El Salvador Tourism Is Transformed Under President Bukele | Guest: Ivonne, Titanic Tours

Welcome to the Andres Agobio show, everyone. On today's episode, I have a very special guest. Not only is she my niece, she actually works for a tourism company in my home country of El Salvador. And I say that with more pride now because of the recent administration change there with Nayib Bukele. And I invited her on to talk about how much tourism has been changed under Nayib Bukele, because for those that are unawares, I actually had a hiatus from traveling to El Salvador. I was not able to see my family for about a decade. That's how difficult and dangerous it was to travel to El Salvador. And no one there had met my wife even while we were dating. So all my kids, no one in El Salvador knew them. And it was in 2019, right before the pandemic, that I was able to travel back to El Salvador, and this was in the very early years of Nayib Bukele's administration. The country changed night and day. So when I tell you that when my parents are going to return to El Salvador, they have a harder time than before finding a place to stay because of how much tourism has changed and how the world is coming to visit. But it really, really is a different experience altogether. So for that, to give you some insight, I invited my niece on to the program with Titanic Tours, a travel agency in El Salvador. And we did record an episode in Spanish. And we'll do our best to do this one exclusively in English for the English speaking audience. Yvonne, aka Hazelnut, welcome to the Andres de Govia show. Thank you so much for inviting me. And it's a great pleasure to do this interview in full English. It's my first interview in full English. So if I made a mistake, please forgive me, everyone, because English is not my first language. It's Spanish because I'm 100% Salvadorian, but I'm trying my best. Single origin. And that's an inside joke to the coffee we'll be talking about soon enough on this episode. But Yvonne, tell us a little bit about Titanic Tours and your involvement with the El Salvador travel department. Okay. Um, Titanic Tours is a family business. We work hand by hand with the El Salvador travel department because we want to share it with people all around the world, how beautiful our country is and our main work is transportation and we pick out people at the airport and go to the highlights places like historic center or volcanoes, beaches, and et cetera. Yes. And we have some pictures to show everybody. So it's not like we want you to use your imagination. We want you to see how beautiful El Salvador is. And that's not to say that these places didn't exist. Um, they did. It's just that to get there was a difficulty. Um, before Naibu Kelly, uh, did you have to run into this issue where in Spanish they were called micro buses, but the, the vans that you used to travel, did they have to pay the tax that was put in by the gangs? Oh, yeah. Um, well, I think El Salvador was, uh, one of the most underrated countries, not only for foreigners, also for our people, because, um, six years ago, you couldn't go anywhere you want because even visiting your family was difficult, like you said, due to the situation of gangs and that practically controlled most of the territory and was so dangerous and with so many destructive stuff for the past few years. But you can see the changes, the Naibu Kelly's presence and has an impact in terms at some point to like rebranding our country, for example, you know, very well, like, like Surf City, but it's not only the beaches, the sign of the beaches, but it's also our brand we share with the world. Yeah. And, um, like I say that the organized crime and the part of the reduction of the delinquency, and there are more people attracted to visit our country without the risk of the problems I already mentioned. Yeah. And I'm glad you said that even family to see family was very difficult. I just mentioned that at the beginning. Um, but, uh, there was no nightlife. You couldn't go pot at night. I remember my family that, uh, would sometimes like in San Salvador, which is the capital of El Salvador, if they stayed out too late, like, Oh my goodness, I got to rush back home. Cause if I didn't get there on time, they would be stopped by these gang members and it's almost like security through an airport where they were checking you, sometimes some family were supposed to take all their clothes off to check, do you have gang tattoos or you don't, and that could have, that could have meant death for some of them. It was, I want people to understand just there was no nightlife. And now it's what my recent visit to be able to be able to go to a pizza place and it was nighttime and not worry about it was, wow, just those little things people don't understand. And I'll say this much for the audience, because they didn't know this. El Salvador was known as one of the most dangerous countries in the world, the most dangerous in the Western hemisphere. So all the Americas, El Salvador was the most dangerous. We're taking into account Ecuador, we're taking into account what happened to Colombia, Venezuela, and all that. But on top of that, we were the, El Salvador was the number one country for homicides in the world. It was a homicide capital. And I couldn't believe that's unreal. And to go from that to anybody that follows president Naibu Kelly's ex account on formerly known as Twitter, or even Instagram, because you post them over there, there hasn't been a homicide in El Salvador in months. Yes. That's incredible. It's just, it's incredible. And it's, it makes me happy for my people. It makes me even more happy for you, my family that I love that I don't get to see it so often because we worry about you all, but it's just, it's, it's amazing to see how much that's changed. And the reason you're here is to, so we could tell people if they get an opportunity to travel to El Salvador, where they should go, what are the most important places to visit and the things to eat and drink and things like that. Would you like me to pull up the pictures right now while we talk? Oh yeah. Before we see that, I want to add that we can see it and we can see the change thanks to all of the hard work of the president and his people. And I want, and not me, all of Salvadorans, we want to welcome you with open arms because we want to share with you a new experience and our president and our people who are near the country, they have given a new face, providing a different perspective towards the world. And like you say, we went from being a capital of homicides to a homeland for many, many Salvadorans out there and for a place to visit for foreigners and all around the world. Yes. Very well said. And Yvonne has very kindly provided some pictures for us to be able to look at here. She'll give us some context to some of these and I will highlight the coffee here in a moment because, man, it's so, so good. But where is this? Well, there is a short video I take in Finca Rauda, located in Berlin, and it's a place to connect very well with nature because there is no connection with internet. You need to, yes. Yeah. There's a sign saying, we have no wifi here, but you can, you can connect with nature. So it's a very, very beautiful place to stay if you want camping or stay in, and it's like a mini hotel. If we can say that, yeah. Like a resort. No, a resort, but it's like a mini houses. Like cabins. Yeah. Like cabins. Thank you so much. Yeah. Nice. Cause here I see they, they have swings. They have a ladder up on the tree. Um. And there is a, a more sea views and, um, a point like, um, you can see the San Miguel volcano. Because San Miguel volcano. Yeah. So what's this here with arcs? Like, is that just a little, yeah. Like it's good to, to, to take it for us. Okay. It's like a heart. Yeah. Like a heart. Oh, that's beautiful. But you said there was a thing to, is this up on a mountain or is this up on a volcano? A mountain. Okay. Because El Salvador has a lot of volcanoes. Yeah. We are a land of volcanoes. Yes. And I think that's a, when Naibu Kelly put on his box for being a fire, that's the box back here, folks, the variety box, but it will have been a fire.com. I do not have a contract with them, but I'm very proud to talk about it. Cause the, not only is a coffee, a premium experience, it is a premium experience and a hit on the wallet, but it's very delicious coffee. If you can get your hands on it, because they sell out very, very quick. Yeah. Let's see. All right. This one takes us to the city. It seems so. What's this? It's a, it's a church located in the historic center of El Salvador. And that view is right from the palace, national palace. And you can see through the window. Yeah. And the historic center is a beautiful, beautiful place to, to see the, the daily life of our Salvadorian people. And the capital of El Salvador is your ideal starting point for any adventures. And you will find a range of choices for leisure, culture, shopping, or business. And it's located 40 kilometers from international airport. And yeah, you can find antiques, hotels, celebrations, five-star hotels, as well as museums, monuments, and traditional seats, but it's residential seats. Excuse me. No, we got, we got what you're saying. We got what you're saying. Ooh. Yeah. This is a video. Yeah. This is a video of my favorite beach. It's a Atami resort. This is a resort and you can stay night, day, or you can give, give or take a day pass and you can walk her to the, those little streets, right, right. How do you say it? The cliff? No, no, it's not a cliff, it's a cliff. Yeah. Cliffside. So this, so this is cliffside. Okay. Because I'm going to ask you, it looks kind of steep. So this is a cliffside walk. That's nice. Beautiful. And you, you mentioned that El Salvador is known for its surfing. Oh yes, of course. And like I said, a surf city is not the road or the cities. It's our brand for a surfing culture because we have the best ways for surfers, not for saying this, but because it's my, it's my country, but yeah, many, many competitions of surfing, of surfers and surfing. For example, we have one competition of surfing, like, like Worldwild. I hope you have some pictures of the food around there too, because that's, that's so nice. Is this a drone shot for this one? Yeah, it's a drone shot. It's Cerro El Edamon, located in Chalatenango. So this is not a volcano. No. I hope that. Wow. How long did it take to climb up there? Like two hours and a half. Yeah. And the weather, it's very, very, very hot. And for that, many people choice that climb at night hours or more easy, easy to walk and no, you know, have problems with their health. Yeah. Let me, let me highlight this part of this very beautiful shot. Yeah. You can see the Limpah. Oh, the river Limpah. Yeah. Is that what cuts through the mountains there? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Or the Rio Limpah is supposed to be El Salvador's biggest river. Yeah. The biggest and the longest river. That's beautiful. This, this, I actually must ask this question. Um, cause when we're having this conversation, uh, we are about to enter November, so normally people think November, like in the United States, we're getting ready for winter. It's going to be really, really cold. El Salvador is very much closer to the equator and people don't know this, but El Salvador is very hot and humid. So, so while some of us up here might be thinking it's very cold to even think about going to the beach, um, or even going to the mountains, cause it might Well, um, for those who live in, in America, yeah, here it's like, you sweet, it's humid, but we have only two seasons, like summer and winter. And for this time of the year, it's like a little bit cool, but not for frizz, you know that, and, um, and for summer, I recommend you to go to a beach. It's been a winter, you can go hiking or just enjoy coffee and food and volcanoes to feel that breeze, but not in, not in, uh, Cerro Eramon, because it's not that, that cold. But if you want to feel like, um, like breezy, breezy sensation, it's like, um, El Pital, it's also in Chalatenango and it's the highest point of El Salvador. Oh, yeah. Very good to know. Then places like this, where it looks like this is a nightlife. This is, uh, outside of a restaurant. Is this the same place? No, it's a cafe in Los Planes de Venderos. It's nearby La Puerta del Diablo. It's like a five minutes away from La Puerta del Diablo, I think. And to translate those to English folks, uh, Puerta del Diablo means the door of the devil. Yeah. You can, you can, um, find more, more information about that in the El Salvador.travel, like website of the government. El Salvador.travel. Yes. And folks, you guys know the drill, whether you're watching or listening, any links that we mentioned here will be available on the show in a couple of days, episode at theunderpricinggovernment.com. All right. So this place I know because that's the one I visited. These are all from Cedro. Remember these pictures right here? Yeah. All of a sudden, I'm going to do, I'm going to share, I'm going to share my own pictures, um, in post. So what it means is like after I filmed this, I want to put my pictures up here to show what I took when I went, because we climbed, it was so steep. We're just going in circles. And your, your father dropped pretty fast, just going up, up, up. And it feels like it never ends. And when we get up there, it's like, Whoa, it's in English. We have an expression that says sweater weather. That means it's kind of chilly up here. I've never felt cold in a Salvador. But when I went to Cedro Verde, I'm like, Hey, I like this chill. And when we got up there, the only thing that was up there was a coffee shop. And they had the beans that were drying. Well, in Spanish, the granos, um, they had them drying somewhere because that's how they prepare to roast them. And they had the grinders and they choose how you want them to grind it. Uh, I ended up getting a bag of organic, um, beans. I think I had on my Instagram and that was, that was the ultimate coffee experience. It's the first, the first time I had an amazing coffee experience was the place that you recently went to Antigua Guatemala. This was the most unique coffee experience for me. Cause, uh, this was a finca of coffee and I didn't know that. So that was, wow. That was an awesome coffee cup. The Ilamatepec volcano. I mean, this is the highest volcano in El Salvador. Well, uh, the place has three volcanoes right each other, next to each other. It's Salta Volcano, Santana or Ilamatepec Volcano and Cedro Verde is also a volcano. So it's a, it's a very unique, unique place to stay because there is a hotel now and you can stay and see the sunrise or the sunset. And it's the most beautiful sunsets I ever seen, I can say. Oh, I believe it. Cause the pictures that I took to show the audience, this was just, it's unreal. It was so gorgeous. And I'm looking down at the other volcano, taking a picture cause we're so high. I'm like, whoa, that's so cool. Yeah. Oh, it's, I gotta go. And I'm glad there's a hotel right now. Cause I like to stay there when I go over there. All right. Let's see. Um, what do we have here? It was, uh, La Feria del Jocote. It's one, one time of the year and you can taste a very, very different flavors and products from the Jocote, like the fruit. Hmm. Let me go back. Um, the fruit. Oh, okay. So this was, um, in English we call it, um, like a harvest festival because they're gathering the fruit, the harvest, and you get to try the first fruits and buy some, is that it? Hmm. There's a, like a jelly, like, um, a very, very different, um, desserts and an ice cream flavor from Jocote. Yeah. It's a very, very much, most beautiful thing. Like you, you are up there in a volcano and tasted some food from, from Jocote fruit. That's nice. And are you on a lake or are you in the ocean here? In a lake. It's a Guatepeca lake. Wow. Is this up high on a volcano? Yeah, there is a lake, lake in a volcano. Cause I'm asking because the sky looks closer. Look at the clouds. All around the lake. You can see nature. You can see a little mountains right there. And there is a crater. This is a crater. Yeah. Okay. So where's this now? This place, uh, you can see right in the center is like El Volcano, like San Salvador volcano, other volcanoes. Oh no, the volcano. Yes. Yeah. Welcome to the land of volcanoes, everybody. It's such a small country and it's made up of so many volcanoes. It's crazy. Is this part of that same place? Yeah. It's the same place. Wait, have I been here? Yeah. I did. I remember this, this platform. Oh, okay. Yeah. I'll put up my picture folks. This was a several pounds ago. Cause I was skinnier then, but I don't remember this though. Is this somewhere else? It's the La Puerta del Diablo. Ah, and what's here? What can people do here? Is this where they have the zip line where you tie yourself up? Yeah. You can do zip line and you can go hiking like to the top of this risquette. And it's more like to, to do, uh, to the activities in the afternoon for the, for the weather. And this is, um, in Berlin, Alegría. It's a paradise. Um, I don't see any protection or guardrails to stop you from falling. What, what's going on here? This is a problem with, with, uh, they have this little problem, but you can, you can, and you can enjoy to take a picture with the aesthetic. Okay. And this one is that a cliffside walkway you were talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's nice. Oh, but it is not that high though. But does it go higher? It's go down, down to the beach. And there's some point, like it's very high, but you, you go downstairs to, to go to the beach or, or only take the little treat to, to walk by the cliff. This is nightlife. Um, is, where is this? It's in Huayhua, it's like a festival called Los Parolitos. It's a religious festival. I'm assuming it's like a Catholic thing. Yeah, cause, uh, you and I are not Catholic, but El Salvador is predominantly Catholic. Yes. Yeah. It's a lot of, a lot of festivals. Oh, you know, um, I have to ask you this, there's this interesting tradition in Census Tepeque, Census Tepeque being a, um, a town or a city. Um, I know it's a town, um, with, we don't have pictures here, but for the audience, it's like, uh, cobbled paths and pavers, that's how the roads are there. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. There's some kind of tradition. Is it a carpet that they make? They do, yeah. They make, they make by, by salt. By salt. Salt. Yes. The longest, uh, carpet, yeah. Carpet, the longest carpet in El Salvador made it by, by salt and, and by the hands of our artisans, I think. And it's, do you know how long it runs? Like in kilometers or miles? Like, um, 400 meters. Wow. Yeah. Uh, or a half a kilometer. Yeah. No, that's cool. That's really cool. What's, and what's this? And it's nearby to Huayhua. It's in Apaneca. You can, you can take a trip in a blower's route or la ruta de las flores in Spanish. Yeah. It's four or five downtowns and it's pretty colorful towns. You can, um, ride a horse or do zip line. This place is called, uh, Fortezuelo. You can do a lot of activities right there. And how far is this from San Salvador? It's like, um, two hours without traffic, of course. What's this? It's a private residence. Yeah. You can pay for Airbnb place and you can have the access for that. Uh, the, the, the right, right place is called El Zapote. You can find Airbnb. Yeah. You can find this Airbnb. But the pool is only for the, um, for the owners. Yeah. For the residents, for the owners. You can, you can swim in that, but you can, uh, go to the beach. It's very hot, very hot, but you can still enjoy it. If that. Oh, what's this? It's, it's El Tazomal. It's like, um, a temple. Yeah. It's like a temple of Aztecs or the Mayans. The Mayans. Mayans. Yeah. Mayan sculpture. Oh, what's this? Los planes Serranveras. Yeah. You can eat pupusas right there with such amazing beer, as you can see. Yeah. Is this San Salvador? Yeah. It's San Salvador. Like four or 15 minutes from the center. All depends on traffic, of course. Oh, of course. And this is the last one. Cerro de what? Cerro de Perquín. It's Morazán. Morazán. Yeah. I know Morazán. There's just so many beautiful places. Um, just to give us a rundown, um, we saw some of the must-see places, but, um, if you, you have a list of places that you recommend to the audience for their first time visiting in Salvador, where they should go? Oh yeah. Must-see places, La Puerta del Diablo, El Boquerón, Sunset Park, of course. And, uh, Flowers Root, Monte Cristo, Miramonde, if you go to go camping or hiking, and El Espíritu de la Montaña, of course, in La Unión, and Lago de Coatepec, or Coatepec Lake, in Lake of Tijuana. Yeah. There's must-see places. What kind of food should, uh, um, should people expect to try in Salvador? Most hot foods, pupusas, of course, the main dish of our people, tamales, yuca frita, nuegados, ríguas, um, elotes locos, pastelitos, and many, many, many others. Well, is, uh, is there a special Salvadorian drink? Like, uh, because this is an extra for Mexico called horchata, but what about Yeah. Horchata also, and our chocolate, like, um, cold or hot, you can enjoy a very good chocolate. And it really depends on what do you like. And for example, seafood restaurants, Volvo, Puerto Manisto, Detos, Honolulu, Acajuta, and Charbax. Charbax is my favorite. I recommend hundred percent. And pupusas restaurants, Las Cumbres, La Cheli, La Rustica, and many places in Olopulta, Olopulta is known as a pupusodromo, and many places in Los Planes, like I mentioned before. Yeah. But I do want people to try the coffee in El Salvador. And what coffee place is this? It's a, um, a very little coffee shop, but it's a very good coffee. It's called a bloom coffee in Guayua. It's a part of a flower store. Oh, okay. Some of, some of the best coffee is from the small, small shops. We love that. Oh, that's so cool. But for the rest of the Americans that are not traveling, um, this would be your way to taste a premium experience in El Salvador without having to pay for a flight. This has been a fire. Naivo Kelly is coffee shop. Um, and as I understand it, some, uh, some restaurants in El Salvador served for being a fire, right? Yeah. They, they serve that because it's one of the most delicious coffee. Yeah. Every coffee here is very, very, very delicious, but this is a special because it's growing up like a volcano. When it comes to the, the coffee as people seen it, um, they come in the black tubes. Uh, there's red bourbon sold out, Ethiopian sold out, orange bourbon sold out. Uh, there's Kenyan sold out, Java sold out, Geisha sold out. Um, Mara, Mara, I don't know. That's an infamous. That, that one's sold out. Yellow bourbons sold out. Pacamara also sold out. There's this, they're sold out of the roast, but they still have the variety pack. Um, you can get the bourbon coffee variety pack or the traditional variety pack, which is this one, um, similar boxes. And just to give you an idea of what they look like. Uh, so they come with four, 12 ounce bags, but not 16 ounce. It is priced at 120. This is the page I look for. Here we go. El Salvador is the smallest country on the American continent. Uh, as the nation reinvents itself and its example reaches new shores, our people seek to show the world what makes us Salvadorian, our culture, our traditions and our values of hard work and dedication. So you guys can definitely read more about this. These are some beautiful pictures of, um, of different places in Salvador and the volcanoes, the land, the land of volcanoes. Uh, let me show off the box, the coffee bags are not in here. I took them out. The variety box here is traditional. The finest harvest from Hacienda Dora. That's where this one comes from. Imported from the land of volcanoes. Yeah. Uh, and then you get the map of El Salvador and telling you where they got it from, which is on the map right there, Hacienda Dora is supposed to be located there. And that's it. Then, uh, and it gives you some information about, uh, the ring of fire and all that. But, uh, yeah, this is, this is really, really nice. And the airport in El Salvador has this, um, the beat in the fire, uh, there you can actually drink and buy the coffee, but it's, it's a different world now. And you, you are literally at the front line watching it all change. I'm sure that it's been very busy with tourists lately. Oh yeah, of course. Colombians, um, are, oh, in the morning this day, I see two Australian girls, like, yeah, Australian girls asking for directions in Suchitoto. I've been in Suchitoto in the morning because I have a meeting with, um, El Salvador travel department. Yeah. And, um, and, and she asked me, oh, do you know this place? And I was like, oh my God, where's my English? Where do I need it? Let me show you the map. What, what do you want to see here? And then they say, oh, I want to go to the lake, Suchitlan lake. And oh yeah, you can, you can take the, the tourist guy right next to me. And, and they, they give him more information. It's a very, very, very interesting and funny for me because I'm not English person, you know? But, but with tourists, I have to talk in English, but I've been in Britain, I think. And yeah, many, many of my, my customers only speak English. So, so our business has been growing a lot with, with, with the tourist king. I'm so glad that you got to share this with my audience. So, um, for those of anybody interested in going to check out and travel, you guys can check out Titanic tours on Instagram. Um, I will be leaving links to the social medias of Titanic tours, uh, and the travel website, which is, uh, El Salvador.travel. They can find Titanic tours there, right? Yeah, of course. And those things will be available on the show and the company's episode at the Andres Segovia.com. Yvonne, thank you so very much for sharing these beautiful places of our country there. And I hope that people will visit. And when they do that, they use your services. Oh, thank you so much for inviting me. And yeah, personally, I want to welcome you and not only me, of course, all the people here is with a smile on his face. And when see other people coming in our country, if people say to you, Oh, I want to take a picture with your gringo, it's part of the excitement, you know, we're a bit really, really happy to have you here and providing you a service. You deserve, of course.