Is El Salvador Really As Dangerous As They Say? First Impressions of Santa Ana 🇸🇻

Is El Salvador Really As Dangerous As They Say? First Impressions of Santa Ana 🇸🇻

Welcome back to the channel guys today. We
are in El Salvador. It is our first time here We are just right outside of our
accommodation right now I thought this would be the perfect spot for an intro
because it’s actually beautiful. We have these big palm palm trees Kind of kind of
palm tree type plants outside of our door But it’s our first time we are in Santa
Ana and we’re gonna be exploring the city today There’s been a lot of controversy
with is it safe to travel here? There’s a lot of kind of gang-related violence in
the past that has gotten a lot safer now due to The government and the control and
all those things. So we’re gonna test that today We’re gonna walk around see how we
feel. We’re super excited to be here This is our last country before we head to
South America So our trip is halfway from being over But yeah We’re excited to take
on the day and explore and see what’s around Best way to test it is by Shelby
wearing an Apple watch and going to the center of town It’s so funny when we
started our journey Chase was like, I don’t know if you’re gonna want to be like
wearing that everywhere and I’m like, okay Like I’ll take it off if I feel like I
need to I’ll take it off if I feel unsafe and so far hasn’t Hasn’t really happened.
I mean, we’re always out in the daytime We’re never really out at night and we’re
not really down any Alleyways or anything that we should be we’re kind of we always
take like the main roads and stuff So I mean so far like there you go. Nothing bad
has happened to us We’ve been on our journey now for two months and we’ve had
no we’ve had a couple of like maybe weird experiences But we have those anyways.
Yeah, so nothing like totally out of the ordinary You can already see the the church or the
main street walking straight down yes And this is really funny We were just in our
inside our accommodation and we’re looking outside And we’re looking at the weather
forecast and it said it was gonna rain and it looked if the weather looked miserable
It is rainy season, but now it’s like it’s like I don’t know what happened It
completely cleared up and it’s like blue skies again. Yes. So the weather’s never
you can’t trust it No, no, you just got to enjoy the day when it’s good The roads really nice look at this thing.
Yeah a nice paved road Yeah, our place is really close to the center. Um, I don’t
know. What’s a good reference point? I guess we’re near the Gothic Church. That’s
kind of like what we’re heading towards now The neo-gothic era style church Maybe
get a little snacky or beverage or something along the way if we find
something Kind of in the mood for something local In our next video guys,
you’ll have to check that out. We’re gonna try pupasas for the first time We’ve seen
them everywhere, but my friend who’s traveled said try them where they’re from
El Salvador So we are gonna try them from the the motherland Yep So I’m really excited. These buildings, hey, yeah, they are very
rustic rustic And it’s a lot hotter than Guatemala Yeah,
I mean Sure, you guys love when we talk about the weather But Guatemala was a very
comfortable like 24 degrees Celsius. We’re back down to like 35 degrees Celsius Or
back up I should say And it’s it’s an adjustment I’m gonna tell you that much
It’s an adjustment. It’s just crazy to me how we took like what how long was our bus
ride? Essentially three and a half hours three hour drive roughly and you go from
like 24 degrees to 35. Yeah like what how does that? The altitude and how I don’t
yeah, I don’t get it Good looking local snacks And we’re almost to the center now, I
think hey? pretty close you can tell by these beautiful buildings Yeah, things
start to get really modern They have one of those owls to keep the pigeons off. Do
you think that that’s why cuz I only see one Well, if they scatter them here and
there hopefully it’s like a bird of prey, right? Yeah, but I don’t see any more
There’s only one owl I Don’t know. Yeah, I think some people actually like make it so
those owl things can swivel because they start learning that it doesn’t Test their
boundaries, right? Yeah Well, where were we we were just somewhere and I mean
actually all the places Had all those cathedrals that are in the middle of like
parks the squares they have so many pigeons And Chase is like they should put
spikes on the Cathedral to get off the pigeons that on my first of all, that would look
horrible second of all the pigeons almost add like an effect Hello. Hi. Wow. Beautiful. Okay, and boom Look at her Let’s walk
towards that It’s beautiful weoo. Watch out for the car. And look at that. Lively Little Town Center. I Really love the shade of green to this
building. Yeah, it’s like a nice mint green That’s cute. Oh My god, that is look
at the top the points It’s super cool. If I were to think of like Beauty and the
Beast Tower This would be it. We got a little sneak peek when we were bussing
into town Yeah, and this church Of it is completely different than the front. Yeah,
this is really cool. See look at the pigeons see you can’t have a cathedral
without pigeons It’s not possible And yeah, this is like the park all the stuff
going on here. Yeah, so there’s a huge park people are Hanging out relaxing and
then you can come get food and drinks on this side Which hot dogs are really
popular. Oh, really? Oh, and he’s got like a drinks and chocolate and tea, oh, that’s
cool Tea, soups, Chocolate. Whatever that is. That’s super cool. Yeah, let’s go take a quick walk across
And go see that Okay, I love that the kids always love feeding the pigeons Wow, holy Look at all of them. There’s so many
Hola no, gracias. Wow This is beautiful Okay, that is so cool I like it I like it Sometimes you just wanna run
through the pigeons. Well, the kids can do it for you Sometimes I still feel like I’m still a kid.
I mean I’m still a kid at heart. Yeah, you’re same size as one anyways Yeah, awesome Well, this is your color of
church shelbs, I believe this one was built in 1526 and became a National
monument or something in about 1996 I’m pretty Yeah, they’re all white It’s very
beautiful Why they’re all white Their parents are gonna be like don’t do that. I taught her a bad lesson. Yeah. Wow. Let’s go see the side. I’m sure the bigger kid was already doing
it. But now the little ones joining in the pigeons are Really getting fluffed up, you
know, you know, it’s funny though That one’s Brown. Ohh Hello Have you seen the brown pigeon like that. They’re not like that gorgeous, that’s so
pretty. Oh See you then They have some oh I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a brown pigeon. They have some oh my goodness Hello. Are you looking for the walking tour? No. We’re just walking do in our own tour. Yeah. Ohh OK. yeah cute dog Carrying around. Looks quite happy. Feliz perro perro Feliz
That dog is like yeah I don’t need to be walking. Ohh look at the side wow.
Yeah see. Just changes right up. Yeah, so we can get a better view we’ll have to turn back around
and see all that fun stuff in the park there but Wow Yeah that’s really cool so. My question is is One part new and one
part Older construction is something has something been rebuilt. They have they
have scaffolding on the side here. I don’t not sure what they’re doing Obviously the Brown is probably the old. Old architecture and the white is probably
been redone But I wonder if they’re turning the whole thing white. it looks
like it they’re doing the whole thing white Maybe you can kind of tell at the
tip here or maybe they’re just gonna do the top area. I Don’t know but it’s very
beautiful. I kind of like the contrast of it, but The colonial architecture is just like. Chef’s kiss. Have we seen like this gothic style before
yet, I don’t think so. It’s very unique with like the pointiness That’s why I was
like beauty and the beast vibe Yeah, it’s like it has a little bit more of like a
harsher cut to it or a feel to it. It’s really nice I mean, no, I shouldn’t say
that They’re all my favorite. Yeah, I don’t have favorites guys. No So a really
interesting thing is is shelby and I were going through the border And I was
exchanging my local currencies of the other countries at the border and i’m like
hey I want to get the colon which used to be the currency here and the guy kept
pointing at american currency and i’m like no No, I want the local currency well the
local currency is no longer as of 2001 And they slowly fizzled into american money
and they’ve been using it ever since Also, when you go to the grocery store the cash
registers except bitcoin, which is super crazy That’s like weird. I can’t register
that. Yeah, it’s uh, I never really thought like, you know Bitcoin really
started gaining popularity in like what was that? 2012 or something never did I
think it was like oh, yeah, just go to the grocery store and pay with a fraction of a
bitcoin Whoa pigeon Should we check out what these drink things are? Sure Also
guys, that’s a really uh important thing. That’s the theater over there. We just
looked on the maps Yeah, oh it’s built in like the 20th century i’m not too sure
yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay Let’s check this out. There’s a bunch of hornets here
Yeah, yeah Okay, we see people Around here with these drinks and I think We’ve had
something similar you had something similar in mexico. We also had something
similar in india That’s called a gola. It’s basically essentially like shaved ice
with um, like syrup. Yeah, you can see it at the bottom down here Uh hola. Hola Buenas. Can we get how do you say ice. hielo hielo What’s the what’s. What’s Bueno what’s good. Delicioso tamerindo y fresa Okay, what’s this one
bubble gum chicle bubble gum, okay and grape esta uva Okay This is piña. This is coco. Pineapple. y menta And mint. OK well take his recommendations. Sure, yeah. Yeah. si you do mix. Okay.
Yeah tamarind and what was The other one again? quanta for una Este vale 1 dólar Este vale $1.50 Uh this one, yeah, si yeah, let’s get the
clear cup it looks pretty cool Yeah, nice so it was uh tamarind and what again And
the brain tamarind and strawberry strawberry fresa, okay Yeah, that’ll be a
nice little mix because tamarind has such a depth of flavor. Oh, I smell the fresh
lime They’re right here Oh, yeah Ohh my god the lime it smells so good Yeah, you can just smell the citrus and he’s not
even really doing much with it it’s just sitting there those limes are potent Oh,
and he’s shaving the ice. Yeah, it’s just a big ice block It’s really cool Nice And chase and I just got over um
Possibly dengue. Yes Or or either the worst bacterial infection you could ever
have yeah and what better way To cure yourself than to have some icy sugary
drink on the street. Yes, I agree I’m doing pretty good now. Shelby was a few
days after me. So I got it bad That’s why i’m probably gonna have like a lick of
this It looks good that syrup is very Uh, well syrupy, I guess very goopy. Yeah Yeah
Like thick like concentrated. Yeah wow. Beautiful. yeah the secret sauce, yeah, he gets his
little ice cube water It’s like honey or All right, that’s a sticky mess he’s
cleaning it up nicely for you All right, honey, that’s a sin calories Wow look at that thing $3 con 50 centavos Gracias amigo. All right, Let’s find a spot to.
let’s run to the park All right, I just got change for that so
it was a dollar fifty americanos But I want to show if I can find that damn coin
in my pocket now I think we got it. Yes So look at this guys I never knew That there
was a dollar coin Like american for us canadians for so long It’s been a dollar
bill When we were getting that currency I was talking about going through the border
He gave me coins and i’m like is this even real? Is this such a thing is a coin? But
there it is. We got another george washington Super cool Oh, wow, someone was
eating one of these right here probably got those wasps attacking again Super cool Yeah, go over here that the
sunlight will be perfect for you to eat that Pigeons move aside I’ll sit in the shade
over here It’s like sun it’s like half sun half half sun, yeah, but it’s beautiful
look at this this looks She looks thick. Yeah, she looks so thick It’s sticky So it
was like some honey or corn syrup that went on top is it honey, what is it honey
really try that So we just got Delicious honey for a dollar fifty never mind all
the other stuff going on The amount of honey two scoops, holy That’s insane That is so delicious that
tamarind has like almost a sourness going on. Okay, so like I will say it’s
definitely like you have to like sweet to like this it’s intense because the honey
On top is like I think once it kind of like like the honey goes down a little
bit. It might be a little bit Better but whoa, it’s like i’m trying to get some of
the ice with the tamarind Honestly. You taste like I feel like a lot of the
honey with this and the syrup’s kind of like an after note Yeah, well, that’s once
you get past the top, right? That’s really here. I’ll hold the napkin in Oh Oh help me help me Okay Holy That’s crazy gopro is back it is
dying it needs its own little ice cube beverage or dessert to eat But what i’m I
was saying before it, uh had a malfunction Is i’ve never had an ice cube. I shaved
ice dessert that is so like That honey adds such a texture to it because it’s
getting frozen and it makes this gumminess That is really really nice Oh, it’s
Flavors are amazing Um, it looks like strawberries kind of taken over It’s
definitely like if you show that where your hand is there’s twist it you can tell
that strawberries like The prominent flavor kind of taken over now but this…
like The honey situation. Yeah That’s that’s super cool. So when I got in costa
rica, it was more of a condensed milk, which was amazing And when I saw the honey
I was kind of like I’m gonna say I was a little disappointed, but then now i’ve
tasted it and i’m not disappointed at all. Oh my like It’s honey, right? Something
like that. Where’s the tam like? No, it’s It’s either some sort of no, it’s either
some sort of corn syrup Or no, it’s gonna be honey. It’s oh, I don’t know I love it.
I think it’s so good Wow, I mean what’s not to love it’s a big
sugar block really The honey mixing with that tamarind is
such a winner. Yeah And then like slurping like this is like
nice because it’s starting to get watery Yeah, so you can almost like drink it I
don’t know how they’re ice like he literally has this ice block over there
just covered with a rag Yeah, and it’s not melting. It’s probably on a uh, some type
of cooler. I don’t know Straight up would still melt. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a little
wild. This is such a beautiful park center. Look at this There’s some music
playing This is so nice And we’ve gotten lots of smiles so far a couple hellos so I
mean, do I feel unsafe? No, not at all Maybe from the pigeons. Honestly, those
pigeons are more dangerous than the people They’re always out to get you shelby Gosh this is so good. Whatever sticky substance this is It’s gotta be honey regardless of if it’s
a honey, corn, corn syrup blend It’s got a really nice honey texture The bird birds are tweeting What a cool
background you have too As I was like i’m just gonna have like a
lick of the ice I’m like yeah Can’t control yourself when it’s that delicious And while shelby’s enjoying that I believe
at that side of the park there is their monument of liberation This park actually
is named after liberation parque libertad or something so Get this away from me.
Rate it out of 10? 10 It’s a freaking 10 yeah And like honestly
chase and I have been So good With like we’ve been really on track with like our
health and fitness and all of that. Well my fitness I’m, uh doing a fitness food in
my mouth You’ve been fitting such healthy food in your mouth. Yeah, so this to us
right now is like We haven’t had one of these in a long Time and if you guys know
If we have some people who watched us from asia, we get we used to get this **** all
the time Sugary drinks like everyday coffees, um bubble teas in vietnam So like
this is a really nice treat for us. It’s a really uh This was pretty affordable. It’s
almost on par with asia. Maybe like double the price but like it’s not out of control
Yeah for for canadian two bucks. Maybe get this away from me. Yeah So good We’re gonna go do some window shopping
after yeah, well we could take the show on the road I don’t know. I enjoy your I can
let it melt. No, no, no because you you hate holding stuff when you start to walk
around Well, i’m just gonna chill as long as you can Take the peeps on a ride
Because i’ll just drink it as it goes. All right, you guys want to go shopping? I
think kind of looks like maybe down that direction. Maybe we’ll go check it out
We’ve already went that way. So we’ll go the opposite way I gotta make sure my
things close though. You guys know. Well, I mean maybe you don’t know if you’re
watching and you’re new here This baby is on amazon. The brand is bostan bostanten
And it has a flap And it also has a zipper. So you zip it and you flap it. You
are very protected. Oh, yeah, that’s nice that **** That cloud cover that relaxed.
Yeah, this is like I will not not have this bag It’s funny. I actually have like
two backups at home because if they ever stop selling it Yeah, I won’t be okay
maybe i’ll put the amazon affiliate link we actually got that running for the first
time ever maybe i’ll Yeah, maybe i’ll stick it down below Uh, I don’t know. I
think I got it going like a month or two ago. I put some effort in and In that
case, um, also, yeah, this is from If you want to check it out, we’ll put the link
in there. All right, you better remember. Yeah, people are gonna be pissed I know
Maybe it’s our oh look at the pigeon taking a chill. Oh Not anymore. We used to
think when the pigeons were like on the ground we’re like, oh my god, they’re hurt
But no, they just know there’s one right over there too. They just they just lay
down. They’re like this is where i’m gonna be If you were a bird Would you spend your
time on the ground or high up in the trees because pigeons are hilarious that way
They’re just like right down on the ground I’d be more like an eagle or something
always soaring up in the sky only touching ground if you have to Oh, this is so interesting with central
america is the bags of water Everyone always gets their little bags of water
every little bus. We’ve taken someone’s suckling on a bag of water This is really
interesting I was at the gym and some girl walked in with a bag of water and i’m like
How is she gonna work out and have that bag of water or is she just gonna pound it
all in one go? They’re uh, they’re pretty good at it. Like I would be like, oh, I
can’t reseal it It’s kind of I would have to chug it or something. But no they they
seem to do it pretty cool Wow, these shops are pretty neat Almost got a little bit of
everything in here Key chains bracelet Yeah I lost my bracelet. So yeah for a new
one Buena Hola. This one’s cute but it has crosses on it. Oh, yeah, and then we’re smiling faces That one beside it. Oh-uh I gotta wait. I reached the bottom of
my syrup. My hair is doing a little funny stuff, too Oh, there’s your dad again get him a ring
Oh my gosh, can you imagine the skull with the red eyes. He would like that Well,
he’s a construction man. You’re not allowed to wear that stuff. So you’d
always have to take it off. Yeah, maybe Wonder how much some of these chains are
that you’re looking at. I know I kind of like this one. Sure. Um quanta quanta Is it not american six six maybe six.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I actually like those Over there too. It is american and he’s just saying
it in spanish, honey. Oh, okay Okay, sorry my espanol is very bad These are frickin cute. Very nice They got the yin and yang on the one side
you would have to get you would have to get both Well, i’m commenting on it those
are really cool you can have that as a friendship bracelet and you balance each
other out Yeah, except for no I’m a strong believer in yin and yang. No, that’s cool.
I just don’t love the the design. Yeah, fair enough so, uh, there’s the this one
which is the black and turquoise or there’s the Clear and the bling one. I’m
kind of thinking almost a black probably The bling might lose a gem and then it
would suck where the other ones. Oh, this is smaller But you could always shorten
the chain if you wanted I think. Cuanta for this one also seis? si tan bien. seis. si. okay Cuanta Cuanto cinco cinco maybe i’ll think about it Five bucks. Okay. Yeah, we’ll keep
browsing and then we’ll I’m telling you fake walkway does not work
anymore. I’ve decided the bracelet is worth it. I’m gonna get it. Busy
at the moment. Yeah gotta wait your turn. That’s what happens when you fake walk
away woman Now it’s gonna be ten dollars remember i’m honestly i’m sorry it’s still
in me from from asia That’s like what you that’s what all the asian people have
taught me Yeah, and people in mexico are like don’t like that’s not a thing here
Um, so I don’t know if it’s a thing here if you barter or you don’t barter, but I
am gonna do for the five Yeah, um, do you do change? You have change Yeah bolsa. No I’m gonna put it right on. Yeah, do you want a bolsa this is
really cute That’s bag everyone on the other side of the camera, I guess the
chain actually might be more Yeah, you’ll do it at home. You’ll do some magic Hey,
where are you from man canada canada really? Yeah, i’m from chicago, man. Are
you? Yeah, well it was but since I deported not no more. No. Yeah What
a what a *******, eh? Yeah, what a punk *** We’ve been trying to find uh where
this music’s coming from but I think it’s in this green building. Yeah in the centro
cultural municipal It started but then it’s kind of stopped again, yeah It was
going pretty hard there for like 10 20. It almost sounded like an orchestra or
something We’ve almost made our almost made our way through that sugary drink. I
have my bracelet in here, but um A little long right now. Yeah, it’s long and I
gotta trim it. So but i’ll show you guys Oh Let’s see if I can get it all on the
same. I can’t get the The blue with the okay. There we go. It’s like black blue
black blue It’s cute though. I like it. Yeah So cute Here it is Maybe it’s practice sounds kind of like
it Well sugar drinks kind of kind of hitting the
guts Kind of giving me a little bit of a gut ache already. I ate more than I
honestly should have And we’re gonna have pupasas. Oh my goodness in the next video
And you guys are probably like if you well, I mean most of you that are watching
probably do know what pupasas are um, if you’re el salvadorian Sounds perfect. Um, but if you don’t know
what they are then you’ll have to stay tuned for the next video Because I think
they’re gonna be delicious Yeah, this is like honestly, this is kind of the main
Main little area here. We’re not going much beyond this area today But we are
Going to be doing the santa ana volcano hike. Yeah, which is going to be sick.
There’s a lake crater sulfuric lake Is it sulfuric? Yeah And we’re going to take a
local chicken bus up there try and make it in time for the local group tour Which is
around 9:30 10, I believe. Yeah, because there’s there’s not a oh Nice perfect timing interesting time for
the bells interesting The bells have stopped chiming but yes, we
will be doing I don’t even know where I left off with the hike. Oh The group the
group tour so there’s not like a whole lot of information But the information we did
get was we can take an uber to the Bus which the bus takes about an hour to get
to the volcano hour and a half hour and a half Um, the group tour should leave
between nine to ten So I think they wait for that bus. Okay, so around that time
they wait for that bus to arrive and then they Gather everyone. But anyways, if you
are interested in that hike you can watch. Yeah Yeah in the not next video, but the
next video so with that being said those Clock bells were our departing Yeah time
out so Uh short and sweet video again, but we hope you guys enjoyed this one. Do we
feel safe so far in el salvador? Oh 100 So great. Uh, we were also talking to a nice
guy when I was buying my bracelet. So everyone’s been super nice Yeah, we don’t
feel like this place is unsafe. Uh, so yeah, those are our thoughts We hope you
guys enjoyed this video and we will see you in the next one eating pupasas Bye

This video is a travel vlog is El Salvador really as dangerous as they say? In this video, we explore the city of Santa Ana, El Salvador, to share our first impressions and uncover what it’s truly like to visit this fascinating part of Central America. Known for its vibrant culture, colonial architecture, and growing reputation as a tourist destination in Latin America, Santa Ana offers a surprising mix of beauty and authenticity. We walk the streets, talk about safety, meet locals, and experience everyday life to see whether the warnings about El Salvador still hold true. Whether you’re planning to travel through Latin America, backpack Central America, or are just curious about life in El Salvador, this video gives you an honest, on-the-ground look at what to expect. Part of our world travel series. Subscribe to our channel if you love travel.

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