El Salvador

San Salvador

A country with a heavy past. Politics and crime have scarred El Salvador deeply. These days politically, things are a little quieter but El Salvador still has a very high murder rate, the highest in Central America. Mostly gang related. And drugs are finding their way more and more to this region.
I could tell this capital is one of the ones where I had to be somewhat more careful then normally. Many people came walking up to me with drunken stories in Spanish that I didn’t understand at all, trying to persuade me to go with them to all sorts of obscure places. It doesn’t really help that the quite aggressive red light district is around the corner of this square, Parque Libertad.

But as always, interested passers–also approached me and made time for a chat, about politics or the things they live through. I made friends with the street vendors and artists drawing in the street. All very nice people interested in what I was doing taking photos in their inconspicuous street. But I love their street. I love the colors, the different people doing their different things, the rundown cars transporting way too much stuff. The energy of the place. This is Central America.