonna be taking buses
when you are here
and they're usually old u.s school buses
that have been repainted
and your bags make sure you keep your
bags with you if you can't you got to
put it above or below
make sure you're paying attention and
all the stops to make sure they don't
accidentally walk off
just so you have a heads up for that now
my next stone for you is off to a safety
thing
but that has to do with this awesome
beach here and the other beaches along i
think they have like
300 miles of beach here i mean it's
amazing it's this dark volcanic sand
it's gorgeous
but my donut for you is this don't mess
around with the waves
it can be very dangerous here high tide
when the tides are really pulling things
back out
walk along the beach don't go in the
water especially with little kids at
that time
ask your hotel ask your accommodation
one of the times i should and shouldn't
go to the beach
because you want to be careful because
yeah you'll see surfers out there in the
rough sea but
they're surfers with a board which is
basically a buoy
in case there's anything wrong so do be
careful with that
all right the beaches here are great but
my don't my next stone for you is
don't just stay at the beaches because a
lot of tourists they'll just go to el
tunco right that's the big tourist beach
here
believe me there's a lot more beaches
than el tunco you can visit and you'll
have a good time
the thing is though there's a lot to do
in el salvador and since it's a small
country
you can really see a lot in a day or two
just driving around or getting a driver
to take you
you can go and see some of the mayan
sites so then it's actually lava came in
it's like the pompeii
of of the mayan empire you can see that
where they're excavating it
you can go to uh san andreas where
they've only uncovered like five or six
percent
of the entire complex that's there so
hopefully we get more tourists coming
here they get more money they can start
digging up more stuff
it's really kind of cool if you want to
see what the mayan ruins look like
when people first found them like in the
1900s 1800s
we first started uncovering them go and
go to casablanca where it literally is
just
like wait these are just hills covered
with trees and stuff yes
underneath that that's where you know
the temples are
so it can be a little bit of a letdown
but i want to give you a heads up for
that
but probably the one you really want to
go to is tazuma and tazoma is kind of
cool
because you're driving through this city
and boom there's a huge mayan temple
whoa what was that
yeah it's pretty cool to go check that
one out when you are there so there's
the mayan side of things
but also you have a lot of outdoor
activities you can do that aren't the
beach
ruta de las flores you can drive through
and see this beautiful nature and stop
at all these little villages along the
way they're really colorful
really nice you can go hiking in the
volcanoes make sure you have kind of a
guide or escort with you
when you do do that hiking the volcanoes
and stuff so that's nice oh
don't for you on that is don't forget to
bring a sturdy pair of shoes
if you're going to do some of the hiking
because i know most of our heroes are on
for the beach and so we're here
with our flip-flops well your flip-flops
are not going to work
when you're hiking up the volcanoes and
stuff like that
another good thing you can do this is
one of our fans a lot of our fans told
us
to go to lake uh kotopeke and there it's
a lake that's inside a volcano
yes and there's all kinds of bars and
restaurants there you can take jet skis
out there you can go see the president's
island if you like
that's in the middle of it there's all
kinds of stuff you can do and i mean you
can go to some of the indigenous
populations land and check that out with
some of the history
yes you can go to san salvador see the
museums there in the cathedral
i like the town of santa ana you go
there the cathedral there in santa ana
is just
gorgeous you go in the theater all kinds
of stuff it's really really nice
and what's great about all this my next
don't for you is don't worry el salvador
is not going to break your budget
it is really cheap to visit here in
terms of state and accommodation getting
around eating and stuff like that
plane tickets not so cheap but once
you're here is a super super
affordable cheap place to come visit so
some of you might want to check out
hence why there's a lot of surfers that
come here to enjoy these great waves at
low prices
now my next don't actually goes along
with those prices and that is
don't forget to bring us dollars el
salvador the official currency is the
u.s dollars
so you're paying in dollars when you're
here okay and since the prices are low
make sure you're bringing a lot of
singles a lot of five dollar bills
10 bills maybe 20 bills don't bring the
hundreds and fifties because a lot of
places
they won't have the change for it so
have the smaller bills you know we
brought a few hundred dollars with us
and a lot of places do take cards so we
have been paying with that in certain
places too
but when you're going to be going to you
know you want to buy a little snack here
you want to get some horchata
the horchata here's fantastic it's even
sweeter than the mexican horchata
you have all these things having a cash
really goes a long way
and it's u.s dollars and with those
dollars another thing i should say is
when you go out to eat
don't forget to tip you tip about 10 at
the restaurants
just getting the cash on the side and
you're good to go and speaking of good
to go
um yeah my next stone for you is
don't throw the toilet paper into the
toilet
you throw the toilet paper into the bin
or the trash can
next to the toilet just so you know the
pipes here
can't handle a lot of toilet paper so
that goes there and another donut have
view when it comes to the toilets
don't forget to make sure you have
toilet paper before you sit down
one you might go to places that don't
have toilet paper or two
sometimes the toilet paper roll is
actually outside the toilets like where
you wash your hands
and so you got to get your roll there
when you go sit down
just giving you the heads up another
donut i should tell you with the water
is
don't drink the tap water get the
purified water
bottled water if you're staying at a
hotel i'm sure they have a restaurant
just ask them to fill you up i mean we
brought our water bottle with us and
every time we needed something we just
asked him
boom ice water to go from purified water
definitely bring a water bottle because
my next dome for you is don't get
dehydrated okay
you want to make sure you're keeping
hydrated with water there's all kinds of
great drinks here
you know i mean i talked about horchata
already but you get chan which is
basically like
fix stink uh slush puppy syrup mixed
with water there's that
you get the lemonade here lemonade coner
it's lemonade with like herbs in it oh
my god that's my favorite thing to have
here
but you do want to stay hydrated when
you are here so have a heads up
because the sun here is really strong
and whether you're out in the
in the volcanoes hiking or you're in the
lake or you're you're you know the sun
is really a big issue so don't forget to
bring that really good sunblock with a
high spf
and a wide brim hat just to keep you you
know protected from that sun
another donut is don't forget to bring
bug spray bug bands
anti bug bite bug bite afterwards stuff
because the bugs here
they're a real deal okay and you want to
make sure you got the creams
you got the lotions you got the sprays
because man like our little one the bugs
just love the kid and we're still
putting it on
he's still getting some so do be careful
with that so do bring the bug spray
along with the sunblock and stuff like
that now my next stone i have for you is
don't expect a super developed tourism
infrastructure when you are here in el
salvador
because of the history of violence in
the civil war you haven't had a lot of
tourists coming here for decades okay
so they haven't had that development
like you see in costa rica
or panama and stuff like that so you
need to make sure that you have patience
when you're doing things okay
also you guess i would say is don't be
surprised if it takes some time to find
accommodation
to find a guide and stuff like that and
the service
in the restaurants or the service in the
tourist hotels and things like that
it's not going to be probably what
you're expecting if you're coming from
costa rica
or cancun coming to el salvador okay you
gotta have some patience i think
that would lead into a uh another thing
i should tell you is
don't get in a hurry things take time
here in el salvador whether it's getting
started in the morning
getting your drink taking your order
going to do stuff getting back from your
tour
always give yourself extra time because
things happen
okay and sometimes that thing happening
is hey we're just talking to each other
and we we lose track of time
these things happen but i've seen the
couple tours i've seen here
some of them weren't prepared for the
hey calm down man we're here in central
america we've got the sun and the sea
what more do you need here's a cold you
know
here's a cold golden havoc just chill
relax
you really have to have patience when
you are here so don't get in a hurry and
the thing is though you might get upset
a little bit about the service
i haven't had any problems people still
have been really nice with us
and the thing i think i should mention
to you because a lot of times when
people come to central and south america
they always feel that hey people are
going to try to rip me off because we're
tourists so i'm going to negotiate
negotiate negotiate
here in el salvador they're probably not
going to rip you off the price they give
you
the price you're going to pay you do not
have much negotiation here so
don't look like a jerk and try to
negotiate with a grandma who's selling
her little trinkets
probably the price she's offered you is
the legit price so just have that and if
there's a price tag
that is the actual price okay so so have
a heads up for that one
and my last stone for you might have to
do with more when you don't want to come
because i would say this don't really
come for
may june or july because that's the
rainy season
october is historically the windy season
but may june july
rain rain rain rain rain i mean it
doesn't rain every day but it rains
enough
that it might make it so your trip here
isn't as wonderful as it should be
so maybe visit the other ninth months
out of the year and you could have a
great time
now another donut i need to tell you is
when you're gonna be flying into san
salvador
from the us or other places you're gonna
probably have to pay a 12
kind of tourist not visa but a tourist
card thing so make sure you have 12
dollars cash for adults
because you get in you just pay them
straight away they put a sticker in your
passport
and you're good to go i mean it doesn't
take much time at all but just have the
cash with you so you're good to go
kids did not have to pay it but we did
so just wanna have a heads up for that
one
so don't forget so i hope this helps you
get a better idea of what you
don't do or actually what you do do i
just say the funny way uh when you do
come here to el salvador
we've had a great time we hope you have
a great time too i want to say thank you
to all of our
fans from el salvador who are their
families from el salvador they gave us
all kinds of great tips
from the things to eat the place to go
you've all been wonderful alex your aunt
was awesome too
everybody thank you so much out there we
wish you all the best and we'll say
adios from here in el salvador