Santa Ana
Santa Ana is the third-largest city in El Salvador, and the only city with somewhat intact colonial architecture. The city doesn't offer much in terms of tourist attractions, but it's still a good base for visiting sites in the region.
In the city, the interesting sites are the central plaza with its cathedral and theatre, the ruins of an Arts School, and its numerous markets.
El Salvador has the reputation of being a country with a high-rate of violent crimes, especially in big cities like Santa Ana. Despite that, I felt very safe walking around the place. Besides, how dangerous can the central plaza be? Guns are forbidden... So, there is no danger!
At the hotel I stayed, there is a nice roof terrace for relaxing and enjoying the scenery around the city.
Arts School « José Mariano Méndez »
The ruins of this old School of Arts give a good glimpse of the former splendour it once had. Curiously, I didn't find any information on the reasons it has been abandoned. I imagine that it's probably because of the civil war that plagued the country for 12 years (1980-1992).
Fireworks Market
When I was a child, with my parents, we once bought a small box of firecrackers in the United States. I was very excited to play with these tiny bombs whose size was only about 5 cm x 3-4 mm in diameter. Now look at what is being sold legally in El Salvador.
Firecracker and fireworks are sold in many sizes and forms. The child in me was very eager to buy a few boxes of them to be able to play a bit... A large quantity of these firecrackers will be used on New Year’s Eve, all night long until the final minutes of the year.
