A Visit to the Divine, Followed by a Traditional Salvadorean Supper (Finally)

The Divine Savior of the World, the namesake both to this country and this city, can be found in a traffic circle
halfway between the Centro Historico and the upscale neighborhood in which I am staying.

Last day in El Salvador. Last day of the mini-vacation. First day of the vacation when I delayed the start of my daily tourism to do some work that was piling up.

And it was hot and muggy-humid by the time I started my tourism day. So I opted for a one-hour walk (two-hour round trip) to El Monumento al Divino Salvador del Mundo, the Monument to the Divine Savior of the World.

And here it is.

There was not much sightseeing to be done along the way. Here's the thing about San Salvador, at least this time of year. Mornings are very pleasant. Then, around noon, it gets horribly hot and humid with an intense sun. Then, around 3:00 p.m., it is typically time for the afternoon thunderstorms to roll in. Just like South Florida. Then, in the evening, the humidity is down, as are the temperatures, and the weather is absolutely beautiful. You might have more thunderstorms overnight, but who cares? I'm asleep by that time.

Here's the view with a row of fountains shooting up their water on the west side of the monument:

And here's a closer-up view of the monument. The country is named "The Savior," with the preceding article not optional. The city is named "Holy Savior." So, of course, in a visit to the City of the Holy Savior, in the Republic of the Savior, I had to visit the monument to the namesake of the city and country.

This is the view from the back:

And if you look really close, you will see this is the view from front:

And here is the view that the Divine Savior of the World has of the City of San Salvador from high atop the globe perched high atop his pedestal:

You can't really tell from the photo, but the Divine Savior has an excellent view of every American fast food known to man, all of which have a home in San Salvador (and usually at a bigger than any location of said fast food joints in the USA): McDonald's. Wendy's (lots and lots of Wendy's). Burger King. KFC (and the Central American answer to KFC: Pollo Campero). Panda Express. Every single one of the mediocre American pizza chains: Pizza Hut, Domino's, Papa John. They're all here. And they're all ultra-popular.

On the way back I ran into an old friend from my last two trips: Bernardo O'Higgins.

O'Higgins was the liberator of Chile and his bust can be found everywhere in Chile, the destination of my two vacations prior to this.

At this point, the heat and the sun and (most of all) the humidity were getting to me. So I rested. But after a refreshing rest, I went out to eat Salvadorean food.

I chose Relajo because (a) it was half a block from my hotel, and (b) it was highly recommended by yesterday's tour guide. Either one would have been reason enough, but both? No. Brainer.

Finally I was going to eat some Salvadorean cuisine.

On the last night of the last day. Hope I don't love it too much then!

The restaurant was right along Avenida Las Magnolias, which translates to: Magnolia Avenue. Hey, even with my pobre espanol, I can translate that one.

This is not a busy street after business hours are over, so it did not detract from the restaurant's atmosphere.

So what traditional Salvadorean food did I order at this Salvadorean restaurant in San Salvador, El Salvador? A limonada.

It came with a gratis helping of fried plantain chips. The chips were topped with a vinegary slaw that may or may not have contained the theme food of this trip: picked red onions. The limonada was good, but it was not nearly as good as yesterday's restaurant by the lake. Why is that, you may ask? Tonight's limonada was a balance of sour and sweet. I much prefer yesterday's limonada which was totally unbalanced and slanted heavily toward an intense, lip-puckering sour. Still, if not for yesterday's beverage, I would have thought this limeade was excellent.

I ordered a pupusa because ... I am in frickin' El Salvador and if you don't eat at least one pupusa on a trip here THEY WILL NOT LET YOU LEAVE THE COUNTRY. It's the law. Not only that: It's divine law.

I had the camarones, which is shrimp. This pupusa was much more like a quesadilla (the kind we get in the United States which is the kind they serve in Mexico) than the quesadilla that was a rice cake that I had yesterday. Cheesy and shrimpy, referring to the flavor and not the size. The size most definitely was not "shrimpy."

The main course was a chile relleno.

Much to my surprise, it looked like ... a chile relleno. Only heat-free. Salvadorean food is not spicy-hot like Mexican food. It was good, but it got much better when I doused it with the local hot sauce. My chile relleno was stuffed with chicken. Chicken adds protein but it does not add flavor, and that's true the world over. So my chicken chile relleno tasted just like a chile relleno I could order at Tres Amigos or any of a dozen slightly-Americanized Mexican restaurants in Las Vegas.

But the best is yet to come.

Horchata! But real Salvadorean horchata. Horchata de morro. Served traditionally with a little bit of cinnamon on top. Mexican horchata is made with rice milk. Spanish horchata from Valencia (the birthplace of that delicious beverage) is made with almond milk. Real Salvadorean horchata is made with a local fruit, the morro. This should not be confused with the fruit "mora," which is the Spanish name for the best berry of them all: the blackberry. This is morro. The flavor tasted like a more intense version of the almond-based horchata, much stronger than Mexican rice milk horchata. 

So now that I've finally had a delicious meal of traditional Salvadorean food, it's time to head back home. Flight leaves early tomorrow. Buenas noches, El Salvador.