El Salvador

Bouncing back from the other side of the world after our previous country Chad, we returned to the Western Hemisphere to learn about El Salvador!  El Salvador is the only Central American country without any coastline on the Atlantic side (Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean Sea).  Bordered by Guatemala and Honduras, El Salvador is known for its communities living right alongside its many active volcanoes.

El Salvador Links

• Geography Now!: El Salvador - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5uzY77zwA&ab_channel=GeographyNow
• Geography Now! Flag Friday: El Salvador - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NIFbbRyOfM&ab_channel=GeographyNow
• A Super Quick History of El Salvador - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3__uoyaU1g&ab_channel=MrHistory
• Top 45 Tourist Places - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXbld8fV9pY&ab_channel=TopTouristPlaces (a little boring, and I wish they would show the relative locations of these places on a map, but still pretty to see the various sights)
• 16 Traditional Salvadoran Foods - https://flavorverse.com/traditional-salvadoran-foods/

We were lucky enough to discover that we had an authentic Salvadoran restaurant close by - Casa Amaya!  We decided to go all out and buy a bunch of different dishes so we could try lots of different things.

On the left, there is plato tipico, a typical breakfast dish with pan-fried plantains, beans, cream, scrambled eggs, and tortillas.  The soda is Kolashanpan flavored and from El Salvador (La Cascada brand).  From what we can tell, it means a champagne-flavored soda that comes across like a medicinal cream soda.  Bottom left are some pork (carnitas) street tacos, and top middle are beef (carne asada) street tacos.  The plate on the bottom right has pupusas: cheese & loroco (an edible Salvadoran flower that tastes like slightly stringy broccoli), cheese & jalapeño, beef revueltas (with beans and cheese), and pork revueltas.  The pupusas are meant to be topped with the curtido (the pickled cabbage, carrots, and jalapeños in the baggies on the right), and they are fantastic together.  I also couldn't resist the Zambos bag of fried plantain chips even though they were from Honduras.

All of the food was so fun and very tasty.  While I was waiting for my order to come out, I chatted with the owner of the restaurant and was surprised to find out that he had sold it and was planning to retire at the end of the month.  I was so bummed!  But he also mentioned that he was thinking he was going to miss it and was already looking around for a larger location so he could reopen and have a Latin market as well.  I will definitely be keeping an eye out for that!