What is San Salvador like?

Question

I am thinking of vacationing there to meet a lot of women. How are the women? Pretty? Is it dangerous being a tourist there? I do speak Spanish.

Answer 1

El Salvador itself is one of the most modern countries in Central America with the largest and most modern Airport, and Shopping centres. (Metrocentro, Galleria, Plaza Merliot, & Multiplaza) The food is one of the best, they have nice restaurants, bars & nightclubs. The beaches are beautiful, and they are one of the best for surfing. The locals there are overall very friendly and curtious. As far as women go, we'll as long as you dont go after one that is already taken, nightclubs and the beach are the best places to meet them, and another big city where there are lots of people (and ofcourse women) is Santa Ana. Depends though if you will actually go that far. Make sure however, that you stay away from the very poor areas (ghettos) and don't stay out for too long say past 12pm. Infact its better if you are in a car, and preferably with someone that might atleast not get you lost. Oh, and make sure that (well yes you can wear nice clothing) you wear no jewellry, or hollister shirts for example. Other than that, if you just dont show off people may not even notice you.(which can be a good thing for safety reasons)  I go their all the time, it usually seems safe, and very fun.

Answer 2

el salvador is the most modern capital of central america it has the largest malls. its one of the most populated countries so theres lots of women. the women are defenetly pretty don't let this dumb nicaraguan girl who is posing as guys and keeps changing her names fool you she is nicaraguan and bitter because her country is messed up in everway. el salvador is not dangerous but do use precautions like in costa rica many nicaraguans move there in hopes of a bettet future and they are known for assaulting tourist so becareful. nicaraguans are very dark so you will be able to tell them a part they also look very different like the homeless here in the US. obviously el salvador is better than nicaragua or there wouldn't be moving there right? if nicaragua is so great why do they all leave their country to go to el salvador and costa rica? that answers itself! so no matter how bad this bitter girl makes tries to make el salvador sound bad many things prove otherwise!

Answer 3

EL SALVADOR, A COUNTRY WITH EXTREME POVERTY, EVER GROWING CRIME AND NO FUTURE.

According to the Salvadoran Institute for the Protection of Minors, more than 28% of Salvadoran street children reported being abused by authorities with 51% of the injuries reported being beatings, and 20% cuts. Even with these injuries and threats, 78% of these children reported feeling safer on the streets than in their own homes.

More than 90% of the girls on the streets belong to gangs, which tend to prostitute them for money. About 44% of the estimated 9,300 prostitutes in three major red light districts of San Salvador are between the ages of 13 and 18.

The children who spend their lives in the streets have lost their trust of family and community.

Approximately 84% of these children would like to have the opportunity to change their street-bound situation.

~!@~!@~!@~!@~!@~!@

Growing poverty and social problems are leading more and more women to turn to prostitution to survive. In San Salvador alone, there are thousands of women involved in the s*x industry. Many of San Salvador's prostitutes have been infected with HIV.

Death squads still operate in El Salvador and the members of the Death Squads are part of the Police force  so you can only imagine the corruption going on.

90% of cars in El Salvador are those reported stolen in the U.S.

El Salvador, the most dangerous country in Latin America, Central America. San Salvador, the most dangerous capital in the country with the highest homicide and crime rate.

El Salvador still has one of the highest homicide rates in the world: 56 per 100,000 population in 2006, according to the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

http://www.giveafuture.org

http://www.illegaleconomy.com/prostituti...

http://www.eightballmagazine.com/diatrib...

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=3...

Answer 4

EL SALVADOR IS THE COMPLTE OPPOSITE OF THIS DUMP:

Nicaragua exports its poor

To desperate Nicaraguans, the prosperity of neighbouring Costa Rica makes it seem an accessible El Dorado. They can enter its labour market just by boarding a bus. But Costa Rica can barely cope with the influx.

By Raphaëlle Bail

THEY waited at the intersection of two alleyways, as they do late every Monday afternoon. The entire population of the village of Santa Rosa del Peñon, in northern Nicaragua — the old, along with women and children — hoped for news from Costa Rica. When the post office truck raced up in a cloud of dust, there was a rush to grab a letter, an envelope containing banknotes, even perhaps a small refrigerator.

Santa Rosa’s émigrés help their families from across the border. The village survives on remesas (remittances), between $10 and $100 a month to buy food, schoolbooks and medicine, or to repay loans. Since Nicaragua cut its public services, the costs of education and health have weighed heavily on a population unable to afford them. Despite a steady inflow of dollars, Santa Rosa just about survives and is grateful to do so.

Although traditionally dependent on agriculture, the region now produces almost nothing. “We grow enough to feed ourselves,” said Julio Antonio Niño, standing at the centre of his weed-infested fields. “What’s the point of doing any more? I can’t afford to build a well or an irrigation system: credit is too expensive at 40% interest and the banks will only lend to major landowners with solid collateral.” Nicaragua’s small farmers all say the same. The crisis that followed the collapse in 2000 of coffee prices on the international market has made the situation worse.

Half the population lives in rural areas, so the previous government’s official line was that it cared about farmers. In practice its economic policies concentrated on opening frontiers, competing internationally on the agricultural export market and attracting foreign investment in the free zones; outgoing president Enrique Bolaños claimed these created thousands of jobs. Niño’s response to this programme was to say: “Sure, some women from the village went off to work in the textile maquilas [factories carrying out subcontracted work]. It’s better than nothing, but the wages are half what you can earn in Costa Rica.”

It is estimated that one in five from Santa Rosa has emigrated to Costa Rica. Half a million Nicaraguans are thought to be living on the other side of the San Juan, the river that marks the frontier, and another 300,000 are scattered elsewhere, in total some 14% of the population. For destitute campesinos (farmers), Costa Rica is the obvious destination, just a few hours away by bus. Until recently no visa at all was required and even now it costs only $10 to enter the country legally.

Many Nicaraguans have abandoned their original trades to work as peons on Costa Rica’s banana, coffee, pineapple, sugar and orange plantations: Costa Rica has been successful in diversifying its labour-intensive agricultural industry. “Starting in January I pick coffee, then I move on to other crops,” explained Niño who, exhausted by the difficulty of working the land at Santa Rosa, crosses the border illegally every year. “Then, like other people around here, I come back to sow frijol (beans). I make at least twice what I could hope to earn in Nicaragua.”

Historically, Nicaraguans have always used their southern neighbour as a refuge during periods of violence, such as the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza or the war of the 1980s. But since the 1990s migration has been driven by the struggle for economic survival. After the fighting ended, demobilisation left thousands of soldiers and counter-revolutionaries on the loose, with no resources or future, in a country whose economy was unable to integrate them. At the time, the Nicaraguan government’s priority was to privatise and reduce public spending. Costa Rica, which has impressive economic growth and a remarkably well-developed welfare state for Central America, seemed an accessible El Dorado.

An accessible Eldorado

“Emigration served the government’s interests,” said Martha Cranshaw of RNSCM, an NGO supporting migrants and their families. “It relieves the pressure created by unemployment. But we are beginning to understand its real impact upon our country.” This analysis is not always popular.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations are banking on remittances to relaunch growth; but investigations on the ground in Nicaragua show that the $900m sent home every year by émigrés, which is more than the country exports, mostly serve to make the day-to-day existence of an exhausted population just bearable (1).

As Cranshaw pointed out, the RNSCM has also noticed another, less immediately quantifiable, story: “We are becoming aware of the thousands of individual tragedies represented by the emigration of a family’s father or mother. Collectively, this phenomenon is having a huge impact upon Nicaraguan society.” Fragmented families, children brought up by sometimes-absent grandparents, missing father and mother figures, children dropping out of school: what sort of society is Nicaragua creating?

In Santa Rosa, a grandfather whose son and daughter-in-law have left but did not take their children said: “My wife and I are bringing our grandchildren up, but there’s often a lot of tension with them and we worry a great deal about our son, who is in Costa Rica illegally. Sometimes I think there has to be another way. It’s too risky, for us and for them.”

A negative value

It is easy to spot the Nicaraguans in the Costa Rican capital, San José. Their skin and hair seem darker and they always carry a rucksack containing overalls or a change of clothes. The men work in construction or as security guards, the women as domestic servants. Most of the seasonal workers, and many of those who have been here for several years, have no papers. Only half the “Nicas” in Costa Rica are there legally. Almost all have experienced the harsh working conditions on plantations. Most of the 4.3 million “Ticas” (Costa Ricans) regard the Nicas primarily as an unwanted 10% of the population.

“Costa Ricans see Nicaraguans as a negative value,” said Carlos Sandoval, a sociologist at San José university. He argued that Costa Ricans construct their identity around powerful ideas: the paleness of their skin, which is unusual in Central America (and is the result of the fact that there were only a few indigenous inhabitants when the conquistadores arrived); the stability of a democracy that has experienced little violence; and the success of an economy and a welfare state unique in the region. Costa Rica and its neighbours describe it as “the Switzerland of Central America”. Its ecotourist-friendly beaches and jungles, its relaxed way of life attract prosperous foreign tourists in numbers its neighbours can only dream about.

From this perspective, Nicaragua, with its wars and chronic instability, seems an immature country condemned to poverty. In Costa Rica, the dark-skinned immigrants are often described as violent, ignorant and untrustworthy, as thieves and alcoholics. “No seas Nica” (“don’t be an idiot”) is a common insult. This latent xenophobia, and correspondingly strong anti-Costa Rican feelings in Nicaragua, rises to the surface each time the perennial conflict over navigation rights on the San Juan river turns nasty. But the countries manage to get along, or at least they used to.

Open season

Relations have deteriorated since the end of 2005 when Costa Rica responded to the flood of immigrants by passing new legislation in imitation of the United States. Costa Rica’s new president, the 1987 Nobel peace prizewinner Oscar Arias, is not a member of the party that introduced the new law. He described it as draconian and suggested that it could transform the immigration police into a Gestapo.

The legislation, like that currently being debated in the US, would create new barriers to legal immigration and declare open season on illegal immigrants and those who house or employ them. To be genuinely effective, these measures require human and financial resources that Costa Rica does not possess.

It is possible to see this legislation as a token response to the anger of Costa Ricans, which has reached fever pitch. One night in November 2005 the owner of a workshop 30km outside San José set his two rottweiler dogs on a young Nicaraguan who was thought to be breaking in. The police were called, but just watched as the dogs killed the man. Film of the incident led the television news, and Costa Rica’s first hate crime worsened tension between the countries. Several months later, amid the bright flowerbeds of La Merced park, where San José’s Nicaraguans meet every day, a young immigrant told me: “What happened that day really scared us. We were used to racism, but to die like that, it’s too horrible. People in Nicaragua are afraid too. One of my cousins has decided to go to El Salvador instead: it’s less dangerous and she doesn’t need a visa.”

The speaker was 28 and has been in Costa Rica illegally for five years. He does building work in the provinces and comes to see his wife and son in San José every weekend. Like many others, he is happy to have a son born here: “That way, he has Costa Rican nationality.”

The other Nicas ate national dishes they had prepared and explained their anxieties: “Given the law, we’d all like to have legal status. Until now, it didn’t worry us that much. We don’t have any papers in Nicaragua and it suits everyone here for us to work off the books.”

Costa Rica’s major employers have recently become concerned that the economic climate and a shortage of manpower in El Salvador (see El Salvador’s migrants) have reduced the flow of immigration from Nicaragua. In August 2006 the Costa Rican Exporters’ Chamber complained that the labour shortage could reduce national exports by 15%, even 25% in the agricultural sector.

Unusually for Central America, the Costa Rican economy has developed secondary and tertiary sectors and has been particularly successful in ecotourism. But it continues to rely significantly upon agriculture; it is the world’s second exporter of bananas and is a major coffee producer. It has also developed niche markets including flowers and melons. Nicaraguan workers are essential, and in the banana region of Sarapiqui are more than 40% of the workforce.

Many economists argue that they are, and will continue to be, a crucial adjustment variable as the economy is seriously transformed. Nicaraguan workers have benefited Costa Rica’s leading agricultural exporters in international markets, by keeping production costs down. Although less qualified, they have displaced Costa Ricans in agriculture and construction. By providing an army of domestic workers they have allowed Costa Rican women to enter the labour market.

A controlled relationship

Oscar Alfaro created a transport company that now operates throughout Central America and is a member of a leading employers’ organisation. He said: “Costa Ricans must understand that we need Nicaraguans. Our immigration policy is based more upon a philosophy of security than upon economic realism, to say nothing of the fact that it goes against the most basic principles of solidarity. There will always be a close relationship between our countries.” He recalled that after Hurricane Mitch tore through Nicaragua in October 1998, Costa Rica granted legal status to 152,000 immigrants, but echoed an opinion widely shared in Costa Rica: “This relationship must be controlled. We must keep out illegal immigrants who are exploiting our health and education systems without making any financial contribution.” He did not mention that businesses who employ illegal workers also fail to contribute.

The government has outlined the social costs of this flood of immigration into a small country. Costa Rica, accused by Nicaragua of xenophobia before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2), insisted its health insurance system met the cost of emergencies, pregnancies and births whatever the nationality of the patient. It also pointed out that primary education was free to all. “All this in a developing country with an immigration rate higher than that of developed countries: 110 per 1,000 head of population, almost the same as Luxembourg, which has the highest per capita gross domestic product in the world.”

According to Sandoval, Costa Rica suffers from a contradiction: it needs immigration to sustain its economy and population, but is unable to deal with the social consequences. “Cultural differences are part of the problem, but it is significant that resentment of Nicas intensified during the crisis of the 1990s, especially among the most seriously affected sectors of the population.”

Mutual mistrust

Costa Rica has attempted to emulate the European social model, with its emphasis on redistribution and public investment (3). But during the 1980s it embraced neoliberalism and cut public investment in education, health and social housing. The lower middle classes suffered most from falling living standards. “The most xenophobic section of the population is the one that has lost most,” said Sandoval. “We like to think of ourselves as an exception, but we feel that things are getting worse and we blame immigrants without looking at the way in which our social model has been weakened by economic policies.”

In 1999 universal public funding to educate the poorest was questioned when some authorities excluded foreigners. Costa Rica, worried about its future like some developed countries, has gradually learned to distinguish nationals from aliens.

Guarariri, a shantytown on the edge of San José, is overshadowed by a gleaming shopping centre from which a stream of waste water flows between houses crammed on top of each other. Several thousand immigrants live here. At first glance it looks like part of Nicaragua, but most of its inhabitants have a job and every house has water and electricity. Life is better here than back home. Guarariri is poor and filthy, and drug dealers sometimes use it as a hideout, yet despite its bad reputation, hundreds of Costa Rican families that have fallen on hard times choose to live here. Most of its inhabitants insist that since they all find themselves in the same situation, racism is not a problem. Costa Rica’s most disadvantaged areas have developed schemes for Nicas and Ticas to live better side by side. “These are useful initiatives,” Sandoval said, “because they disprove the myths about Nicaraguans, for example the idea that they steal jobs. The truth is that they are prepared to do work that Costa Ricans refuse.”

Information campaigns to promote intercommunity relations can only do so much. Although unemployment remains at the acceptable level of 6.5%, observers are concerned about the possible effects of any increase. Could this developing country maintain its fragile equilibrium if nationals and foreigners had to compete more fiercely for jobs? The already tense situation in Guarariri, La Merced park and the plantations along the East coast could get out of control.

http://mondediplo.com/2007/01/12nicaragu...

Friday, October 5, 2007 : More than six months have passed since the inauguration of the new “21st Century Sandinista” government of Nicaragua last January. Jubilant celebrations of that event expressed the excitement of hundreds of thousands of Sandinista supporters.

New hopes for an escape from the h**l of neoliberal catastrophes breezed across our country’s mountains, volcanoes, valleys, and lakes, from the large cities to the remote hinterlands and coasts.

The FSLN leadership had used the election campaign to assure the country (and Washington) that no second edition of the 1979 revolution would take place. Even so, many wanted to believe that the new government would signal a return to the inspiring days and social advances of the revolution.

What does the first six-month performance of the new government tell us about the relationship between reality and such hopes?

The Ortega government inherited a nearly "Africanized" country. Nicaragua is second only to Haiti as the poorest country in the hemisphere. Almost 80% percent of the population lives on less than US$2 a day, and over half of them on less then US$1 a day. The health and educational systems have been hollowed out. Over the previous 17 years a million or more Nicaraguans have gone into economic exile (mostly to Costa Rica, El Salvador, and the United States). The country now depends on family remittances and foreign aid to stay afloat.

Lights out

The privatized national electrical system has been bled dry and brought to near collapse — especially its generating capacity. In 2006 severe power cuts were imposed across the country. The new government alleviated the problem for a time, relying on donated generator plants from Cuba and Venezuela. But more breakdowns in the system soon forced a return to long power cuts, from five to 10 hours daily in both rural and urban areas. This has created havoc in the economy, especially the retail sector, the health system, and people’s daily lives.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/10...

The small Central American nation of El Salvador has one of the highest rates of migration to the U.S. in the region, creating a labor shortage at home. But El Salvador's competitive wages attract workers from its less well-off neighbors Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...

Managua, Nicaragua

epicenter of crime in Nicaragua

experienced rising levels of violence and criminality throughout 1990s

40% of all crimes in Nicaragua committed in Managua – half of these reported crimes considered violent

nature of violence and violent crime shifts from political violence and civil war to crime and delinquency

Pandillas – youth gangs – in Managua

now a prevalent and widespread phenomenon – growing rapidly

currently more than 110 pandillas with approximately 8,000 members  

concentrated in lower-class barrios – poverty and lack of opportunity drive membership  

territorially based in specific neighbourhoods

defend territory as a source of identity and pride



Lower class barrio in Managua

Pandillas commit variety of crime, often employing firearms

responsible for disproportionate share of criminal activity

commit 50% of all crimes in Nicaragua and 60% of all crimes in Managua  

violence and gang warfare prevalent

robbery, mugging, pick-pocketing and involvement in

drug trade among other criminal activities

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/focus/youth_gu...

Answer 5

In El Salvador Security remains, by far, the number one preoccupation of Salvadorans. In 2006, the government reported 3,906 homicides, up from 3,779 in 2005, or the equivalent of 57.2 violent deaths per every 100,000 people (this compares with just a handful of murders per 100,000 inhabitants in New York City). This confers upon El Salvador the dubious distinction of ranking amongst the world’s most dangerous countries. Moreover, the official homicide figures are believed to be understated.

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displays...

The U.S. Embassy and the Department of State consider El Salvador a critical crime-threat country.

By the end of 2005, El Salvador earned the dubious distinction of having the highest per capita homicide rate in the Western Hemisphere.  The trend of increasing homicides has continued into 2006, with 42 more homicides recorded during the first four months of this year than in the equivalent period of 2005.

        Security officials at the Embassy emphasize that serious crimes can and do occur in all regions of El Salvador and all neighborhoods of the major cities.  The presence of privately hired "neighborhood guards" in the more affluent sections of San Salvador does not always represent a deterrent to criminals.

In the first months of 2006, Embassy-related American citizens were the victims of the following crimes:

-- The spouse of an Embassy employee was the victim of armed robbery while walking in an affluent residential area in Cumbres de Cuscatlan.

-- Peace Corps volunteers were the victims of armed robbery at a popular tourist location.

-- A U.S. official on temporary duty at the Embassy was robbed by a machete-wielding assailant on a popular beach.

-- Another official was victimized when his vehicle was broken into and valuables were stolen from it while it was parked during business hours in the parking lot at Price Smart in the Cumbres de Cuscatlan section of greater San Salvador.

-- Several Embassy employees or their dependents were the victims of credit card "skimming" while using their credit cards at major retail outlets, restaurants and hotels in San Salvador.  The RSO pointed out that waiters or other employees at these establishments can quickly "skim" the cards using small readers attached to their clothing.  The information obtained from the card then can be sold and eventually used for large purchases at locations around the world.      

        Recent violent crimes in which U.S. citizens were not victimized but that occurred in areas of San Salvador frequented by Embassy employees and their family members include:

-- The drive-by shooting of Salvadoran police officers near the Galeria shopping mall on Paseo Escalon;

-- An attempted kidnapping near the Princess Hotel in the Zona Rosa;

-- A series of carjacking/kidnappings near the Malibu Restaurant on South Boulevard in Santa Elena.  The victim in each of these crimes was an unaccompanied woman who was entering her vehicle during hours of darkness;

-- A murder near the Multiplaza shopping mall adjacent to the Pan American Highway during the late night hours;

-- A series of armed robberies in which the victims were operating motor vehicles stopped for a lengthy traffic light on La Mascota Avenue in the Escalon district;

-- A series of armed robberies in which the victims were operating motor vehicles stopped for a traffic light near the Feria International and were waiting to make a left-hand turn into the Zona Rosa;

-- The armed robbery of a pedestrian walking along the sidewalk near La Capilla in San Benito;

-- The disposal of more than half a dozen bodies of murder victims along the "new road" from behind Price Smart in Cumbres de Cuscatlan to the Comalapa highway.  Because the bodies were left along the road at night when traffic was light, the RSO strongly advised Embassy employees to avoid using this four-lane, divided, well-constructed thoroughfare during hours of darkness.

        A nonviolent crime that is becoming more prevalent in affluent residential areas in San Salvador involves "home invasions" or the burglarizing of residences during broad daylight by individuals posing as delivery men to gain access to a home.  The RSO encouraged Embassy employees to instruct their domestic staffs to be suspicious of unexpected deliverymen and to admit only people whom the head of household has announced would be arriving at the residence.

http://sansalvador.usembassy.gov/consula...

Violent crime including armed robbery, banditry, assault, kidnapping, sexual assault, and carjacking is common, including in the capital, San Salvador. Downtown San Salvador is dangerous, particularly at night. At all times avoid wearing jewellery and using expensive cameras, video cameras or portable music players. Avoid travelling alone and after dark as security risks associated with violent crime are heightened after dark. Victims have been seriously injured when resisting perpetrators.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/01/15/e...

Over 2 million Salvadorans live in the U.S. , 60% are illegal and 57% have been imprisoned, are in the MS13 gang and have committed another crime.

Answer 6

san salvador is alot like downtown chicago,miami florida, san franciso california. What i mean by that is the country is in pretty good shape very modern and well developed thought it still has some work but so does the rest of latin america. It has some of the most beautiful places beaches hotels, clubs, restaurants etc... like any city it has it's parts where you need to be cautious but nothing too bad. San salvador has a population of 1.5 million people El Salvador being one of the most densely populated countries in central america after guatemala you will surely meet many beautiful women. beautiful exotic women anything from tall to short skinny or thick nice bronze skin with dark hair and beautiful hazel or green eyes or if you prefer light skin with colored eyes is all up tp you El Salvador seems to have it all with their 90% european spanish amerindian 9% european 1% amerindian backround. In my visits i have never been in danger neither have any of the other people i know that travel there (surfing purposes). People there are very nice and the women amazing with the entire meaning of the word. If you speak spanish you will be fine my spanish sucks but i got by. Good Luck!

Answer 7

this is what women from el salvador look like:

http://www.entremodelos.com/katitomejia....

http://www.elsalvador.com/irmadimas/

http://www.laprensagrafica.com/destacado...

http://hi5.com/friend/113830797--loli--P...

http://hi5.com/friend/photos/displayUser...

http://hi5.com/friend/67378447--tephy--P...

http://hi5.com/friend/photos/displayUser...

http://hi5.com/friend/103977121--%2BMoni...

http://photobucket.com/mediadetail/?medi...

and here si a site full of salvadorian girls dont listen to  a jealous fat ugly nicaraguan that the only way to make herself fell better is by trying to make something as good as el salvador bad just because nicaragua sucks!

http://voy.com/196300/

el salvador has alot of very nice looking women you will see...