el salvador

La Unión (2026)

After I'd sufficiently recovered from the shocks of a) not getting into Honduras; b) having to go through El Salvador and lost a shit tonne of $ in the process; c) jumping on a basic-ass water taxi to a whole DIFFERENT COUNTRY, I eventually learned to appreciate the sheer novelty of such an unexpected spanner in the works. Speeding through the Gulf of Fonseca in order to evade the Honduras felt like an act lifted from an espionage thriller rather than my rather miserable existence! A few interesting looking islands as we sailed through the Gulf of Fonseca (which I'd never even *heard* of prior to this journey). Not all of them looked inhabited, and the ones that we were able to get close to were all Salvadoran I believe. There are other islands that belong to Honduras and Nicaragua elsewhere in the gulf. So finally, after a couple of hours on a PANGA to avoid Honduras, I reached La Unión in El Salvador. There was a LOT of rubbish in these waters, so much so that I felt bad about actually capturing it all and got this arrival shot instead. After successfully getting stamped in and finding accommodation for the night, I explored my surrounds. There ain't much happenin' round here tbh. I had no idea the lady on the left was even in this shot until I noticed her just now. Damn. Apologies to her! A few splashes of colour here and there add some life to this lil' town of 34,000. There's also a surprisingly strong police presence, which I guess is linked to the Bukele government's policies about dealing with crime. I've been critical of that in the past, but I met numerous people - both Salvadoran and not - who support this extremely heavy-handed crackdown on crime. Most people just want safer streets to walk on, and the fact that I was here in 2026 doing precisely that is perhaps a testament to the policy's success? Hmm. The main town square sees the convergence of the church, market, and park. There's slim pickings when it comes to photo ops here so I don't blame the lady in this shot for picking this spot! The main park. People here were a little bemused by my presence, but certainly not unfriendly about it. I think there's a map of La Unión with some further info about the place. After my recent travails, however, I was in no mood to 'explore', so stuck to the streets around the downtown core. One of the main thoroughfares through town. There was a massive party happening in one of the bars down the road, and I sauntered past just as it looked like a fight was breaking out. El Salvador is no doubt much safer than before, but there are parts of it that still feel a little rough around the edges. Which is not a bad thing, imo! (The fight didn't turn violent, thankfully.) Yellow taxis abound. Not entirely sure why as the town seemed pretty small and there weren't that many people around or sights to see. Hey ho. Ensuing: a series of Reehan snapping deserted streets. Like so. And again. And again! Note: you really feel the Jesus love once you cross into El Salvador. Not to say that people aren't overwhelmingly Christian in Panama/Costa Rica/Nicaragua, but bold declarations of piety are far more visible in El Salvador, and would continue that way through Guatemala and Belize (which are perhaps even more zealous). I think this may be the street that my guesthouse was on? A strange place, like a kooky museum of architectural dysfunction. But in a good way - I just don't really understand how the building design works. It was very weirdly managed too / not really managed at all until a domineering (but pleasant!) abuela turned up later in the afternoon and took control of proceedings. As I said in the blog post, I had an empty dorm which was likely what I needed after all the stress from the previous night and the day's journey, so I'm thankful for what I got. It didn't seem like there were superior options in town anyway. Not sure why, but this might be my fave shot from El Salvador. There's just something about dilapidated chic that I find so alluring. More town streets. My impressions of the people were: not particularly well-mannered (restaurant servers, business owners, bus ticket agents) or considerate (people play their phones at volume on the streets here). But I recognise that this was a tiny sample size, not representative at all of the country as a whole. I didn't see much in La Unión that made me want to stay longer though, put it that way. Still, I find urban life kinda fascinating, especially when it's in a location so alien to me. One last snap from La Unión before darkness, dinner, and a much-needed bed. The next morning, I hopped on board a(n expensive) direct shuttle to Antigua, Guatemala. It took about eight hours, and I got a better look at El Salvador proper. There were definitely parts of the country that I would have enjoyed a lot more than La Unión, and had this not been such a haphazard, stress-induced sojourn, I could have planned a little differently. Who knows if I'll be back, but if not (the likelier option), then know that I'll always be grateful to La Unión and El Salvador for unexpectedly saving the rest of my trip after Honduras threw a gigantic spanner in the works. Thank you much!

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